Discovering non managed devices in a network such as a lan using http

Abstract

The topology of a computer network may be by the process of discovery in which each of the devices of the network is interrogated to thereby produce details of the network and its operation, preferably in the form of a network map which may be displayed on a visual display unit showing the devices and links between the devices. At its simplest, and where the device is a “managed” device, this information is usually provided by interrogation using a known protocol, such as the SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), of the so-called ‘agent’ of each device which stores the device's unique MAC address, the type of device and the MAC addresses embedded in the data passing into a particular port which thereby gives the MAC addresses of the origin of the data and hence the MAC address of the devices which are connected to the ports directly or indirectly. However, many devices are not SNMP enabled and so the discovery or interrogation of the network produces a result which indicates that these non SNMP enabled devices are displayed as “generic” devices. There is described a device for use in a network, said device including information identifying the device, which information is made accessible during HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) authentication procedure.

1 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A computer comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory on which is stored machine readable instructions that are to cause the processor to:
 send an unauthorized hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request to a device over a network as part of a discovery operation of the device, wherein the device is to generate a HTTP challenge request in response to receipt of the unauthorized HTTP request; 
 receive the generated HTTP challenge request, wherein the HTTP challenge request includes a string containing information that identifies the device; and 
 extract the information that identifies the device from the string included in the HTTP challenge request to discover the device. 
   
     
     
         18 . The computer according to  claim 17 , wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the processor to:
 generate a response to the received HTTP challenge request, wherein the response is to be used by the device to authorize the computer to access a resource on the device; and   send the generated response to the device.   
     
     
         19 . The computer according to  claim 17 , wherein the string is a parameter of a REALM field in the challenge request. 
     
     
         20 . The computer according to  claim 17 , wherein the HTTP request is a request for a resource on the device. 
     
     
         21 . The computer according to  claim 17 , wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the processor to display the information that identifies the device on a network map. 
     
     
         22 . The computer according to  claim 17 , wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the processor to:
 request a sys ObjectID from the device as part of the discovery operation of the device;   determine whether the request for the sys ObjectID from the device was unsuccessful; and   send the unauthorized HTTP request for a web page to the device in response to a determination that the request for the sys ObjectID from the device was unsuccessful.   
     
     
         23 . The computer according to  claim 22 , wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the processor to:
 receive a response from the device;   determine that the response from the device is a HTTP challenge request including the string containing information that identifies the device; and   extract the information that identifies the device from the challenge request to identify the device.   
     
     
         24 . A method of collecting information on a device in a network by a computer, said method comprising:
 sending, by the computer, an unauthorized hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request to the device over a network as part of a discovery operation of the device, wherein the device is to generate a HTTP challenge request in response to receipt of the unauthorized HTTP request;   receiving, by the computer, the generated HTTP challenge request, wherein the HTTP challenge request includes a string containing information that identifies the device; and   extracting, by the computer, the information that identifies the device from the string included in the HTTP challenge request to discover the device.   
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 24 , further comprising:
 generating a response to the received HTTP challenge request, wherein the response is to be used by the device to authorize the computer to access a resource on the device; and   sending the generated response to the device.   
     
     
         26 . The method according to  claim 24 , further comprising:
 displaying the information that identifies the device on a network map.   
     
     
         27 . The method according to  claim 24 , wherein sending the unauthorized HTTP request further comprises sending the unauthorized HTTP request following an unsuccessful attempt to obtains a sys ObjectID from the device. 
     
     
         28 . A computer comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory on which is stored machine readable instructions that are to cause the processor to:
 send a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request for a web page to a device over a network as part of a discovery operation of the device, wherein the device is to generate a HTML encoded document in response to receipt of the HTTP request; 
 receive the generated HTML encoded document, wherein the generated HTML encoded document includes a <HEAD> section, wherein the <HEAD> section includes a <META> tag that includes a string containing information that identifies the device; and 
 extract the information that identifies the device from the string included in the <HEAD> section of the HTML document to discover the device. 
   
     
     
         29 . The computer according to  claim 28 , wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the processor to:
 parse the <HEAD> section of the HTML document to extract the information that identifies the device from the string included in the <HEAD> section of the HTML document.   
     
     
         30 . The computer according to  claim 28 , wherein the string is a parameter of a REALM field in the challenge request. 
     
     
         31 . The computer according to  claim 28 , wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the processor to display the information that identifies the device on a network map. 
     
     
         32 . A method comprising:
 sending, by a computer, a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request for a web page to a device over a network as part of a discovery operation of the device, wherein the device is to generate a HTML encoded document in response to receipt of the HTTP request;   receiving, by the computer, the generated HTML encoded document, wherein the generated HTML encoded document includes a <HEAD> section, wherein the <HEAD> section includes a <META> tag that includes a string containing information that identifies the device; and   extracting, by the computer, the information that identifies the device from the string included in the <HEAD> section of the HTML document to discover the device.   
     
     
         33 . The method according to  claim 32 , further comprising:
 displaying, by the computer, the information that identifies the device on a network map.