US Patent 7965622 Automatic problem isolation for multi-layer network failures

A method and apparatus includes automatically correlating indicators already generated by network components to detect and isolate failures that are caused by or related to network components operating on different layers of the open system interconnect (OSI) model. Failure indicators that persist for longer than a specified time window are automatically detected and correlated with one another based on a topology table. The method uses indicators already generated by the network components, obviating the need for software that typically resides on and consumes valuable processing time of network components.