Apparatus and method of monitoring the status of a local area network

A method of monitoring the status of a star configured network having hubs, with a hub including a chassis for receiving a plurality of modules of varying type, with each of the modules having at least one port for connecting a data terminal device to the hub, said method comprising the following steps:

• generating a topology of said network by receiving topology data from a reporting hub wherein said topology data comprises addresses of other hubs which originated messages received by said reporting hub over a particular port of said reporting hub and an indentifier of said particular port;
• generating and reporting by a hub location data indicative of the location of each of the modules and ports in the hub chassis;
• generating and reporting by the hub type data indicative of the type data indicative of the type of each of the modules and ports in the hub;
• and
• producing an image of the hub utilizing said location data and said type data, with the image depicting the location of the modules in the hub and the type of modules in the hub.

A method of automatically determining the topology of a network of interconnected hubs which utilize contention control, with each of the hubs having modules and associated at least three data ports, each of which is for coupling the hub in a star configuration to either a data terminal device or another hub of the network, said method comprising the following steps:

• transmitting from each of the hubs a message over the network which originates from the hub and which contains an address identifying an associated hub;
• transmitting from each of the hubs a message over the network which was received by said associated hub from another hub on the network which originated the received message;
• identifying, at each of the hubs, which of the data ports of said associated hub has received one of the messages transmitted by another hub of the network;
• receiving topology data from each of the hubs, with the topology data identifying a particular one of the data ports of a particular reporting hub and receiving addresses of the other ones of the hubs which originated messages received by said particular reporting hub over the particular port;
• determining the overall topology of the network utilizing said combining each of said received topology data;
• and
• displaying said overall topology on a display device, said step of displaying including displaying multiple hubs, modules and associated ports on said display device at the same time.

Apparatus for automatically determining the topology of a local area network of interconnected hubs which utilize contention control, with each of the hubs having at least three data ports, each of which is for coupling the hub in a star configuration to either a data terminal device or another hub in the local area network, said apparatus also for monitoring the status of a hub of a star configured local area network, with the hub including a chassis for receiving a plurality of modules of varying type, each of the modules having at least one port for connecting a data terminal device to the hub, said apparatus comprising:

• transmit means at each of the hubs for transmitting hub messages over the local area network, said transmit means including
• (a) originate means for transmitting said hub messages which originate at an associated hub which contain an identifying address of said associated hub;
• (b) repeat means for transmitting said hub messages received by said associated hub over the local area network which originated from other ones of said hubs of the network, said repeat means comprising a timing unit for retiming data to account for transmission distortion;
• port identifying means at each of the hubs for identifying which of said data ports of said associated hub has received one of the said hub messages transmitted by another of said hubs of the local area network;
• control means coupled to said local area network for receiving topology data reported from each of said hubs, said topology data reported for each data port of a particular reporting hub, said topology data identifying a particular one of said data ports of said particular reporting hub and said topology data identifying addresses associated with the the other ports of said hubs which originated network messages received by said particular reporting hub over said particular port;
• processing means for determining the overall topology of the local area network utilizing and combining said received topology data;
• location means for producing location data indicative of the location of each of the modules and ports in the hub chassis based on said overall topology;
• type means for producing type data indicative of the type of each of the modules and ports in the hub;
• and
• indicator means for indicating status information about each of said modules and for indicating status information about said at least one port associated with each of said modules, said indicator means also for isolating said status information for one particular module and associated at least one port, said indicator means coupled to said location means and also coupled to said type means;
• modification means for modifying port status of each of said at least one port associated with each of said modules, said modification means responsive to a user input, said modification means coupled to said indicator means;
• and
• display means for producing an image of the hub utilizing said overall topology, said location data, said status information and said type data, with the image depicting the location of the modules in the hub and the type of modules, said display means coupled to said indicator means.

Apparatus for automatically determining the topology of a local area network of interconnected hubs which utilize contention control, with each of the hubs having at least three data ports, each of which is for coupling the hub in a star configuration to either a data terminal device or another hub in the local area network, said apparatus also for modifying status information with associated with said ports of said interconnected hubs, said apparatus comprising:

• transmit means at each of the hubs for transmitting hub messages over the local area network, said transmit means including
• originate means for transmitting said hub messages which originate at an associated hub which contain an identifying address of said associated hub;
• repeat means for transmitting said hub messages received by said associated hub over the local area network which originated from other ones of said hubs of the network, said repeat means comprising a timing unit for retiming data to account for transmission distortion,
• port identifying means at each of the hubs for identifying which of said data ports of said associated hub has received one of the said hub messages transmitted by another of said hubs of the local area network;
• control means coupled to said local area network for receiving topology data reported from each of said hubs, said topology data reported for each data port of a particular reporting hub, said topology data identifying a particular one of said data ports of said particular reporting hub and said topology data identifying addresses associated with the other data ports of said hubs which originated network messages received by said particular reporting hub over said particular one of said data ports;
• processing means for determining the overall topology of the local area network by utilizing and combining said received topology data from each of said reporting hubs;
• status indicator means for indicating status information of said data ports of each of said hubs in said overall topology, said status indicator means also for isolating a particular data port status information;
• modification means for changing said status information of said data ports of each of said hubs, said modification means coupled to said status indicator means and responsive to a user input device;
• and
• display means for displaying said overall topology in a graphic image format on a display device