Method of determining the route of packets through a network of communicating objects

1. A method of determining a routing for packets in a network of network objects, said method comprising:

a) dividing said network into LAN (Local Area Network) segments of non-routing objects, and WAN (Wide Area Network) segments of routing objects;

b) determining connections between non-routing objects, and between routing objects;

c) determining a routing for packets through each segment based on connections determined in step b);

d) combining said routing determined for each segment in step c) to obtain a total routing through the network.

2. A method as in claim 1 , further including steps:

a) measuring a network performance of each segment on said routing; and

b) aggregating said network performances obtained in step a) to obtain a total network performance for said total routing.

3. A method as in claim 1 further including partitioning non-router network objects into discrete LAN segments, each LAN segment being a collection of connected non-router network objects separated from other non-router network objects by at least one router.

4. A method as in claim 1 including partitioning routers into WAN segments, each WAN segment being a collection of connected routers separated from other routers by at least one non-router network object.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein step c) includes determining for each WAN segment a sequence of routers a packet passes through from a source router to a destination router in the WAN segment.

6. A method as in claim 3 wherein step c) includes determining for each segment which non-router network objects a packet passes through from a source non-router network object to a destination non-router network object in the LAN segment.

7. A method as in claim 1 wherein step c) is executed from a plurality of beacons located at different points in the network.

8. A method as in claim 6 wherein step c) includes reading a table of source addresses at each non-router network object in each LAN segment, said table containing source addresses of packets which transit through said non-router network object.

9. A method as in claim 3 wherein step c) is accomplished using a previously determined topology of the network.

10. A method as in claim 5 wherein the sequence of routers a packet passes through is determined from a plurality of beacons located at different points in the WAN segment.

11. A method of determining a packet's routing through a LAN segment composed of multiple network objects, said method comprising:

a) determining a network address of a source network object;

b) determining a network address of a destination network object;

c) determining which network objects receive packets from the source network object;

d) determining connections between network objects using the topology of the LAN segment; and

e) determining which network objects are in a route from the source network object to the destination network objects based on data obtained in steps c) and d).

12. A method of determining the performance of a route in a network, the method comprising:

a) determining a source network object;

b) determining a destination network object;

c) determining a route through the network from the source network object to the destination network object;

d) measuring the network performance of each network object on the route; and

e) aggregating the network performances obtained in step d) to obtain a total network performance for the route,

wherein said network performance is that of a network element's drop rate of packets and said total network performance is the end to end transmission fraction over a path,

wherein said end to end transmission fraction over a path is determined according to

T

=

∏

i

=

1

-

N

⁢

⁢

(

1

-

D

⁡

(

i

)

)

where

T=end to end transmission fraction over a path from object 1−N

D(i)=drop rate of device i.

13. A method as in claim 12 wherein said network performance comprises a packet's delay through said network element and said total network performance for the route comprises the total end to end delay for a packet traversing said route.

14. A method as in claim 12 wherein said network performance comprises a network element's throughput and said total network performance comprises a determination of bottlenecks in said path.