APL network device management system and method

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an APL network device management system and method. The system comprises: a cloud-side management device, a field-side controller and a plurality of APL network devices, wherein the plurality of APL network devices include cascaded first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices and third-level APL network devices; the controller is connected to both the management device and the first-level APL network devices; each APL network device periodically sends device information thereof to a neighbor APL network device connected thereto; and the management device periodically acquires the device information of the APL network devices and adjacency relationships therebetween by means of the controller, generates an APL network device topology diagram on the basis of the device information and the adjacency relationships, and monitors and manages the plurality of APL network devices on the basis of the topology diagram, the device information and the adjacency relationships.

Description

APL network equipment management system and method

[0001] Cross-reference

[0002] This disclosure claims priority to Chinese patent application number 202311802051.1, filed with the Patent Office of China on December 25, 2023, entitled “APL Network Equipment Management System and Method,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the field of industrial control technology, and in particular to an APL network device management system and method. Background Art

[0004] Industrial Ethernet has been widely used in the automation field. However, due to environmental and historical reasons, it has not been suitable for the field side of industrial control systems. However, with the official launch of the APL (Advanced Physical Layer) standard, many issues related to using the Ethernet physical layer in industrial control systems have been resolved. The unique advantages of APL technology can create greater value for process industries and gradually replace traditional field-side communication technologies.

[0005] In industrial networks, for network security reasons, the field and control side networks are isolated. Industrial network management systems can only manage up to the controller level and are unable to manage networks below the controller. The APL network below the controller contains numerous devices and network connections, and the devices are physically dispersed. Managing the APL network under so many controllers requires regular on-site manual review, inspection, and maintenance, which is not only costly and inefficient, but also hinders timely detection of network problems.

[0006] To address the above-mentioned problems, no effective solutions have been proposed so far. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide an APL network device management system and method to at least solve the technical problem of high cost and low efficiency in manual inspection and maintenance of APL network devices in the related art.

[0008] According to one aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, an APL network device management system is provided, comprising: a management device on the cloud side, a controller on the field side, and multiple APL network devices, wherein the multiple APL network devices include: cascaded first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices, and third-level APL network devices, and the controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network devices, wherein each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to a neighboring APL network device connected to itself; the management device is configured to periodically obtain device information of each APL network device through the controller, and obtain adjacency relationships between each APL network device; an APL network device topology map is generated based on the device information and adjacency relationships, and multiple APL network devices are monitored and managed based on the device information, adjacency relationships, and the APL network device topology map.

[0009] Optionally, the types of first-level APL network devices include: APL power switches; the types of second-level APL network devices include: APL field switches, APL general input and output devices, APL wireless gateways; the types of third-level APL network devices include: APL terminals.

[0010] Optionally, each APL network device is configured to periodically send LLDP messages to neighboring APL network devices connected to it at preset time intervals, wherein the LLDP messages include device information of the APL network device, and the device information includes at least: the device IP, device port number, and device identifier of the APL network device.

[0011] Optionally, each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device is configured to build its own neighbor table based on the LLDP message it receives, wherein the neighbor table stores the device port number of the first-level APL network device or the second-level APL network device itself, and the device information of the neighbor APL network device of the first-level APL network device or the second-level APL network device.

[0012] Optionally, each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device is configured to insert the device information of the neighboring APL network device in the LLDP message into its own neighbor table when it first receives the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device; when it subsequently receives the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device, it updates its own neighbor table based on the device information of the neighboring APL network device in the new LLDP message; if it exceeds a preset time period without receiving the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device, it deletes the device information of the neighboring APL network device in its own neighbor table.

[0013] Optionally, the management device is configured to send a management command encapsulated in an SNMP message to the controller, wherein the SNMP message is used to instruct the receiving device to feedback the neighbor table of each APL network device; the controller is configured to respond to the SNMP message, read the detection information of the communication card slot in the controller, and determine the first IP of each first-level APL network device from the detection information; forward the SNMP message to each first-level APL network device based on the first IP; each first-level APL network device is configured to forward the SNMP message to its own neighbor APL network device based on the device IP of the neighbor APL network device in its own neighbor table; the neighbor APL network device is configured to forward the SNMP message to its own neighbor APL network device based on the device IP of the neighbor APL network device in its own neighbor table; the SNMP message forwarding process is repeated until each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device receive the SNMP message; each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device is configured to respond to the SNMP message and uniformly feedback its own neighbor table and the neighbor table received from the neighbor APL network device to the device that sent the SNMP message to itself; the controller is also configured to uniformly feedback the received neighbor table of each APL network device to the management device.

