A high-performance multi-user traffic replication system and method based on the combination of a switching chip and a network processor

Abstract

The present invention discloses a high-performance multi-user traffic replication system and method based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor, including: a switching chip, a first network processor, and a second network processor; the original traffic first enters the first network processor, the first network processor adds the private packet header required by the switching chip to the traffic packet, and then transfers the traffic to the switching chip. The switching chip performs replication and forwarding according to the three-layer multicast information in the packet header. The replicated traffic enters the second network processor for processing. The second network processor replicates the received traffic packet again, and then restores all the replicated traffic to the original packet data, and performs unicast forwarding in sequence, and forwards them to different outlets of the switching chip or device respectively. Each outlet corresponds to a different user, and each user obtains a copy of the traffic. Based on the original hardware of the shunt switch, the present invention improves the performance of multi-user traffic replication of the device as a whole by utilizing the respective functional characteristics of the switching chip and the network processing chip and combining the digital communication forwarding principle.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of digital communication technologies, and in particular, to a high-performance multi-user traffic replication system and method based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development and maturity of digital communication technologies, communication security issues have become an increasingly important focus of attention, and the application of traffic splitting switches has also become more and more common. Traffic splitting switches often need to provide traffic to different users or multiple users, so the requirements for traffic replication capabilities are getting higher and higher. In specific scenarios, it is necessary to copy and distribute traffic packets to different users for use. Generally, it is directly copied by a network processor, but the replication ability of the network processor is often limited. Therefore, new technologies or methods are needed to improve the overall replication ability of the device. A commonly used method is to use a network processing chip with higher performance, but this method will bring problems such as additional and higher cost expenditures, an increase in the overall power consumption of the device, and the need for an overall replacement of the device. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Object of the Invention: The present invention provides a high-performance multi-user traffic replication system and method based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor. Based on the original hardware of the traffic splitting switch, by utilizing the respective functional characteristics of the switching chip and the network processing chip, and combining the digital communication forwarding principle, the performance of multi-user traffic replication of the overall device is improved.

[0004] Technical Solution: A high-performance multi-user traffic replication system based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor according to the present invention includes: a switching chip, a first network processor, and a second network processor; the original traffic first enters the first network processor, the first network processor adds a private packet header required by the switching chip to the traffic packet, and then transfers the traffic to the switching chip. The switching chip performs replication and forwarding according to the three-layer multicast information in the packet header. The replicated traffic enters the second network processor for processing. The second network processor replicates the received traffic packet again, and then restores all the replicated traffic to the original packet data, and performs unicast forwarding in sequence, and forwards them to different outlets of the switching chip or the device respectively. Each outlet corresponds to a different user, and each user obtains a copy of the traffic.

[0005] Further, there is one switching chip and two network processors in the system. The traffic path of the system is that it first enters the first network processor, then enters the switching chip, then enters the second network processor, then enters the switching chip again, and finally outputs to the outside of the system or the device.

[0006] Further, the first network processor needs to encapsulate a switching private packet header with layer-3 multicast information on the basis of the original packet, where the layer-3 multicast information determines the number of copies of the traffic by the switching chip.

[0007] Further, during the initialization of the switching chip, multiple layer-3 multicast groups are established. Different numbers of layer-3 VLAN interfaces are added to each multicast group. Each VLAN interface is only bound to one physical port connected to the second network processor. Different multicast groups have different numbers of copied traffic.

[0008] Further, the second network processor needs to copy again and unicast forward the traffic to the switching chip in sequence.

[0009] Further, the external ports of the switching chip can correspond to different users for final traffic distribution.

[0010] Further, assume that the replication capacity of the network processing chip is m, that is, the maximum number of copies allowed within a specific processing time is m copies. If the switching chip adds a layer-3 multicast group and n layer-3 interfaces are added to this multicast group, then the maximum replication capacity of the system within a specific processing time is n * m copies.

[0011] Correspondingly, a high-performance multi-user traffic replication method based on the combination of a switching chip and a network processor includes the following steps:

[0012] Step 1: The initialization stage of the switching chip;

[0013] Step 2: The information addition stage of the first network processor; The original traffic first enters the first network processor. The first network processor adds the private packet header required by the switching chip to the traffic packet, and then transfers the traffic to the switching chip;

[0014] Step 3: The layer-3 multicast replication stage of the switching chip; The switching chip performs replication and forwarding according to the layer-3 multicast information in the packet header. The replicated traffic enters the second network processor for processing;

[0015] Step 4: The replication and unicast forwarding stage of the second network processor; The second network processor replicates the received traffic packet again, and then restores all the replicated traffic to the original packet data and performs unicast forwarding in sequence, respectively forwarding to different outlets of the switching chip or the device. Each outlet corresponds to a different user, and each user obtains one copy of the traffic.

[0016] Further, in step 1, multiple multicast groups are created during the switch chip initialization phase. Each multicast group is added with different numbers of layer-3 VLAN interfaces, and each VLAN interface is bound to a physical port connected to the second network processor, ensuring that only one copy of the traffic is replicated for one layer-3 VLAN interface, and different multicast groups can replicate different amounts of traffic.

