Enterprise network Node Discovery and Topology Analysis : An experience Report
Johan Sigholm, Simin Nadjm‐Tehrani · 2007
Abstract—Most existing network management systems have partial support for network discovery and topology analysis, but are usually either vendor-specific or lack functionality for a flexible network model comparison. We posit an architecture for versatile network discovery and analysis, which supports (1) efficient creation and synchronization of network topology information (2) accurate recognition of new, replaced and upgraded nodes, including rogue nodes that may exhibit malicious behavior, and (3) provides an extension of an existing vendor-neutral enterprise network management and provisioning system developed at Netadmin Systems AB. The approach described in this paper is a step towards a more flexible way of tackling the increasingly difficult problem of node discovery and topology analysis in enterprise networks. An initial evaluation of our implementation shows evidence of accurate discovery and classification of unmatched hosts in a live customer production network with over 400 nodes, and presents data on performance and scalability levels. I.