[0014] Optionally, the management device is configured to summarize the device IPs of each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device to obtain a first list; summarize the neighbor tables of each APL network device to obtain a second list; determine the device type and device model of each APL network device based on the device identification of each APL network device, and generate a third list based on the target device information of each APL network device, wherein the target device information includes: device IP, device port number, device identification, device type and device model.

[0015] Optionally, the management device is configured to draw the device controls corresponding to each first-level APL network device, second-level APL network device and third-level APL network device step by step according to the third list; determine the adjacency relationship between each APL network device according to the second list, and connect the device controls corresponding to each APL network device according to the adjacency relationship to obtain an APL network device topology map.

[0016] Optionally, the management device is configured to periodically compare the third list of the current period with the third list of the previous period, determine the offline APL network devices based on the comparison results, generate device offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network devices in the APL network device topology map; compare the second list of the current period with the second list of the previous period, determine the offline APL network links based on the comparison results, generate link offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network links in the APL network device topology map.

[0017] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, an APL network device management method is also provided, including: periodically obtaining device information of each APL network device through a controller, and obtaining adjacency relationships between each APL network device, wherein the multiple APL network devices include: a first-level APL network device, a second-level APL network device, and a third-level APL network device, each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to a neighboring APL network device connected to it, and the controller is connected to a management device and the first-level APL network device; generating an APL network device topology map based on the device information and adjacency relationships; and monitoring and managing the multiple APL network devices based on the device information, adjacency relationships, and the APL network device topology map.

[0018] Optionally, the types of first-level APL network devices include: APL power switches; the types of second-level APL network devices include: APL field switches, APL general input and output devices, APL wireless gateways; the types of third-level APL network devices include: APL terminals.

[0019] Optionally, the device information of each APL network device is periodically obtained through the controller, and the adjacency relationship between each APL network device is obtained, including: sending a management command encapsulated in an SNMP message to the controller, wherein the SNMP message is used to instruct the receiving device to feedback the neighbor table of each APL network device, the receiving device includes: a first-level APL network device and a second-level APL network device, the neighbor table stores the device port number of the receiving device itself and the device information of the neighbor APL network device of the receiving device, and the device information includes at least: device IP, device port number, device identifier; the neighbor table of each APL network device uniformly fed back by the receiving controller.

[0020] Optionally, an APL network device topology map is generated based on device information and adjacency relationships, including: summarizing neighbor tables of each APL network device to obtain a second list; determining the device type and device model of each APL network device based on the device identification of each APL network device, and generating a third list based on the target device information of each APL network device, wherein the target device information includes: device IP, device port number, device identification, device type and device model; drawing the device controls corresponding to each first-level APL network device, second-level APL network device and third-level APL network device step by step according to the third list; determining the adjacency relationship between each APL network device based on the second list, and connecting the device controls corresponding to each APL network device based on the adjacency relationship to obtain an APL network device topology map.

[0021] Optionally, multiple APL network devices are monitored and managed based on device information, adjacency relationships and an APL network device topology map, including: periodically comparing the third list of the current period with the third list of the previous period, determining offline APL network devices based on the comparison results, generating device offline alarm information, and marking and displaying the offline APL network devices in the APL network device topology map; periodically comparing the second list of the current period with the second list of the previous period, determining offline APL network links based on the comparison results, generating link offline alarm information, and marking and displaying the offline APL network links in the APL network device topology map.

[0022] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a non-volatile storage medium is provided, which includes a stored computer program, wherein the device where the non-volatile storage medium is located executes the above-mentioned APL network device management method by running the computer program.

[0023] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the above-mentioned APL network device management method through the computer program.

[0024] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an APL network device management system includes a management device on the cloud side, a controller on the field side, and multiple APL network devices. The multiple APL network devices include: cascaded first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices, and third-level APL network devices. The controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network device, wherein each APL network device can periodically send its own device information to a neighboring APL network device connected to itself; the management device can periodically obtain device information of each APL network device through the controller, and obtain the adjacency relationship between each APL network device; an APL network device topology map is generated based on the device information and the adjacency relationship, and multiple APL network devices are monitored and managed based on the device information, the adjacency relationship, and the APL network device topology map. Among them, by transferring information through the controller, APL devices in the APL network can be centrally managed, breaking the isolation restrictions between the industrial control network and the APL network; the status of all APL devices in the APL network can be monitored through the APL network device topology diagram, and real-time monitoring can be carried out to promptly discover network anomalies, effectively solving the technical problems of high cost and low efficiency in manual inspection and maintenance of APL network devices in related technologies. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure and constitute a part of the present disclosure. The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and their descriptions are provided to explain the present disclosure and do not constitute an improper limitation of the present disclosure. In the drawings:

[0026] FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of an optional APL network device management system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] FIG2 is a schematic structural diagram of an optional computer terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG3 is a flow chart of an optional APL network device management method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solutions of the present disclosure, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts should fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0030] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification, claims, and drawings of the present disclosure are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the numbers used in this way are interchangeable where appropriate so that the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units that are clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or that are inherent to these processes, methods, products, or apparatus.

