TESTING A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK FOR DUPLICATE STATION ADDRESSES

摘要

An apparatus to detect stations having duplicate addresses, the stations being of the type connected in a computer communications network uses a neighbor response test and a transmit self test using time out; a neighbor response test for setting a neighbor indicator to timeout in the event that a timeout occurs, and for setting the neighbor indicator to pass in the event that a received response frame indicates no destination address match, and for setting the neighbor indicator to fail in the event that a received response frame indicates that a destination address match occurred; a duplicate address indicator responsive to the neighbor response test and the transmit self test sets the indicator in one of three different states, duplicate address present, absent, and unknown.