Method and apparatus for inferring topology of a network

A method for inferring topology in a network, said method comprising:

• (a) determining which non-interconnect devices are visible to each adapter in the network;
• (b) determining sets of adapters having visibility to identical sets of non-interconnect devices;
• (c) for each set of said sets of adapters that consists of a single adapter having visibility to more than one non-interconnect device, associating an interconnect device to said single adapter and assigning a link from said single adapter to the associated interconnect device;
• (d) obtaining a list of non-interconnect devices in the network excluding non-interconnect devices already having satisfied visibilities;
• (e) for each visible non-interconnect device in the list of all non-interconnect devices, finding an adapter not already linked to the non-interconnect device that has visibility to the non-interconnect device, and assigning a link between the non-interconnect device and an interconnect device assigned to the found adapter or directly between the found adapter and the non-interconnect device;
• and
• (f) iterating steps (d) and (e) until visibility of each adapter is satisfied.

A computing apparatus for inferring topology in a network having interconnected adapters, interconnect devices, and non-interconnect devices, said apparatus comprising a processor and an operatively coupled memory, said apparatus configured to:

• (a) determine which non-interconnect devices are visible to each adapter in the network;
• (b) determine sets of adapters having visibility to identical sets of said non-interconnect devices;
• (c) for each set of said sets of adapters that has more than one adapter, associate an interconnect device to said set having more than one adapter and assign links to the associated interconnect device from said more than one adapter;
• (d) obtain a list of non-interconnect devices in the network excluding non-interconnect devices already having satisfied visibilities;
• (e) for each visible non-interconnect device in the list of all non-interconnect devices, find an adapter not already linked to the non-interconnect device that has visibility to the non-interconnect device, and assign a link between the non-interconnect device and an interconnect device assigned to the found adapter or directly between the found adapter and the non-interconnect device;
• and
• (f) iterate (d) and (e) until visibility of each adapter is satisfied.

A computing apparatus for inferring topology in a network having interconnected adapters, interconnect devices, and non-interconnect devices, said apparatus comprising a processor and an operatively coupled memory, said apparatus configured to:

• (a) determine which non-interconnect devices are visible to each adapter in the network;
• (b) determine sets of adapters having visibility to identical sets of non-interconnect devices;
• (c) for each set of said sets of adapters that consists of a single adapter having visibility to more than one non-interconnect device, associate an interconnect device to said single adapter and assign a link from said single adapter to the associated interconnect device;
• (d) obtain a list of non-interconnect devices in the network excluding non-interconnect devices already having satisfied visibilities;
• (e) for each visible non-interconnect device in the list of all non-interconnect devices, find an adapter not already linked to the non-interconnect device that has visibility to the non-interconnect device, and assign a link between the non-interconnect device and an interconnect device assigned to the found adapter or directly between the found adapter and the non-interconnect device;
• and (f) iterate (d) and (e) until visibility of each adapter is satisfied.

A machine readable medium or media having recorded thereon instructions configured to instruct a computing apparatus having a processor and an operatively coupled memory to:

• (a) determine which non-interconnect devices are visible to each adapter in the network;
• (b) determine sets of adapters having visibility to identical sets of said non-interconnect devices;
• (c) for each set of said sets of adapters that has more than one adapter, associate an interconnect device to said set having more than one adapter and assign links to the associated interconnect device from said more than one adapter;
• (d) obtain a list of non-interconnect devices in the network excluding non-interconnect devices already having satisfied visibilities;
• (e) for each visible non-interconnect device in the list of all non-interconnect devices, find an adapter not already linked to the non-interconnect device that has visibility to the non-interconnect device, and assign a link between the non-interconnect device and an interconnect device assigned to the found adapter or directly between the found adapter and the non-interconnect device;
• and
• (f) iterate (d) and (e) until visibility of each adapter is satisfied.

A machine readable medium or media having recorded thereon instructions configured to instruct a computing apparatus having a processor and an operatively coupled memory to:

• (a) determine which non-interconnect devices are visible to each adapter in the network;
• (b) determine sets of adapters having visibility to identical sets of non-interconnect devices;
• (c) for each set of said sets of adapters that consists of a single adapter having visibility to more than one non-interconnect device, associate an interconnect device to said single adapter and assign a link from said single adapter to the associated interconnect device;
• (d) obtain a list of non-interconnect devices in the network excluding non-interconnect devices already having satisfied visibilities;
• (e) for each visible non-interconnect device in the list of all non-interconnect devices, find an adapter not already linked to the non-interconnect device that has visibility to the non-interconnect device, and assign a link between the non-interconnect device and an interconnect device assigned to the found adapter or directly between the found adapter and the non-interconnect device;
• and
• (f) iterate (d) and (e) until visibility of each adapter is satisfied.

A computing apparatus for inferring topology in a network having interconnected adapters, interconnect devices, and non-interconnect devices, said apparatus comprising:

• (a) means for determining which non-interconnect devices are visible to each adapter in the network;
• (b) means for determining sets of adapters having visibility to identical sets of said non-interconnect devices;
• (c) means for associating an interconnect device to said set having more than one adapter and for assigning links to the associated interconnect device from said more than one adapter for each set of said sets of adapters that has more than one adapter;
• (d) means for obtaining a list of non-interconnect devices in the network excluding non-interconnect devices already having satisfied visibilities;
• (e) means for finding an adapter not already linked to the non-interconnect device that has visibility to the non-interconnect device, and for assigning a link between the non-interconnect device and an interconnect device assigned to the found adapter or directly between the found adapter and the non-interconnect device, for each visible non-interconnect device in the list of all non-interconnect devices, and
• (f) means for iterating functions performed by means (d) and (e) until visibility of each adapter is satisfied.

A computing apparatus for inferring topology in a network having interconnected adapters, interconnect devices, and non-interconnect devices, said apparatus comprising:

• (a) means for determining which non-interconnect devices are visible to each adapter in the network;
• (b) means for determining sets of adapters having visibility to identical sets of non-interconnect devices;
• (c) means for associating an interconnect device to said single adapter and for assigning a link from said single adapter to the associated interconnect device, for each set of said sets of adapters that consists of a single adapter having visibility to more than one non-interconnect device;
• (d) means for obtaining a list of non-interconnect devices in the network excluding non-interconnect devices already having satisfied visibilities;
• (e) means for finding an adapter not already linked to the non-interconnect device that has visibility to the non-interconnect device, and for assigning a link between the non-interconnect device and an interconnect device assigned to the found adapter or directly between the found adapter and the non-interconnect device, for each visible non-interconnect device in the list of all non-interconnect devices;
• and
• (f) means for iterating functions performed by means (d) and (e) until visibility of each adapter is satisfied.