[0031] To better understand the embodiments of the present disclosure, some nouns or terms that appear in the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure are first translated and explained as follows:

[0032] APL: It is a two-wire Ethernet physical layer designed specifically for the process industry. It has the advantages of long bridging distance, can be used in explosion-proof areas, and has high interoperability.

[0033] LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) is a standard Layer 2 discovery method that sends the management address, device ID, interface ID, and other information of the local device to its neighboring devices. The neighboring devices save the received information for the management system to query and determine the link communication status.

[0034] SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol): It is a set of network management protocols defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force. The SNMP management system can remotely manage all network devices that support this protocol.

[0035] Example 1

[0036] In a traditional industrial network APL device management system, the industrial network management system can only manage the controller layer, but cannot manage the network below the controller. There are many devices and network connections in the APL network below the controller, and the physical locations of the devices are scattered. If you want to manage the APL network under many controllers, you need to go to the site regularly for manual sorting, inspection and maintenance, which is not only costly and inefficient, but also unable to discover problems in the network in time. In order to solve the above problems, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides an APL network device management system, as shown in Figure 1, the system includes: a management device 11 on the cloud side, a controller 12 on the field side and multiple high-level physical layer APL network devices 13 (1~n), the multiple APL network devices include: cascaded first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices and third-level APL network devices, the controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network device, wherein,

[0037] Each APL network device 13 (1-n) can periodically send its own device information to neighboring APL network devices connected to it;

[0038] The management device 11 can periodically obtain the device information of each APL network device through the controller, and obtain the adjacency relationship between each APL network device; generate an APL network device topology map based on the device information and adjacency relationship, and monitor and manage multiple APL network devices based on the device information, adjacency relationship and APL network device topology map.

[0039] The following describes the functions of each module of the APL network equipment management system in conjunction with the specific implementation process.

[0040] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the type of the first-level APL network device may be an APL power switch; the type of the second-level APL network device may be an APL field switch, an APL general input and output device, or an APL wireless gateway; the type of the third-level APL network device may be an APL terminal.

[0041] It should be noted that multiple first-level APL network devices can be connected to each other, and multiple APL field switches in the second-level APL network devices can also be connected to each other, thereby realizing data transmission and communication between APL power switches and transmission and communication between APL field switches.

[0042] Each APL network device can periodically send LLDP messages to neighboring APL network devices connected to it at preset time intervals. The LLDP messages include device information of the APL network device, which includes at least: the device IP address, device port number, and device identifier of the APL network device.

[0043] The preset time interval can be set according to actual needs. The device IP of the APL network device can be an address such as 192.168.1.1. The device port number is the port used by the device in network communication, for example, 80 (for Hypertext Transfer Protocol communication) or 443 (for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Security communication). The device identifier is a unique identifier of the device, usually assigned by the device manufacturer or automatically generated by the device, such as the device's MAC address (Media Access Control Address, local area network address) or the device's serial number.

[0044] Accordingly, each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device can build its own neighbor table based on the LLDP message it receives, wherein the neighbor table stores the device port number of the first-level APL network device or the second-level APL network device itself, and the device information of the neighbor APL network devices of the first-level APL network device or the second-level APL network device.

[0045] Specifically, the device port number is the local port number and the remote port number, and the device information is the remote IP and the remote system name.

[0046] Each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device can insert the device information of the neighboring APL network device in the LLDP message into its own neighbor table when it first receives the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device; when it subsequently receives the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device, it updates its own neighbor table according to the device information of the neighboring APL network device in the new LLDP message; if it fails to receive the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device within a preset time period, it deletes the device information of the neighboring APL network device from its own neighbor table.

[0047] Through the above solution, the neighbor device information of each first-level APL network device and second-level APL network device can be updated in real time, avoiding the problem of inaccurate neighbor information caused by failure or movement of neighbor APL network devices, thereby ensuring the accuracy of neighbor devices and their device information.

[0048] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the management device may send a management command encapsulated in an SNMP message to the controller, wherein the SNMP message is used to instruct the receiving device to feed back the neighbor table of each APL network device.

[0049] After receiving a management command containing an SNMP message from the management device, the controller can respond to the SNMP message, read the detection information of the communication card slot in the controller, and determine the first IP of each first-level APL network device from the detection information; and forward the SNMP message to each first-level APL network device based on the first IP.

[0050] After receiving the SNMP message sent by the controller, each first-level APL network device can forward the SNMP message to its own neighbor APL network device based on the device IP of the neighbor APL network device in its own neighbor table.

