Communication method, network device, and board

Abstract

Embodiments of the present description provide a communication method, a network device, and a board. The method is applied to a network device, the network device comprises at least two boards, the at least two boards are each internally provided with a packet forwarding chip, a data channel and a control channel are provided in the packet forwarding chip, and the data channel and the control channel are isolated from each other during forwarding. The method comprises: a packet forwarding chip forwards a first packet by means of a data channel, the first packet comprising at least one of a service data packet, a protocol packet, and a management packet; and the packet forwarding chip forwards a second packet by means of a control channel, the second packet comprising at least one of an inter-board communication packet, a protocol packet, and a management packet.

Description

Communication method, network device and board card

[0001] Cross-reference

[0002] The present application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202410828224.5 filed on June 25, 2024, and entitled "Communication method, network device and board card", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present document relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, a network device and a board card. BACKGROUND

[0004] At present, many network devices adopt the structure of a frame and a board card, such as high-end switches, high-end routers, optical line terminals (OLTs) and digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAMs) and the like. Among them, the board card includes a master control board and a line card, and the master control board generally includes a primary master control board and a backup master control board. The communication message between the board cards in the network device is referred to as an inter-board communication message, that is, the communication message between the primary master control board, the backup master control board and the line card is referred to as an inter-board communication message.

[0005] Generally, the inter-board communication link and the service link are independent. In the related art, since the inter-board communication link has simple requirements and small communication volume, a simple dedicated chip is used for connection, which is referred to as a control plane chip; since the service link has complex requirements and large communication volume, a complex chip is used for connection, which is referred to as a forwarding plane chip.

[0006] The mode of using an additional dedicated control plane chip for inter-board communication can separate the external service data message and the internal inter-board communication message while achieving the purpose of inter-board communication, but the additional setting of the control plane chip will increase the cost and power consumption of the network device. SUMMARY

[0007] The embodiments of the present specification provide a communication method, a network device and a board card.

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to a network device including at least two boards, each of which is provided with a packet forwarding chip, the packet forwarding chip is provided with a data channel and a control channel, the data channel and the control channel are isolated in forwarding, the method includes: the packet forwarding chip forwards a first packet through the data channel, the first packet includes at least one of a service data packet, a protocol packet needing a CPU in the network device to process, and a management packet needing the CPU in the network device to process; the packet forwarding chip forwards a second packet through the control channel, the second packet includes at least one of an inter-board communication packet, a protocol packet generated by a CPU in the board and needing to be externally sent, and a management packet generated by the CPU in the board and needing to be externally sent.

[0009] In a second aspect, a network device is provided, which includes at least two boards, each of which is provided with a packet forwarding chip, the packet forwarding chip is provided with a data channel and a control channel, the data channel and the control channel are isolated in forwarding, wherein the data channel is used to forward a first packet, the first packet includes at least one of a service data packet, a protocol packet needing a CPU in the network device to process, and a management packet needing the CPU in the network device to process; the control channel is used to forward a second packet, the second packet includes at least one of an inter-board communication packet, a protocol packet generated by a CPU in the board and needing to be externally sent, and a management packet generated by the CPU in the board and needing to be externally sent.

[0010] In a third aspect, a board is provided, which is provided with a packet forwarding chip, the packet forwarding chip is provided with a data channel and a control channel, the data channel and the control channel are isolated in forwarding, wherein the data channel is used to forward a first packet, the first packet includes at least one of a service data packet, a protocol packet needing a CPU in the network device to process, and a management packet needing the CPU in the network device to process; the control channel is used to forward a second packet, the second packet includes at least one of an inter-board communication packet, a protocol packet generated by a CPU in the board and needing to be externally sent, and a management packet generated by the CPU in the board and needing to be externally sent. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0011] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present specification or the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or prior art description will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the present specification, and those skilled in the art can also obtain other drawings according to these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0012] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure and communication link of a network device in the related art.

[0013] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure and communication link of a network device according to an embodiment of the present specification.

[0014] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure and communication link of a network device according to another embodiment of the present specification.

[0015] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the structure and communication link of a network device according to another embodiment of the present specification.

[0016] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the structure and communication link of a network device according to another embodiment of the present specification.

[0017] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure and communication link of a network device according to another embodiment of the present specification.

[0018] Figure 7 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present specification.

[0019] Figure 8 is a flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present specification.

[0020] Figure 9 is a flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present specification. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] In order to make the technical personnel in the art better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present specification, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present specification will be described clearly and completely below in combination with the drawings in one or more embodiments of the present specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present specification, rather than all the embodiments. According to the embodiments in the present specification, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative labor should belong to the protection scope of the present document.

[0022] The terms "first", "second", and the like in the present specification and claims are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present specification can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, "and / or" in the present specification and claims means at least one of the connected objects, and the character " / " generally means that the front and rear associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0023] As shown in Figure 1, in the related art, the network device includes a primary master board 11, a backup master board 12, and at least one line card 13.

[0024] In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, in the related art, since the inter-board communication link requires simplicity and small amount of communication, the master control board 11, the standby master control board 12 and the line card 13 all use simple dedicated chips for connection, which are called control plane chips; since the service link requires complexity and large amount of communication, the master control board 11, the standby master control board 12 and the line card 13 all use complex chips for connection, which are called forwarding plane chips. In FIG. 1, the inter-board communication link is shown as a dashed line connection, and the service data message communication link is shown as a solid line connection.

[0025] The inter-board communication mode using the dedicated control plane chip is called out-of-band communication, and the inter-board communication mode using the forwarding plane chip is called in-band communication. The reason for using the out-of-band communication mode for inter-board communication is that the chip used in the out-of-band mode is simple, and can isolate the external service data message from the internal inter-board communication message. However, the out-of-band chip also increases the cost and power consumption.

