Associating network ports of a computer system with network ports of a network device
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsRheid Schloss, Brian J O Keefe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Network ports of a computer system are associated with network ports of a network device. Network ports of the computer system are configured to operate as part of a switch. A discovery agent discovers network ports of the network device to which the network ports of the computer system are coupled. Associations are created between the network ports of the computer system and the network ports of the network device.
Claims15
A method of associating a plurality of computer network ports of a computer with a plurality of network device ports of a network device comprising:
- booting the computer with an operating system provided by a remote device over a network, the operating system including a switch module and a discovery agent;
- discovering computer network ports of the plurality of computer network ports;
- at the computer, activating the switch module and the discovery agent;
- utilizing the switch module and the discovery agent to discover network device ports of the plurality of network device ports to which computer network ports of the computer are coupled;
- and
- generating an association between discovered computer network ports and discovered network device ports such that an as-built and as-connected image of the computer and its connections is realized.
Non-transitory computer readable media having computer executable program segments stored thereon, the computer executable program segments comprising:
- an operating system kernel for performing operating system functions;
- a computer network port discovery module for discovering computer network ports of a computer;
- a switch module for configuring discovered computer network ports to function as part of a network switch;
- a discovery agent for discovering network device ports of the network device to which the computer network ports are coupled, the switch module and the discovery agent being provided by a remote device over a network;
- an association module for generating an association between discovered network device ports and discovered computer network ports such that an as-built and as-connected image of the computer and its connections is realized;
- and
- an association reporting module, for terminating execution of the switch module and the discovery agent, configuring a computer network port of the computer to communicate with a management server, and transmitting an association list to a management server.
A network environment comprising:
- a network device having a plurality of network device ports;
- a remote device for providing an image over a network to a computer seeking to boot, the image comprising:
- an operating system kernel for performing operating system functions;
- a computer network port discovery module for discovering computer network ports of the computer;
- a switch module for configuring discovered computer network ports to function as part of a network switch;
- a discovery agent for discovering network device ports of the network device to which the computer network ports are coupled;
- and
- an association module for generating an association between discovered network device ports with the discovered computer network ports such that an as-built and as-connected image of the computer and its connections is realized;
- and
- a computer coupled to the remote device and having a plurality of computer network ports coupled to the plurality of network device ports, wherein the computer is configured to receive the image from the remote device and execute the image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.