[0051] After receiving the SNMP message forwarded by the first-level APL network device, the neighboring APL network device can forward the SNMP message to its own neighboring APL network device based on the device IP of the neighboring APL network device in its own neighbor table.

[0052] The SNMP message forwarding process is repeated until each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device receives the SNMP message.

[0053] After receiving the SNMP message, each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device can respond to the SNMP message and uniformly feed back its own neighbor table and the neighbor table fed back by the neighboring APL network device to the device that sent the SNMP message to itself.

[0054] Afterwards, the controller may uniformly feed back the received neighbor tables of each APL network device to the management device.

[0055] It can be understood that after receiving the management command containing SNMP messages sent by the management device, the controller can read the detection information of the communication card slots in the controller through the controller's point-to-point communication command, and determine whether each card slot has a corresponding first-level APL network device inserted. If a first-level APL network device is inserted, its corresponding card slot number is obtained, and the first IP address of the first-level APL network device can be calculated according to the card slot number using the preset IP address calculation rules. After that, the SNMP message can be forwarded to the corresponding first-level APL network device according to its IP address.

[0056] After receiving the neighbor table of each APL network device sent by the controller, the management device can summarize the device IP of each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device to obtain a first list; summarize the neighbor table of each APL network device to obtain a second list; determine the device type and device model of each APL network device based on the device identification of each APL network device, and generate a third list based on the target device information of each APL network device, wherein the target device information includes: device IP, device port number, device identification, device type and device model.

[0057] It should be noted that when the management device summarizes the device IPs of each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device, it will eliminate the duplicate device IPs of the APL network devices. That is, duplicate device IPs will not be repeatedly added to the first list, ensuring the uniqueness of each device IP in the first list, which is conducive to the subsequent network device management and maintenance work.

[0058] Afterwards, the management device can draw the device controls corresponding to each first-level APL network device, second-level APL network device, and third-level APL network device step by step according to the third list; determine the adjacency relationship between each APL network device according to the second list, and connect the device controls corresponding to each APL network device according to the adjacency relationship to obtain the APL network device topology map.

[0059] The specific topology structure of the APL network device topology diagram is as follows: the vertex is the controller, the first layer is the various first-level APL network devices, namely the APL power switch, the second layer is multiple second-level APL network devices, namely the APL field switches, APL general input and output devices, and APL wireless gateways, and the third layer is multiple third-level APL network devices, namely the APL terminals.

[0060] It should be noted that when drawing device controls for the APL network device topology diagram, if an APL power switch has two different IP addresses for networks A and B, two APL power switch controls with different IP addresses need to be drawn. However, when their IP addresses are 172.25.XY and 172.26.XY respectively, that is, the first two digits are fixed to 172.25 and 172.26, and the last two digits are the same, their IP addresses need to be merged, specifically in the form of 172.25 / 26.XY. In this case, only one APL power switch control needs to be drawn.

[0061] After drawing the APL network device topology map, the management device can periodically compare the third list of the current cycle with the third list of the previous cycle, determine the offline APL network devices based on the comparison results, generate device offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network devices in the APL network device topology map; compare the second list of the current cycle with the second list of the previous cycle, determine the offline APL network links based on the comparison results, generate link offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network links in the APL network device topology map.

[0062] Among them, offline APL network devices can be displayed in the APL network device topology diagram in the form of highlighting, flashing, different colors, etc. Offline alarm information can be notified to staff through SMS, email, WeChat, phone, etc., so that staff can receive alarm information in time and deal with offline devices in time.

[0063] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an APL network device management system includes a management device on the cloud side, a controller on the field side, and multiple APL network devices. The multiple APL network devices include: cascaded first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices, and third-level APL network devices. The controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network device, wherein each APL network device can periodically send its own device information to a neighboring APL network device connected to itself; the management device can periodically obtain device information of each APL network device through the controller, and obtain the adjacency relationship between each APL network device; an APL network device topology map is generated based on the device information and the adjacency relationship, and multiple APL network devices are monitored and managed based on the device information, the adjacency relationship, and the APL network device topology map. Among them, by transferring information through the controller, APL devices in the APL network can be centrally managed, breaking the isolation restrictions between the industrial control network and the APL network; the status of all APL devices in the APL network can be monitored through the APL network device topology diagram, and real-time monitoring can be carried out to promptly discover network anomalies, effectively solving the technical problems of high cost and low efficiency in manual inspection and maintenance of APL network devices in related technologies.

[0064] Example 2

[0065] Based on the above-mentioned APL network device management system, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides an APL network device management method implemented by a management device. It should be noted that the steps shown in the flowchart of the accompanying drawings can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions, and although a logical order is shown in the flowchart, in some cases, the steps shown or described can be executed in an order different from that shown here.

