Networking hardware element to couple computer network elements and method of displaying a network layout map thereon

摘要

A networking hardware element to couple computer network elements comprises one or more transceivers configured to receive communication signals from one or more of the computer network elements and to forward the communication signals to one or more different ones of the computer network elements; a network diagnostic mechanism capable of: iteratively scanning the transceivers to monitor the computer network elements; mapping the computer network elements; and determining a connection status for the computer network elements coupled to the networking hardware element based on monitoring the transceivers; and a display at a surface of the networking hardware element and capable of: communicating with the network diagnostic mechanism; and displaying a network layout map of: representations of the computer network elements; and the connection status of the computer network elements.