VLAN-PORT-SIGNALING

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a method for operating a network, wherein the network comprises network devices having a plurality of ports, and the network devices are connected to one another for data transmission via cables which are each plugged into a port, wherein each port has a signalling means which can be switched between at least two signalling states, according to the features of the preamble of patent claim 1.

[0002] DE 10 2015 206 379 discloses a signaling system for port connections on switches, in which a signaling device of a port of one network infrastructure device and a signaling device of a port of another network infrastructure device are brought into a signaling state that can be recognized as belonging together. This makes it possible to identify for a user those ports that are to be connected to each other via a cable. US2013 / 0329344 A1 describes a telecommunications patching system with a plurality of patch cables for selectively connecting different pairs of connection ports and a display that shows the connections of a circuit comprising the connection ports and the terminal devices.US2013 / 0336165 A1 describes a switch device comprising a communication interface for receiving a command and an identification module for receiving the command from the communication interface, which processes the command to determine desired identification information, generates a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) frame based on the desired identification information, wherein the LLDP frame includes an optional Type-Length-Value that causes a second switch to perform an identification function and transmits the LLDP frame to the second switch via the communication interface.

[0003] The invention is based on the object of improving a method for operating a network with regard to user-friendliness.

[0004] This object is achieved by the features of patent claim 1. According to the invention, all signaling means of those ports of the network devices are brought into a signaling state that can be recognized as belonging together and that has the same VLAN configuration.

[0005] This has the advantage that all network device ports with the same VLAN configuration are immediately recognizable to the user. This is useful during initial setup, but also when changing existing network configurations, as it is immediately clear which ports have the same configuration (or parameters), allowing the network to be configured, wired, or used accordingly.

[0006] A network device such as a switch can have a single port, but typically a multitude of ports. For example, in a group of network devices that only have a single port, it is immediately possible to identify which network has the same port configuration or the same configured parameters. Network devices typically have multiple ports arranged side by side or one above the other. It is conceivable that all ports are configured differently, or that groups are configured similarly or differently from one another, or that all ports are configured the same.This makes it particularly difficult to locate similarly configured ports, so it is advantageous to identify some of the ports of a network device that are configured in the same way using their associated signaling means and thus to distinguish them from the remaining, differently configured ports, whose signaling means then signal a different configuration.

[0007] The signaling devices are controlled via management software that accesses the network and / or via a network management station integrated into the network. The configuration to be displayed can be selected and configured in advance in the network management software or network management station. This means that a user can query the configuration of the individual network devices or the configuration of the individual ports of the network devices arranged in the network via the network management software or network management station and identify which ports have the same configuration.These can then be selected by the user, whereby this selection controls the control of the signalling means of the ports with the same configuration in such a way that they are brought into a signalling state which is different from the signalling state of the other ports which deviate from this detected and defined configuration.

[0008] The solution is based on the idea that all ports of a network's devices with the same configuration are addressed and their signaling devices, such as LEDs, are set to a signaling state that indicates that these ports are configured similarly. For example, the signaling state could be a permanent glow of the LEDs or a flashing at a specific frequency.

[0009] It would also be conceivable for devices that have a graphic display, for example, to display the corresponding ports directly graphically on this display. A signaling device therefore doesn't have to be a single signaling device (such as an LED), but could also be more complex (such as the aforementioned display, monitor, or similar).

[0010] It is important and advantageous that the signaling devices of the respective ports of the network devices are not only brought into a signaling state that identifies them as belonging together, but that a difference to the signaling state of the other signaling devices of the ports of the respective associated network device or of all other network devices (e.g., when several network devices are grouped together in a patch panel) is also recognizable. For example, several network devices such as switches are usually grouped one above the other and / or next to each other in a rack or patch panel. These individual switches have a number of ports (e.g., arranged next to each other, but also one above the other), with each port usually assigned a signaling device, such as an LED.During normal operation, once such a patch panel is wired and commissioned, a multitude of LEDs flash randomly. In this case, it is important that the signaling devices for the ports to be signaled, which have the same configuration, are set to a signaling state that not only indicates that the ports with the same configuration belong together, but also clearly distinguishes them from the other signaling states of the other ports on the network devices.At this point, it can be remembered that for normal operation during data transmission, the signaling means of the ports of the network devices flash in the usual way depending on the data transmission and the ports to be made recognizable are identified by their signaling means, for example, lighting up permanently, flashing at a different frequency or switching to a different color.

[0011] In a further development of the invention, the signaling means of the associated ports are permanently illuminated at the same time, have the same color or flash synchronously with each other, while the remaining ports of the network devices flash, have a different color or flash at a different frequency.

[0012] In a further development of the invention, to distinguish between the ports, the signaling means of the associated ports are permanently illuminated simultaneously, while the remaining signaling means of the ports of the network devices, in particular of all network devices in the network, are switched off or have a different brightness than that of the illuminated ports. This also ensures that the ports identified as belonging together are clearly distinguishable from the ports of the network devices, preferably of all network devices in the network or patch panel.

