Discovery of virtual private networks
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorOlivier Daures
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method is described of discovering at least one Virtual Private Network (VPN) automatically within a network comprising a plurality of network elements including the steps of: discovering the network elements which provide functionality for VPNs within the network; discovering the role of each network element, as identified in the preceding step, comprising identifying network elements whose role is as customer premise equipment (CPE); discovering, for each element identified as customer premise equipment, the VPN the customer premise equipment is associated with.
Claims24
A method of automatically discovering, with a network management system (NMS) at least one Virtual Private Network (VPN) within a network comprising a plurality of network elements including the steps of:
- receiving, from a user, at least one network discovery rule (NDR), the at least one NDR configured for providing criteria for searching the network for at least one network element that provides functionality for the at least one VPN;
- discovering, via the at least one NDR, and without reference to the at least one VPN, the at least one network element;
- and
- discovering a role of the at least one network element, wherein discovering the role of the at least one network element includes:
- the NMS identifying the at least one network element as customer premise equipment;
- and
- the NMS discovering, for the at least one element identified as customer premise equipment, a particular VPN to which the customer premise equipment is associated.
An network management system (NMS), coupled to a network via an edge router, for discovering a Virtual Private Network (VPN) comprising:
- receive means configured to receive, from a user, at least one network discovery rule (NDR), the at least one NDR configured for providing criteria for searching the network for at least one VPN;
- input means configured to modify at least one NDR, the input means further configured to add at least one configuration rule;
- data storage means for storing the at least one configuration rule;
- and
- network discovery means to discover, based on the at least one configuration rule, a CPE coupled to the network via a different edge router and associate, based on attributes of the discovered CPE, the discovered CPE to a particular VPN.
A network management system coupled to a network via an edge router comprising:
- virtual private network (VPN) discovery means configured to:
- receive, from a user, at least one network discovery rule (NDR), the at least one NDR configured for providing criteria for searching the at least one VPN;
- discover, based on the NDR, a CPE coupled to the network via a different edge router;
- and
- associate, based on attributes of the discovered CPE, the discovered CPE with a particular VPN.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium that includes a computer program product for a network management system (NMS) directly loadable into an internal memory of a digital computer, the computer program product configured, such that when executed by a computer, performs the steps of:
- receiving, from a user, at least one network discovery rule (NDR), the at least one NDR configured for providing criteria for searching the at least one VPN;
- discovering, via the at least one NDR, and without reference to the at least one VPN, at least one network element that provides functionality for the at least one VPN;
- and
- discovering a role of the at least one network element, wherein discovering the role of the at least one network element includes:
- the NMS identifying the at least one network element as customer premise equipment, and
- the NMS discovering, for the at least one element identified as customer premise equipment, a VPN to which the customer premise equipment is associated.
A computer system coupled to a network via an edge router comprising:
- an execution environment for running an application;
- receive means to receive, from a user, at least one network discovery rule (NDR), the at least one NDR configured for providing criteria for searching the at least one VPN;
- VPN discovery means further comprising means to discover a CPE coupled to the network via a different edge router;
- and
- associate means to associate, based on attributes of the discovered CPE, the discovered CPE with a particular VPN.
A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer usable medium, comprising:
- computer readable program means for causing a computer, coupled to a network via an edge router, to control an execution of an application;
- computer readable program means for receiving, from a user, at least one network discovery rule (NDR), the at least one NDR configured for providing criteria for searching the at least one VPN;
- computer readable program means for VPN discovery further comprising means to discover a CPE coupled to the network via a different edge router;
- and
- means to associate, based on attributes of the discovered CPE, the discovered CPE with a particular VPN.
A method of automatically discovering, with a network management system (NMS), at least one Virtual Private Network (VPN) within a network, comprising:
- receiving at the NMS, from a user, at least one network discovery rule (NDR), the at least one NDR configured for providing criteria for searching the network for network elements;
- discovering with the NMS, via the at least one NDR, the network elements and attributes of each network element;
- classifying with the NMS each network element, based on its attributes, to determine a role of the network element in the network, including classifying at least one of the network elements as a customer premise equipment (CPE);
- processing with the NMS the attributes of each CPE to determine a particular VPN with which the CPE is associated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.