Mechanism for determining actual physical topology of network based on gathered configuration information representing true neighboring devices

A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions determining a physical topology of a network, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• discovering a plurality of devices that are located in the network based on each address within a set of network addresses and creating and storing information representing the plurality of devices;
• determining possible neighboring devices for each device in the plurality of devices;
• processing the configuration information to eliminate, from among the possible neighboring devices, each device that is not actually a neighbor of the plurality of devices to create information representing true neighboring devices and each link between them;
• and
• creating and storing information that represents the topology based on the information representing the plurality of devices and the information representing the true neighboring devices and each link.

A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, the computer data signal carrying one or more sequences of instructions for determining a physical topology of a network, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• discovering a plurality of devices that are located in the network based on each address within a set of network addresses and creating and storing information representing the plurality of devices;
• determining possible neighboring devices for each device in the plurality of devices;
• processing the configuration information to eliminate, from among the possible neighboring devices, each device that is not actually a neighbor of the plurality of devices to create information representing true neighboring devices and each link between them;
• and
• creating and storing information that represents the topology based on the information representing the plurality of devices and the information representing the true neighboring devices and each link.

A computer apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory containing one or more sequences of instructions for determining a physical topology of a network, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the processor causes the processor to perform the steps of:
• discovering a plurality of devices that are located in the network based on each address within a set of network addresses and creating and storing information representing the plurality of devices;
• determining possible neighboring devices for each device in the plurality of devices;
• processing the configuration information to eliminate, from among the possible neighboring devices, each device that is not actually a neighbor of the plurality of devices to create information representing true neighboring devices and each link between them;
• and
• creating and storing information that represents the topology based on the information representing the plurality of devices and the information representing the true neighboring devices and each link.