[0017] Further, in step 2, the first network processor needs to encapsulate a switch private packet header with layer-3 multicast information on the basis of the original packet, where the layer-3 multicast information determines the number of traffic replications by the switch chip.

[0018] Further, in step 3, the switch chip performs a layer-3 multicast query on the traffic entering from the first processor to determine whether there is a corresponding layer-3 multicast number. If not, the traffic is discarded or other forwarding processes are performed. If so, layer-3 multicast replication is performed and the traffic is forwarded to the second network processor.

[0019] Further, in step 4, the second network processor performs a certain number of additional replications on the basis of the traffic replicated by the switch chip according to the number of users, reaches the specified number of users, sorts all the traffic and restores the original information, and unicasts the traffic to the switch chip. The switch chip removes the private packet header and forwards one copy of the traffic from different ports to each user.

[0020] Beneficial effects: Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following remarkable advantages: Based on the original hardware of the shunt switch, by utilizing the respective functional characteristics of the switch chip and the network processing chip and combining the digital communication forwarding principle, the performance of the overall device for multi-user traffic replication is improved without the need to purchase additional hardware or chips, without replacing the device, and the overall traffic replication ability and the number of multi-users of the device can be greatly improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the system structure of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the method flow of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Such as Figure 1As shown in the figure, a high-performance multi-user traffic replication system based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor includes: a switching chip, a first network processor, and a second network processor; the original traffic first enters the first network processor, the first network processor adds a private packet header required by the switching chip to the traffic packet, and then transfers the traffic to the switching chip. The switching chip performs replication and forwarding according to the three-layer multicast information in the packet header. The replicated traffic enters the second network processor for processing. The second network processor replicates the received traffic packet again, and then restores all the replicated traffic to the original packet data and performs unicast forwarding in sequence, respectively forwarding to different outlets of the switching chip or the device. Each outlet corresponds to a different user, and each user obtains a copy of the traffic.

[0024] A switching chip and two network processors. The system traffic path is that it first enters the first network processor, then enters the switching chip, then enters the second network processor, then enters the switching chip again, and finally outputs to the outside of the system or the device.

[0025] The first network processor needs to encapsulate a switching private packet header with three-layer multicast information on the basis of the original packet, where the three-layer multicast information determines the number of copies of the traffic replicated by the switching chip.

[0026] During the initialization process of the switching chip, multiple three-layer multicast groups are established. Different numbers of three-layer VLAN interfaces are added to each multicast group. Each VLAN interface is only bound to a physical port connected to the second network processor. The number of copies of the replicated traffic in different multicast groups is different.

[0027] The second network processor needs to replicate again and perform unicast forwarding of the traffic to the switching chip in sequence.

[0028] The external ports of the switching chip can correspond to different users for final traffic distribution.

[0029] Assume that the replication capacity of the network processing chip is m, that is, the maximum number of copies allowed to be replicated within a specific processing time is m copies. If the switching chip adds a three-layer multicast group and n three-layer interfaces are added to this multicast group, then at most n * m copies can be replicated within a specific processing time.

[0030] As Figure 2 shown in the figure, a high-performance multi-user traffic replication method based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor includes the following steps:

[0031] Step 1: Initialize the switching chip to initialize its basic functions; create multiple three-layer multicast groups, namely group1, group2, group3,......, groupn, where n should be less than or equal to the maximum allowed number of users. Select a VLAN range for the three-layer VLAN interface and determine a base VLAN. Assume the base VLAN value is V, and it should satisfy 1 <= V <= 4095; add 1 three-layer VLAN interface with the VLAN value of V + 1 to group1; add 2 three-layer VLAN interfaces, namely V + 1 and V + 2, to group2; add 3 three-layer VLAN interfaces, namely V + 1, V + 2, and V + 3, to group3; similarly, add n three-layer VLAN interfaces, namely V + 1, V + 2, V + 3,......, V + n, to groupn, where V + n <= 4095; in this way, 1 copy of traffic can be replicated through group1, 2 copies of traffic can be replicated through group2, 3 copies of traffic can be replicated through group3, and similarly, n copies of traffic can be replicated through groupn. Bind each three-layer VLAN interface to only one physical port connected to the second network processor, so as to ensure that each VLAN interface replicates only one copy of traffic and ensure that the replicated traffic enters the second network processor.

[0032] Step 2: Connect the original traffic to the first network processor; the first network processor adds the private packet header used by the switching chip to the original traffic; assume the number of users is N, then add three-layer multicast information, namely the three-layer multicast group groupi, where i <= N, to the private packet header according to the number of users N; the value of i can be adjusted according to the replication ability of the second network processor to achieve the best effect of the overall replication quantity and replication speed.

