Automated network connection tracing and data gathering methods using overhead bytes in the SDH frame structure

The authors propose two methods for automatically tracing a network connection and gathering network configuration data in an SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy) network as a means of advanced network operation. The mechanism to achieve the methods using overhead bytes is shown. Practical implementation problems and how to solve them are then described. Quantitative analyses show that these methods take less than ten seconds to gather the network configuration data of a path through one thousand modules in a network. Finally, an appropriate application field for each method is shown