System and method for base topology selection

1. A network controller comprising:

one or more ports configured to couple the network controller to one or more network switching devices of a network;

the network controller being configured to:

receive initiation messages from the network switching devices;

receive configuration and status messages from the network switching devices;

transmit discovery requests to the network switching devices;

receive discovery responses from the network switching devices;

determine a network topology of the network based on information associated with the initiation messages, the configuration and status messages, and the discovery responses;

apply heuristic rules, associated with at least one of a plurality of base topologies, to the network topology; and

select a base topology from the plurality of base topologies based on results of the applied heuristic rules;

wherein the heuristic rules include one or more sets of rules selected from a group consisting of virtual link trunking (VLT) heuristic rules, spanning tree heuristic rules, multiple spanning tree heuristic rules, stacking heuristic rules, shortest path bridging MAC heuristic rules, transparent interconnection of lots of links heuristic rules, and link aggregation group (LAG) heuristic rules.

2. The network controller of claim 1 wherein the network controller is further configured to transmit flow control messages to the network switching devices to provision the network consistent with the selected base topology.

3. The network controller of claim 1 wherein the network controller is further configured to:

monitor the network; and

determine the network topology based on results of the monitoring.

4. The network controller of claim 1 wherein to apply the VLT heuristic rules the network controller is further configured to:

detect pairable switches in the network;

detect dual home configurations associated with the pairable switches;

select peer switches from the pairable switches using the VLT heuristic rules to form peer groups; and

detect LAGs and VLTs associated with the peer groups.

5. The network controller of claim 1 wherein to apply the spanning tree heuristic rules the network controller is further configured to:

determine one or more spanning trees in the network topology;

select a first spanning tree from the one or more spanning trees using the spanning tree heuristic rules; and

block inter-switch links in the network that are not part of the selected first spanning tree.

6. The network controller of claim 1 wherein to apply the multiple spanning tree heuristic rules the network controller is further configured to:

partition the network into spannable regions;

determine one or more spanning trees for each spannable region;

select a respective spanning tree for each spannable region from the one or more spanning trees for each spannable region using the multiple spanning tree heuristic rules; and

block inter-switch links in the network that are not part of the respective spanning trees.

7. The network controller of claim 1 wherein to apply the stacking heuristic rules the network controller is further configured to:

detect one or more daisy chains in the network topology that includes network switching devices that support stacking; and

select a first daisy chain from the one or more daisy chains using the stacking heuristic rules.

8. The network controller of claim 1 wherein the network controller is a software defined networking (SDN) controller.

9. The network controller of claim 1 wherein:

the configuration and status messages include information associated with active ports of the network switching devices; and

the discovery requests ask each of the network switching devices to transmit discovery packets on the active ports of the respective network switching device.

10. The network controller of claim 9 wherein the discovery packets include an originating switch identifier associated with the respective network switching device and an egress port identifier associated with a respective active port of the respective network switching device.

11. The network controller of claim 9 wherein the discovery requests and the discovery responses are OpenFlow messages and the discovery packets are Link Layer Discovery Protocol Data Units.

12. The network controller of claim 9 wherein the discovery responses include an originating switch identifier, an egress port identifier, a receiving switch identifier, and an ingress port identifier.

13. The network controller of claim 9 wherein the discovery responses each include information associated with an inter-switch link of the network.

14. The network controller of claim 1 wherein:

the network includes a plurality of sub-networks; and

the heuristic rules are applied separately to each of the plurality of sub-networks.

15. A method of network management, the method comprising:

receiving initiation messages from network switching devices in a network;

receiving configuration and status messages from the network switching devices;

transmitting discovery requests to the network switching devices;

receiving discovery responses from the network switching devices;

determining a network topology of the network based on information associated with the initiation messages, the configuration and status messages, and the discovery responses;

apply heuristic rules, associated with at least one of a plurality of base topologies, to the network topology; and

selecting a base topology from the plurality of base topologies based on results of the applied heuristic rules;

wherein the heuristic rules include one or more sets of rules selected from a group consisting of virtual link trunking (VLT) heuristic rules, spanning tree heuristic rules, multiple spanning tree heuristic rules, stacking heuristic rules, shortest path bridging MAC heuristic rules, transparent interconnection of lots of links heuristic rules, and link aggregation group (LAG) heuristic rules.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising transmitting flow control messages to the network switching devices to provision the network consistent with the selected base topology.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

monitoring the network; and

redetermining the network topology based on results of the monitoring.

18. An information handling system comprising:

a network controller comprising:

one or more ports configured to couple the network controller to one or more network switching devices of a network; and

a plurality of heuristic rules;

the network controller being configured to:

receive initiation messages from the network switching devices;

receive configuration and status messages from the network switching devices;

transmit discovery requests to the network switching devices;

receive discovery responses from the network switching devices;

determine a network topology of the network based on information associated with the initiation messages, the configuration and status messages, and the discovery responses;

apply the heuristic rules, associated with at least one of a plurality of base topologies, to the network topology;

select a base topology from the plurality of base topologies based on results of the applied heuristic rules; and

transmit flow control messages to the network switching devices to provision the network consistent with the selected base topology;

wherein the heuristic rules include one or more sets of rules selected from a group consisting of virtual link trunking (VLT) heuristic rules, spanning tree heuristic rules, multiple spanning tree heuristic rules, stacking heuristic rules, shortest path bridging MAC heuristic rules, transparent interconnection of lots of links heuristic rules, and link aggregation group (LAG) heuristic rules.