[0033] Step 3: Forward the traffic processed by the first network processor to the switching chip; the switching chip queries the three-layer multicast table according to the three-layer multicast information in the traffic private packet header to determine whether there is a corresponding three-layer multicast group groupi; if the switching chip does not have a corresponding three-layer multicast group groupi, discard the traffic or perform other forwarding processes; if the switching chip has a corresponding three-layer multicast group groupi, perform three-layer multicast replication forwarding, and the total number of replicated copies is i, and forward them to network processor 2; the replicated traffic packets respectively carry the VLAN tag labels V + 1, V + 2, V + 3,......, V + i; this helps the network processor identify the traffic and perform operations such as traffic sorting.

[0034] Step 4: The second network processor selects a part of the traffic for replication again according to the number of users N, and replicates an additional j copies, so it is necessary to satisfy i + j = N, and finally a total of N copies of traffic are generated. The second network processor removes the vlan tag added to the N copies of traffic, restores the original information, and modifies the private packet header information of the switching chip to unicast forwarding. The forwarding targets of each copy of traffic are N different user ports of the switching chip respectively. Each user port receives a copy of the replicated traffic respectively. After the switching chip removes the private packet header of the switching chip, it outputs, and finally each user port outputs a copy of the replicated traffic identical to the original traffic.

[0035] By utilizing the respective functional characteristics of the switching chip and the network processing chip, and combining with the digital communication forwarding principle, the present invention improves the performance of multi-user traffic replication of the overall device. There is no need to purchase additional hardware or chips, no need to replace the device, and it can greatly improve the traffic replication ability and the number of multi-users of the overall device.

Claims

1. A high-performance multi-user traffic replication system based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor, characterized in that: include: a switch chip, a first network processor, and a second network processor; The original traffic first enters the first network processor, which adds the private message header required by the switching chip to the traffic message, and then passes the traffic to the switching chip. During the initialization phase of the switching chip, multiple multicast groups are created, and each multicast group adds a different number of three-layer VLAN interfaces. Each VLAN interface is bound to a physical port connected to the second network processor, ensuring that only one three-layer VLAN interface copies one copy of the traffic, and different multicast groups copy different amounts of traffic. The switching chip performs a three-layer multicast query on the traffic entering from the first network processor to determine whether there is a corresponding three-layer multicast number. If not, the traffic is discarded or other forwarding processes are performed. If so, the three-layer multicast replication is performed and forwarded to the second network processor. The second network processor performs a certain number of replications again based on the traffic replicated by the switching chip according to the number of users to reach the specified number of users, sorts all the traffic and restores the original information, and forwards it to different exits of the switching chip or device through unicast. Each exit corresponds to a different user, and each user obtains a portion of the traffic.

2. The high-performance multi-user traffic replication system based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The first network processor needs to encapsulate a switching private message header with three-layer multicast information based on the original message, where the three-layer multicast information determines the number of copies of the traffic by the switching chip.

3. The high-performance multi-user traffic replication system based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: Assume that the replication capacity of the network processing chip is m, that is, the maximum number of copies allowed within a specific processing time is m. If the switching chip adds a three-layer multicast group and n three-layer interfaces are added to the multicast group, the maximum replication capacity of the system within the specific processing time is n*m.

4. A method based on the high-performance multi-user traffic replication system based on the combination of a switching chip and a network processor as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The steps include: Step 1, switching chip initialization stage; Step 2, the first network processor adds information; the original traffic first enters the first network processor, the first network processor adds the private message header required by the switching chip to the traffic message, and then passes the traffic to the switching chip; Step 3, switching chip layer 3 multicast replication stage: the switching chip replicates and forwards the layer 3 multicast information in the traffic message, and the replicated traffic enters the second network processor for processing; Step 4: Second network processor replication and unicast forwarding phase; The second network processor copies the received traffic message, then restores all the copied traffic to the original message data, and forwards it in unicast in sequence, forwarding it to different exits of the switching chip or device respectively. Each exit corresponds to a different user, and each user receives a share of the traffic.

5. The high-performance multi-user traffic replication method based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that: In step 1, multiple multicast groups are created during the initialization phase of the switching chip. A different number of Layer 3 VLAN interfaces are added to each multicast group. Each VLAN interface is bound to a physical port connected to the second network processor, ensuring that only one Layer 3 VLAN interface copies one copy of the traffic, and different multicast groups copy different amounts of traffic.

6. The high-performance multi-user traffic replication method based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that: In step 2, the first network processor needs to encapsulate a switching private message header with three-layer multicast information based on the original message, wherein the three-layer multicast information determines the number of copies of the traffic by the switching chip.

7. The high-performance multi-user traffic replication method based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that: In step 3, the switching chip performs a layer 3 multicast query on the traffic entering from the first network processor to determine whether there is a corresponding layer 3 multicast number. If not, the traffic is discarded or other forwarding processes are performed. If so, layer 3 multicast replication is performed and forwarded to the second network processor.

8. The high-performance multi-user traffic replication method based on a combination of a switching chip and a network processor as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that: In step 4, the second network processor makes a certain number of copies again based on the traffic copied by the switching chip according to the number of users to reach the specified number of users, sorts all the traffic and restores the original information, and forwards it to the switching chip via unicast. The switching chip removes the private message header and forwards a copy of the traffic to each user from different ports.

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