Enhanced real-time topology analysis system or high speed networks

摘要

The disclosed system allows determination of topological aspects of a high speed data communications network in real time without interfering with the operation of the network. The topographical information determined by the present invention includes the cable length of the network, the cable length between stations on the network, and the station addresses and relative order of stations on the network. The system determines the cable length of the network by dividing the amount of time that a token spends on the cables of the network as it travels completely around the network by the propagation speed per unit length of the cables of the network. The system determines the length of cable between any two adjacent stations on the network by determining the length of time between frames transmitted by the adjacent stations, and dividing this time by the propagation speed per unit length of the cable of the network. Lastly, the system determines the number of stations and the addresses of these stations on the network by extracting source addresses from the pertinent network frames.