An algorithm for building an enterprise network topology using widespread data sources

Abstract

A lot of network management tasks depend on the description of the network topology. However, the lack of standard methods of the network elements detection, coupled with the incompleteness and heterogeneity of the available topology data, complicate the network topology discovery process. In these conditions, formal models and methods of topology discovery are required. Contribution of the paper is an algorithm for automated enterprise network topology discovery based on a previously developed graph model and criteria for building graph elements. The proposed algorithm is capable of dealing with incomplete heterogeneous data about network topology as well as with the presence in the network of uncooperative devices. The paper also evaluates the algorithm and provides the testing results.

Keywords

• enterprise network
• network topology
• algorithm
• network management
• topology discovery
• data inference
• algorithm evaluation