[0066] The management device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can be executed in a mobile terminal, a computer terminal, or a similar computing device. Figure 2 shows a hardware structure block diagram of a computer terminal (or mobile device) configured to implement the APL network device management method. As shown in Figure 2, the computer terminal 20 (or mobile device 20) may include one or more (202a, 202b, ..., 202n are used in the figure to illustrate) processors 202 (the processor 202 may include but is not limited to a processing device such as a microprocessor MCU or a programmable logic device FPGA), a memory 204 configured to store data, and a transmission device 206 configured to have a communication function. In addition, it may also include: a display, an input / output interface (I / O interface), a universal serial bus (USB) port (which may be included as one of the ports of the BUS bus), a network interface, a power supply, and / or a camera. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the structure shown in Figure 2 is merely illustrative and does not limit the structure of the above-mentioned electronic device. For example, the computer terminal 20 may also include more or fewer components than shown in Figure 2, or have a configuration different from that shown in Figure 2.

[0067] It should be noted that the one or more processors 202 and / or other data processing circuits described above may generally be referred to herein as "data processing circuitry." The data processing circuitry may be embodied in whole or in part as software, hardware, firmware, or any other combination thereof. Furthermore, the data processing circuitry may be a single, independent processing module, or may be incorporated in whole or in part into any of the other components of the computer terminal 20 (or mobile device). As described in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the data processing circuitry serves as a processor control (e.g., selection of a variable resistor terminal path connected to an interface).

[0068] The memory 204 can be configured to store software programs and modules of application software, such as the program instructions / data storage device corresponding to the APL network device management method in the embodiment of the present disclosure. The processor 202 executes various functional applications and data processing by running the software programs and modules stored in the memory 204, that is, implementing the vulnerability detection method for the application program described above. The memory 204 can include a high-speed random access memory and can also include a non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic storage devices, flash memory, or other non-volatile solid-state memory. In some examples, the memory 204 can further include a memory remotely located relative to the processor 202, and these remote memories can be connected to the computer terminal 20 via a network. Examples of the above-mentioned network include, but are not limited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

[0069] The transmission device 206 is configured to receive or transmit data via a network. A specific example of the aforementioned network may include a wireless network provided by the communications provider of the computer terminal 20. In one embodiment, the transmission device 206 includes a network interface controller (NIC), which can be connected to other network devices via a base station to enable communication with the Internet. In another embodiment, the transmission device 206 may be a radio frequency (RF) module configured to communicate with the Internet wirelessly.

[0070] The display may be, for example, a touch screen liquid crystal display (LCD) that enables a user to interact with a user interface of the computer terminal 20 (or mobile device).

[0071] In the above operating environment, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides an APL network device management method, as shown in FIG3 , which includes the following steps:

[0072] Step S302: Periodically obtain device information of each APL network device through the controller, and obtain adjacency relationships between the APL network devices. The multiple APL network devices include: first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices, and third-level APL network devices. Each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to its connected neighbor APL network devices. The controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network devices.

[0073] Step S304: Generate an APL network device topology map based on the device information and adjacency relationship;

[0074] Step S306: Monitor and manage multiple APL network devices based on device information, adjacency relationships, and the APL network device topology map.

[0075] The following describes the various steps of the APL network device management method in conjunction with a specific implementation process.

[0076] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the type of the first-level APL network device may be an APL power switch; the type of the second-level APL network device may be an APL field switch, an APL general input and output device, or an APL wireless gateway; the type of the third-level APL network device may be an APL terminal.

[0077] It should be noted that multiple first-level APL network devices can be connected to each other, and multiple APL field switches in the second-level APL network devices can also be connected to each other, thereby realizing data transmission and communication between APL power switches and transmission and communication between APL field switches.

[0078] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, periodically obtaining device information of each APL network device through a controller and obtaining the adjacency relationship between each APL network device can be performed as follows: sending a management command encapsulated in an SNMP message to the controller, wherein the SNMP message is used to instruct the receiving device to feedback the neighbor table of each APL network device, the receiving device includes: a first-level APL network device and a second-level APL network device, the neighbor table stores the device port number of the receiving device itself and the device information of the neighbor APL network device of the receiving device, the device information includes at least: device IP, device port number, device identifier; receiving the neighbor table of each APL network device uniformly fed back by the controller.

[0079] The device IP address of an APL network device can be an address such as 192.168.1.1. The device port number is the port used by the device for network communications, such as 80 (for Hypertext Transfer Protocol communications) or 443 (for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Security communications). The device ID is a unique identifier for the device, typically assigned by the device manufacturer or automatically generated by the device, such as the device's MAC address or serial number. The device port number includes the local port number and the remote port number, while the device information includes the remote IP address and the remote system name.