[0013] Alternatively or additionally, a further development of the invention provides that the signaling means of the associated ports flash synchronously with each other, while the remaining signaling means of the ports of the network devices, in particular all network devices of the network, flash out of phase, are switched off, or have a different brightness than that of the illuminated ports. This also allows a clear distinction between those signaling means of the ports that signal normal data transmission and those ports with the same configuration.

[0014] In a further development of the invention, it is particularly advantageous if the signaling means of the associated ports are controlled in the same color, with the remaining ports having a different color. This can be achieved particularly easily by using two-color (or even multi-color) signaling means, such as two- or multi-color LEDs. Thus, it is conceivable that during normal data transmission operation, all signaling means of the ports of the network devices light up, for example, flashing depending on the transmitted data, whereas ports with the same configuration flash at the same regular or irregular frequency, but in a different color. This allows the color difference to be used to very quickly determine which ports belong together.

[0015] Below, the idea is repeated in other words and explained in more detail using various examples.

[0016] Current status / problem: Currently, it's sometimes difficult to determine whether everything has been configured correctly on all switches and all ports of a switch in complex configurations. For example, whether VLAN=5 has been created on all affected switches and whether all planned ports on all switches have been included in this VLAN. This also applies to other "per bridge" or "per port" parameters, such as multiple spanning tree instances, GVRP protocol, Profinet, etc. It's not always easy to determine whether a configuration is complete.

[0017] Idea with solution: A new "Feature LED Signaling" or "Parameter LED Signaling" function is created, which would signal, with the help of LED flashing (device LEDs and / or port LEDs), whether a certain feature (or parameter) has already been configured in a certain way on this device or only on this port.

[0018] Example: Clicking on VLAN5 in the web interface or in a network management software (e.g., HiDiscovery) brings up a context menu where you can select and activate "Signaling." In this case, this would mean that all ports of the given switch belonging to VLAN5 should begin blinking (during this time, other blinking processes, such as RSTP, should also be suspended). This "VLAN5 Signaling" command could then be forwarded (e.g., via LLDP) to other switches, so that eventually all ports on all switches already included in VLAN5, i.e., with the same configuration, would blink. Similarly, you could, for example, command all ports of a network device (especially a switch) belonging to a specific MSTP instance to blink, or to blink those ports for which a specific source MAC address has been learned, etc.Or you could also blink the ports that are included in a ring network (e.g. Hiperring), or you could blink a switch that is a root bridge in RSTP (this time all ports of the switch).

[0019] Another possible implementation of this idea would be possible, and it would blink the affected ports on the graphical topology map (in addition to the physical switches) (although the affected ports could also be labeled with the additional text "VLAN5"). Such a mechanism would be much easier to implement in software due to the fact that one has access to all MIBs of all devices. For this purpose, a port blink command (or PortBlink MIB) could be implemented, which could be sent to a desired switch.

[0020] Advantages of the idea: Such a feature signaling function can significantly simplify certain complex network configurations by making it easier to verify the completeness of a configuration. For the same reason, it can also facilitate troubleshooting, because, for example, one could quickly see whether one has accidentally added one port too many (or too few) to a VLAN=X. LLDP: Link Layer Discovery Protocol RSTP: Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol VLAN: Virtual Local Area Network MIB: Management Information Base MAC: Media Access Control GVRP: GARP VLAN Registration Protocol GARP: Generic Attribute Registration Protocols LED: Light Emitting Diode

Claims

1. Method for operating a network, wherein the network comprises a plurality of network devices having ports and the network devices are connected to each other via cables, which are plugged into a respective port of the network devices, for data transmission, wherein each port has a signalling means which is switchable between at least two signalling states, characterized in that all signalling means of those ports of the network devices which have the same VLAN configuration are brought into a signalling state that can be recognized as related by means of network management software accessing the network and / or a network management station integrated in the network, wherein the signalling state which can be recognized as related has a different brightness or colour compared to the signalling means of the other ports, wherein the signal state which can be recognized as related is passed on to the corresponding network devices by the network management software and / or the network management station via a command.

2. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the signalling means are controlled via the network management software accessing the network after the configuration to be displayed has been selected beforehand in the network management software and determined for display.

3. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the signalling means are controlled via the network management station integrated in the network after the configuration to be displayed has been selected beforehand in the network management station and determined for display.

4. Method according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the signalling means of the related ports simultaneously permanently emit light, have an identical colour or flash in sync with each other.

5. Method according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the signalling means of the related ports simultaneously permanently emit light and the remaining signalling means of the ports of the other network devices are switched off or have a different brightness than that of the light-emitting ports.

6. Method according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the signalling means of the related ports flash in sync with each other and the remaining signalling means of the ports of the other network devices flash with a phase shift, are switched off or have a different brightness than that of the light-emitting ports.

7. Method according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the signalling means of the related ports are controlled in the same colour.