Method and system for determining hub topology of an ethernet LAN segment

A method of determining a LAN bus segment topology, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) identifying every hub attached to a LAN bus segment and determining each hub's addressing information including an address, said identified hubs including a first hub and a second hub;
• (b) transmitting a management request requiring a response frame from said first hub over the LAN bus segment to the second hub;
• (c) receiving a response frame to said management request from the second hub, wherein the response frame includes the address of the second hub;
• (d) determining if a source address match interrupt occurs in response to receiving the response frame, wherein the source address match interrupt occurs when the response frame was received on a port of the first hub, and wherein the source address match interrupt identifies the second hub as transmitting the response frame on the port;
• (e) repeating steps (b)-(d) utilizing every identified hub other than said first hub as the second hub;
• (f) generating a topology table for the first hub having an entry for each hub transmitting a response frame to the first hub that resulted in a source address match interrupt, each entry indicating which port of the first hub received the response frame;
• (g) repeating steps (b)-(f) utilizing every other identified hub as the first hub;
• and
• (h) generating a correlation table that indicates whether said first hub and said second hub have a direct or an indirect physical connection, wherein the correlation table is generated by merging the topology tables for all identified hubs.

A system for determining LAN bus segment topology comprising:

• a plurality of network hubs attached to a LAN bus segment, wherein each of said plurality of network hubs has an address and can transmit and receive frames, including frames containing standardized management information that are transmitted in response to management request frames, wherein each of said plurality of network hubs has a plurality of identifiable ports;
• a network management station that utilizes management request frames to identify every network hub attached to the LAN bus segment and determines each hub's addressing information including an address;
• a source address match register associated with a first network hub among the plurality of network hubs, wherein said source address match register contains an address of a second identified network hub among the plurality of network hubs and generates a source address match interrupt when a response frame addressed from the second network hub is received at an identified port of the first network hub, said source address match interrupt identifying the port of the first network hub receiving the response frame and the address of the second network hub;
• a network hub agent associated with the first network hub that transmits a management request frame, which requires a response frame, over the LAN bus segment to the second network hub, wherein the network hub agent determines if a source address match interrupt is generated in response to receiving a response frame to the transmitted management request frame, and further wherein the network hub agent generates a connection table in association with the first network hub, wherein the connection table associated with the first network hub lists all other network hubs among the plurality of network hubs and an identifiable port of the first network hub at which each other hub among the plurality of network hubs communicates with the first network hub;
• and
• a processor for generating a single correlation table from every generated connection table for the plurality of network hubs, wherein the correlation table indicates whether each network hub attached to the LAN bus segment has a direct or an indirect physical connection with every other network hub among the plurality of hubs by merging all of the generated connection tables.