[0080] It can be understood that after receiving the management command containing SNMP messages sent by the management device, the controller can read the detection information of the communication card slots in the controller through the controller's point-to-point communication command, and determine whether each card slot has a corresponding first-level APL network device inserted. If a first-level APL network device is inserted, its corresponding card slot number is obtained, and the first IP address of the first-level APL network device can be calculated according to the card slot number using the preset IP address calculation rules. After that, the SNMP message can be forwarded to the corresponding first-level APL network device according to its IP address.

[0081] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an APL network device topology map can be generated based on device information and adjacency relationships in the following manner: a neighbor table of each APL network device is summarized to obtain a second list; a device type and device model of each APL network device is determined based on a device identifier of each APL network device, and a third list is generated based on target device information of each APL network device, wherein the target device information includes: device IP, device port number, device identifier, device type and device model; device controls corresponding to each first-level APL network device, second-level APL network device and third-level APL network device are drawn level by level based on the third list; adjacency relationships between each APL network device are determined based on the second list, and device controls corresponding to each APL network device are connected based on the adjacency relationships to obtain an APL network device topology map.

[0082] It should be noted that when the management device summarizes the device IPs of each first-level APL network device and each second-level APL network device, it will eliminate the duplicate device IPs of the APL network devices. That is, duplicate device IPs will not be repeatedly added to the first list, ensuring the uniqueness of each device IP in the first list, which is conducive to the subsequent network device management and maintenance work.

[0083] The specific topology structure of the APL network device topology diagram is as follows: the vertex is the controller, the first layer is the various first-level APL network devices, namely the APL power switch, the second layer is multiple second-level APL network devices, namely the APL field switches, APL general input and output devices, and APL wireless gateways, and the third layer is multiple third-level APL network devices, namely the APL terminals.

[0084] It should be noted that when drawing device controls for the APL network device topology diagram, if an APL power switch has two different IP addresses for networks A and B, two APL power switch controls with different IP addresses need to be drawn. However, when their IP addresses are 172.25.XY and 172.26.XY respectively, that is, the first two digits are fixed to 172.25 and 172.26, and the last two digits are the same, their IP addresses need to be merged, specifically in the form of 172.25 / 26.XY. In this case, only one APL power switch control needs to be drawn.

[0085] Afterwards, multiple APL network devices can be monitored and managed based on device information, adjacency relationships, and the APL network device topology map in the following manner: periodically compare the third list of the current cycle with the third list of the previous cycle, determine offline APL network devices based on the comparison results, generate device offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network devices in the APL network device topology map; periodically compare the second list of the current cycle with the second list of the previous cycle, determine offline APL network links based on the comparison results, generate link offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network links in the APL network device topology map.

[0086] Among them, offline APL network devices can be displayed in the APL network device topology diagram in the form of highlighting, flashing, different colors, etc. Offline alarm information can be notified to staff through SMS, email, WeChat, phone, etc., so that staff can receive alarm information in time and deal with offline devices in time.

[0087] In the disclosed embodiment, a controller periodically obtains device information for each APL network device and obtains adjacency relationships between each APL network device. The multiple APL network devices include: first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices, and third-level APL network devices. Each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to its connected neighboring APL network devices. The controller is connected to a management device and the first-level APL network devices. An APL network device topology map is generated based on the device information and adjacency relationships. Multiple APL network devices are monitored and managed based on the device information, adjacency relationships, and the APL network device topology map. By relaying information through the controller, APL devices within the APL network can be centrally managed, breaking the isolation restrictions between the industrial control network and the APL network. The APL network device topology map can monitor the status of all APL devices in the APL network, enabling real-time monitoring and timely detection of network anomalies. This effectively addresses the high cost and low efficiency of manual inspection and maintenance of APL network devices in related technologies.

[0088] Example 3

[0089] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a non-volatile storage medium is further provided, which includes a stored computer program, wherein the device where the non-volatile storage medium is located executes the APL network device management method in Example 2 by running the computer program.

[0090] Specifically, the device where the non-volatile storage medium is located implements the following steps by running the computer program: periodically obtaining device information of each APL network device through a controller, and obtaining the adjacency relationship between each APL network device, wherein the multiple APL network devices include: a first-level APL network device, a second-level APL network device and a third-level APL network device, each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to a neighboring APL network device connected to itself, and the controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network device; an APL network device topology map is generated based on the device information and the adjacency relationship; and multiple APL network devices are monitored and managed based on the device information, the adjacency relationship and the APL network device topology map.

[0091] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a processor is further provided, which is configured to run a computer program, wherein the APL network device management method in embodiment 1 is executed when the computer program is run.

