An exemplary method of identifying configuration topology, existing switches, and miswires in a given network is provided. Given a number of switches, which may be less than the maximum possible for the actual configuration and some ports of which may be miswired, generate a hypothesis for the supported topology of which the existing configuration is a subset. A best fit of the existing switches to the supported number switches of the maximal topology is performed, using formulae for the connections of the maximal supported topology. If supported switches are found missing in the assumed topology, the switch count is increased accordingly, and started over with a new hypothesis. When satisfied with identification, all switch ports are revisited and the connection formulae is used to identify all miswires.