Abstract: A method and apparatus for discovering, identifying and graphically representing network devices on a network. The devices are discovered by obtaining the gateway address of the management workstations and then reading the internet protocol address table and the ARP cache from each gateway via SNMP. Each address read is compared with existing IP addresses, and if new, device IDs are created and assigned. Select attributes are then assigned to each device and then the devices are then identified. The devices are identified by making a DNS request on the corresponding IP address to determine the network name of the device. The SNMP then obtains the system name and object ID (OID) for each of the devices. The OID is then compared and matched with known OIDs to identify the device. the devices are graphically connected and laid out by creating a submap based on the IP address and mask pairs for each device. The routers connected, the bridges are then connected and finally the repeaters are connected.