[0092] Specifically, the computer program executes the following steps when it is running: periodically obtaining device information of each APL network device through a controller, and obtaining the adjacency relationship between each APL network device, wherein the multiple APL network devices include: first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices and third-level APL network devices, each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to a neighboring APL network device connected to itself, and the controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network device; generating an APL network device topology map based on the device information and the adjacency relationship; and monitoring and managing the multiple APL network devices based on the device information, the adjacency relationship and the APL network device topology map.

[0093] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device is further provided. The electronic device includes: a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the APL network device management method in embodiment 1 through the computer program.

[0094] Specifically, the computer program executes the following steps when it is running: periodically obtaining device information of each APL network device through a controller, and obtaining the adjacency relationship between each APL network device, wherein the multiple APL network devices include: first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices and third-level APL network devices, each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to a neighboring APL network device connected to itself, and the controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network device; generating an APL network device topology map based on the device information and the adjacency relationship; and monitoring and managing the multiple APL network devices based on the device information, the adjacency relationship and the APL network device topology map.

[0095] The serial numbers of the above embodiments are for description only and do not represent the advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments.

[0096] In the above embodiments of the present disclosure, the description of each embodiment has its own focus. For parts that are not described in detail in a certain embodiment, reference can be made to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments.

[0097] In the several embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content can be implemented in other ways. Among them, the device embodiments described above are only exemplary. For example, the division of units can be a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of units or modules, which can be electrical or other forms.

[0098] Units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple units. Some or all of the units may be selected to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment according to actual needs.

[0099] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present disclosure may be integrated into a single processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit. The aforementioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units.

[0100] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the various embodiments of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a mobile hard disk, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0101] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. These improvements and modifications should also be regarded as within the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Industrial Applicability

[0102] The technical solution provided by the present disclosure can be applied to the field of industrial control technology. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an APL network device management system includes a management device on the cloud side, a controller on the field side, and multiple APL network devices. The multiple APL network devices include: cascaded first-level APL network devices, second-level APL network devices, and third-level APL network devices. The controller is connected to the management device and the first-level APL network device. Each APL network device can periodically send its own device information to a neighboring APL network device connected to itself; the management device can periodically obtain device information of each APL network device through the controller, and obtain the adjacency relationship between each APL network device; an APL network device topology map is generated based on the device information and the adjacency relationship, and multiple APL network devices are monitored and managed based on the device information, the adjacency relationship, and the APL network device topology map. Among them, by transferring information through the controller, APL devices in the APL network can be centrally managed, breaking the isolation restrictions between the industrial control network and the APL network; the status of all APL devices in the APL network can be monitored through the APL network device topology diagram, and real-time monitoring can be carried out to promptly discover network anomalies, effectively solving the technical problems of high cost and low efficiency in manual inspection and maintenance of APL network devices in related technologies.

Claims

1. An APL network device management system, comprising: A management device on the cloud side, a controller on the site side, and multiple Advanced Physical Layer (APL) network devices. Among the multiple APL network devices, there are cascaded primary APL network devices, secondary APL network devices, and tertiary APL network devices. The controller is connected to the management device and the primary APL network device. Among them, each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to the neighboring APL network device connected to it; the management device is configured to periodically obtain the device information of each APL network device through the controller and obtain the adjacency relationship between each APL network device; generate an APL network device topology map based on the device information and the adjacency relationship, and monitor and manage the multiple APL network devices based on the device information, the adjacency relationship, and the APL network device topology map.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein, the type of the primary APL network device includes: APL power switch; the types of the secondary APL network devices include: APL field switch, APL general input / output device, APL wireless gateway; the type of the tertiary APL network device includes: APL terminal.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein, each APL network device is configured to periodically send Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) messages to the neighboring APL network device connected to it according to a preset time interval. Among them, the LLDP message includes the device information of the APL network device, and the device information at least includes: the device IP, device port number, and device identifier of the APL network device.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein, each primary APL network device and each secondary APL network device are configured to build their own neighbor tables based on the LLDP messages received by themselves. Among them, the neighbor table stores the device port number of the primary APL network device or the secondary APL network device itself, and the device information of the neighboring APL network device of the primary APL network device or the secondary APL network device.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein, each primary APL network device and each secondary APL network device are configured to insert the device information of the neighboring APL network device in the LLDP message into their own neighbor tables when receiving the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device for the first time; when receiving the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device subsequently, update their own neighbor tables according to the device information of the neighboring APL network device in the new LLDP message; if the LLDP message sent by the neighboring APL network device is not received for more than a preset duration, delete the device information of the neighboring APL network device in its own neighbor table.

