SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MODELING A MULTI-LAYER NETWORK TOPOLOGY
The present invention is directed towards systems and method for creating a network topology model. The method comprises identifying a network element on a network. The method then creates a network object model and a network link model for the network element, wherein the network object model and network link model comprise a multi-layer representation of the network element. The method further stores the network object model and network link model in one or more databases.
1 . A method for creating a network topology model, the method comprising:
identifying a network element on a network;
creating a network object model and a network link model for the network element, wherein the network object model and network link model comprise a multi-layer representation of the network element; and
storing the network object model and network link model in a database.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a network element comprises crawling the network and discovering a network element.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a network element comprises querying an external data source for a list of network elements.
4 . The method of claim 3 wherein an external data source comprises one of a licensing server, service monitor, or provisioning server.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the network object model identifies a type of the network element and a plurality of properties associated with the network element.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the network link model contains the type of the network element and a plurality of properties associated with the network element.
7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the network link model contains at least two endpoints associated with a network link and wherein the two endpoints comprise network object store in a database.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein a multi-layer representation comprises a representation of all seven layers of an OSI model.
9 . Computer readable media comprising program code for execution by a programmable processor that instructs the processor to perform a method for creating a network topology model, the computer readable media comprising:
program code for identifying a network element on a network;
program code for creating a network object model and a network link model for the network element, wherein the network object model and network link model comprise a multi-layer representation of the network element; and
program code for storing the network object model and network link model in a database.
10 . The computer readable media of claim 9 wherein program code for identifying a network element comprises crawling the network and discovering a network element.
11 . The computer readable media of claim 9 wherein program code for identifying a network element comprises querying an external data source for a list of network elements.
12 . The computer readable media of claim 11 wherein an external data source comprises one of a licensing server, service monitor, or provisioning server.
13 . The computer readable media of claim 9 wherein the network object model contains the type of the network element and a plurality of properties associated with the network element.
14 . The computer readable media of claim 9 wherein the network link model contains the type of the network element and a plurality of properties associated with the network element.
15 . The computer readable media of claim 9 wherein the network link model contains at least two endpoints associated with a network link, wherein the two endpoints comprise network object store in a database.
16 . The computer readable media of claim 9 wherein a multi-layer representation comprises a representation of all seven layers of an OSI model.
17 . A system for creating a network topology model, the system comprising:
a network modeler system for identifying a network element on a network; and
a network object database and a network link database for storing a network object model and a network link model for the network element, wherein the network object model and network link model comprise a multi-layer representation of the network element.
18 . The system of claim 17 wherein the network modeler system is further operative to query an external data source for a list of network elements.
19 . The system of claim 18 wherein an external data source comprises one of a licensing server, service monitor, or provisioning server.
20 . The system of claim 17 wherein a multi-layer representation comprises a representation of all seven layers of an OSI model.