Patent Document ID: 6061334
Application ID: 08779143
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. Apparatus for managing a switched routed network comprising: a network configuration learning unit learning a configuration of the switched routed network without forwarding traffic via the switched routed network, the network configuration learning unit comprising a poller polling at least one element of the switched routed network to obtain polling information regarding at least one division of the network into subnets of elements which communicate differently between themselves than with elements which do not belong to that subnet; a VLAN assignment unit generating a division of the network into virtual LANs (VLANs) based on the output of the poller wherein at least one results of the polling information is used to generate an initial division of the network and to set up the VLANs; and a network configuration change manager and modifier detecting a change in the configuration of the network and modifying the division of the network into VLANs.