6. The system according to claim 4, wherein, The management device is configured to send a management command encapsulated with a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) message to the controller, where the SNMP message is used to instruct the receiving device to feedback the neighbor tables of each of the APL network devices; The controller is configured to respond to the SNMP message, read the detection information of the communication card slot in the controller, and determine the first IP of each of the first-level APL network devices from the detection information; forward the SNMP message to each of the first-level APL network devices according to the first IP; Each of the first-level APL network devices is configured to forward the SNMP message to its neighbor APL network devices according to the device IP of the neighbor APL network devices in its own neighbor table; the neighbor APL network device is configured to forward the SNMP message to its neighbor APL network devices according to the device IP of the neighbor APL network devices in its own neighbor table; the SNMP message forwarding process is repeatedly executed until each of the first-level APL network devices and each of the second-level APL network devices receives the SNMP message; Each of the first-level APL network devices and each of the second-level APL network devices is configured to respond to the SNMP message and uniformly feedback its own neighbor table and the neighbor tables feedback by the received neighbor APL network devices to the device that sends the SNMP message to itself; The controller is further configured to uniformly feedback the neighbor tables of each of the APL network devices received to the management device.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein, The management device is configured to summarize the device IPs of each of the first-level APL network devices and each of the second-level APL network devices to obtain a first list; Summarize the neighbor tables of each of the APL network devices to obtain a second list; Determine the device type and device model of each of the APL network devices according to the device identifier of each of the APL network devices, and generate a third list according to the target device information of each of the APL network devices, where the target device information includes: device IP, device port number, device identifier, device type, and device model.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein, The management device is configured to draw the device controls corresponding to each of the first-level APL network devices, the second-level APL network devices, and the third-level APL network devices step by step according to the third list; determine the adjacency relationship between each of the APL network devices according to the second list, and connect the device controls corresponding to each of the APL network devices according to the adjacency relationship to obtain the APL network device topology diagram.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein, The management device is configured to periodically compare the third list of the current period with the third list of the previous period, determine the offline APL network devices according to the comparison result, generate device offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network devices in the APL network device topology diagram; Compare the second list of the current cycle with the second list of the previous cycle, determine the offline APL network link according to the comparison result, generate link offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network link in the APL network device topology diagram.

10. An APL network device management method, applied to a management device, the method comprising: Periodically obtain device information of each APL network device through a controller, and obtain the adjacency relationship between each of the APL network devices, wherein, among the multiple APL network devices, there are: primary APL network devices, secondary APL network devices, and tertiary APL network devices, and each APL network device is configured to periodically send its own device information to a neighbor APL network device connected to itself, and the controller is connected to the management device and the primary APL network device; Generate an APL network device topology diagram based on the device information and the adjacency relationship; Monitor and manage the multiple APL network devices based on the device information, the adjacency relationship, and the APL network device topology diagram.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, The type of the primary APL network device includes: APL power switch; The types of the secondary APL network devices include: APL field switch, APL general input / output device, APL wireless gateway; The type of the tertiary APL network device includes: APL terminal.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, Periodically obtaining device information of each APL network device through a controller, and obtaining the adjacency relationship between each of the APL network devices, includes: Send a management command encapsulated with an SNMP message to the controller, wherein the SNMP message is used to instruct the receiving device to feedback the neighbor table of each APL network device, and the receiving devices include: the primary APL network device and the secondary APL network device, and the neighbor table stores the device port number of the receiving device itself and the device information of the neighbor APL network device of the receiving device, and the device information at least includes: device IP, device port number, device identifier; Receive the neighbor tables of each APL network device uniformly fed back by the controller.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, Generating an APL network device topology diagram based on the device information and the adjacency relationship, includes: Summarize the neighbor tables of each APL network device to obtain a second list; Determine the device type and device model of each APL network device according to the device identifier of each APL network device, and generate a third list according to the target device information of each APL network device, wherein the target device information includes: device IP, device port number, device identifier, device type, and device model Draw the device controls corresponding to each of the primary APL network devices, the secondary APL network devices, and the tertiary APL network devices step by step according to the third list; Determine the adjacency relationship between each of the APL network devices according to the second list, and connect the device controls corresponding to each of the APL network devices according to the adjacency relationship to obtain the APL network device topology diagram.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, Monitor and manage multiple APL network devices according to the device information, the adjacency relationship, and the APL network device topology diagram, including: Periodically compare the third list of the current period with the third list of the previous period, determine the offline APL network devices according to the comparison result, generate device offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network devices in the APL network device topology diagram; Periodically compare the second list of the current period with the second list of the previous period, determine the offline APL network links according to the comparison result, generate link offline alarm information, and mark and display the offline APL network links in the APL network device topology diagram.

15. A non-volatile storage medium, wherein, The non-volatile storage medium includes a stored computer program, wherein the device where the non-volatile storage medium is located executes the APL network device management method according to any one of claims 10 to 14 by running the computer program.

16. An electronic device, comprising: A memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the APL network device management method according to any one of claims 10 to 14 by the computer program.

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