Discovery and visualization of active directory domain controllers in topological network maps
AssigneeSolarwinds Worldwide, LLC
InventorMichael Jon Swan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Active directory (AD) Domain Controllers (DC) discovery includes determining the topology of the network, such as the nodes and connections in the network. For example, synthetic data may be transferred within the network and traced to determine the presence and relationships of the various network components. Alternatively, other mapping techniques are based upon mapping a known set of nodes to determine the relationship of the nodes. Next, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) commands are forwarded to the various nodes to identify the AD DC within a range of IP addresses discovered during the mapping of to the topology of the network.
Claims24
A method for discovering an active directory (AD) domain controllers (DC) comprising:
- mapping a topology of a network;
- creating a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) connection by binding to a LDAP endpoint;
- using LDAP commands to perform a LDAP data search for the AD DC using the created LDAP connection, and returning at least one fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of a discovered AD DC;
- and
- unbinding from the LDAP endpoint,
- wherein the mapping the topology of the network comprises searching for nodes in a pre-defined number of internet protocol (ip) addresses and repeating the search for a predefined number of hops.
An apparatus for discovering an active directory (AD) domain controllers (DC), the apparatus comprising:
- a server comprising a processor and memory,
- the server configured to
- map a topology of a network;
- create a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) connection by binding to a LDAP endpoint;
- use LDAP commands to perform a LDAP data search for the AD DC using the created LDAP connection, and to return at least one fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of a discovered AD DC;
- and
- unbind from the LDAP endpoint,
- wherein, when mapping the topology of the network, the server is further configured to search for nodes in a pre-defined number of ip addresses and repeat the search for a predefined number of hops.
A computer program for discovering an active directory (AD) domain controllers (DC), embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program configured to control a processor to perform operations, comprising:
- mapping a topology of a network;
- creating a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) connection by binding to a LDAP endpoint;
- using LDAP commands to perform a LDAP data search for the AD DC using the created LDAP connection, and returning at least one fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of a discovered AD DC;
- and
- unbinding from the LDAP endpoint,
- wherein the mapping the topology of the network comprises searching for nodes in a pre-defined number of ip addresses and repeating the search for a predefined number of hops.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.