Arrangement and method for handling failures in network

Abstract

The present invention relates to an arrangement comprising an Ethernet carrier network, managed by a management system (100) and comprising a number of levels of management domains, each comprising a number of edge nodes (10, 20, 30, 40) and a number of intermediate nodes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). Each edge node (10, 20, 30, 40) comprises fault detection of connectivity check messages and fault locating means with holding means (11, 21, 31, 41) adapted to hold path information for the paths to all other edge nodes. A fault detection means of an edge node having detected a fault is adapted to activate edge node fault locating means to locate the fault using the patch information in the edge node holding means to find a first target intermediate node substantially in the middle of the path containing the fault, and to, directly, send a first loop back message to said intermediate node. A response from said intermediate node indicates that the fault is located at the distant portion of the path, no response indicates that the fault is located at the proximate portion of the path. Further loop back messages are sent to consecutively identified intermediate nodes of the respective path portion identified to contain the fault by the respective preceding loop back message until the fault is localized.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to fault handling in an Ethernet network managed by a management system and comprising multiple levels of management domains. Background technique [0002] Ethernet is one of the most important local area network (LAN) technologies. In fact, it is the leading LAN technology. This is primarily due to the many internal features of the technology that make it simple, cheap, easy to manage, and backward compatible. Because data services account for the majority of traffic, carriers and telcos are considering the possibility of replacing SONET / SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) infrastructure with Ethernet infrastructure to gain the benefits of Ethernet. However, the requirements of backbone and metropolitan area networks are very different from those of enterprise LANs. Therefore, the adoption of Ethernet technology will require specific enhancements and some changes to be able to meet such carrier grade requirements. Amo...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Since 802.lag is aimed at schemes for end-to-end services specified in a very general range, it is actually a very flexible scheme, so it is not ideal when considering speed and performance

Second, 802.lag defines the available information that the CCM can provide about connection failures, but it does not specify who is the recipient of the information and how it will be used and responded to

Also, CFM with AIS cannot be used for multipoint Ethernet services, which is a serious drawback since multipoint Ethernet services are very important for providing multimedia applications (eg, IPTV)

Also, link-level MEPs can be restrictive when scalability is considered

Yet another disadvantage is the unclear interaction between GMPLS, LMP and CFM

[0009] Thus, these disadvantages reduce the possibility and attractiveness of using Ethernet as a carrier network, mainly because fault detection and path location are not as fast and efficient as some applications require and expect

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