[0026] That is, the inter-board communication mode using the additional dedicated control plane chip, although can achieve the purpose of inter-board communication while isolating the external service data message from the internal inter-board communication message, the additional control plane chip will lead to an increase in the cost and power consumption of the network device.

[0027] To solve the above problems, the present specification proposes a communication method, a network device and a board card. The present specification aims to achieve how to perform forwarding of service data messages and inter-board communication messages on one chip without affecting each other, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing cost and power consumption. The following will be described in detail.

[0028] First, the structure of a network device proposed in an embodiment of the present specification is described.

[0029] The network device proposed in an embodiment of the present specification can include at least two board cards, wherein each of the at least two board cards is provided with a message forwarding chip, the message forwarding chip is provided with a data channel and a control channel, and the data channel and the control channel are isolated in forwarding.

[0030] Among them, the isolation in forwarding between the data channel and the control channel means that even within the same Virtual Local Area Network (vlan), the ports on the two channels cannot perform L2 and L3 forwarding of messages.

[0031] The data channel is configured to forward a first message, and the first message comprises at least one of a service data message, a protocol packet requiring CPU processing in the network device, and a management message requiring CPU processing in the network device; and the control channel is configured to forward a second message, and the second message comprises at least one of an inter-board communication message, a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board card and requiring external sending, and a management message generated by the CPU in the board card and requiring external sending.

[0032] As an example, as shown in FIG. 2, a network device according to an embodiment of the present specification can comprise a board card 1 and a board card 2. The board card 1 is provided with a message forwarding chip 21, and the message forwarding chip 21 is provided with a data channel 211 and a control channel 212, and the data channel 211 and the control channel 212 are isolated in forwarding. The board card 2 is provided with a message forwarding chip 22, and the message forwarding chip 22 is also provided with a data channel 221 and a control channel 222, and the data channel 221 and the control channel 222 are isolated in forwarding.

[0033] In FIG. 2, the board card 1 can be a primary master card or a backup master card, and the board card 2 can be any line card. On this basis, the data channel 211 can be configured to receive a first message from an upper link port and forward the first message to the data channel 221 in the board card 2; and the control channel 212 can be configured to receive a second message from a CPU in the board card 1 and forward the second message to the control channel 222. In an embodiment, the data channel 221 can also be configured to send the first message from the user port to the outside.

[0034] As another example, as shown in FIG. 3, a network device according to an embodiment of the present specification can comprise a board card 1 and a board card 3. The board card 1 is provided with a message forwarding chip 21, and the message forwarding chip 21 is provided with a data channel 211 and a control channel 212, and the data channel 211 and the control channel 212 are isolated in forwarding. The board card 3 is provided with a message forwarding chip 23, and the message forwarding chip 23 is also provided with a data channel 231 and a control channel 232, and the data channel 231 and the control channel 232 are isolated in forwarding.

[0035] In FIG. 3, the board card 1 can be a primary master card, and the board card 3 can be a backup master card. On this basis, the data channel 211 can be configured to receive a first message from an upper link port and forward the first message to the data channel 231 in the board card 3; and the control channel 212 can be configured to receive a second message from a CPU in the board card 1 and forward the second message to the control channel 232.

[0036] In FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 described below, the communication link connected by the dotted line refers to the inter-board communication link, and the communication link connected by the solid line refers to the service data communication link.

[0037] The network device provided by the embodiment of the present specification can realize the isolated communication of the service data packet and the inter-board communication packet by using the same chip, i.e., the packet forwarding chip, through the setting of the forwarding isolated data channel and the control channel in the same chip, i.e., the packet forwarding chip, so that a control plane chip can be saved, thereby reducing the cost and power consumption of the network device, and bringing high economic benefits and green energy-saving benefits.

[0038] In an embodiment, the data channel and the control channel are respectively provided with respective forwarding tables to realize the forwarding isolation of the data channel and the control channel. After the isolation of the traffic of the data channel and the control channel, the L2 and L3 forwarding of the packet between the ports on the two channels cannot be performed even in the same Virtual Local Area Network (vlan).

[0039] In an embodiment, in one implementation, the data channel and the control channel are respectively configured with respective independent receiving physical ports, and / or the data channel and the control channel are respectively configured with respective independent forwarding physical ports, so that the isolation of the data channel and the control channel is the isolation of the physical ports. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, the uplink port on the data channel in the board card 1 and the user port in the board card 2, and the CPU port on the control channel in the board card 1 and the board card 2, etc. can be configured by the port attribute table whether the port is on the data channel or the control channel.

[0040] Among them, the receiving physical port of the data channel (or the control channel) refers to the physical port through which the packet is sent from outside the board card to the data channel (or the control channel); the forwarding physical port of the data channel (or the control channel) refers to the physical port through which the packet is sent from the data channel (or the control channel) to outside the board card.

[0041] In an embodiment, in another implementation, the data channel and the control channel share the same forwarding physical port, but the data channel and the control channel are respectively provided with respective queues, so that the isolation between the data channel and the control channel is the queue isolation. For example, the ports between different board cards on the backboard, the data channel and the control channel sharing the physical port can be distinguished by the queue, and the queue information is carried in the packet header, so that the backboard card can send the packet to different channels for forwarding according to the queue information in the packet header. The method of sharing the physical port by the data channel and the control channel greatly reduces the number of inter-board switching ports.

[0042] In one embodiment, in the above another implementation, each queue is respectively configured with a respective bandwidth, so that the data channel and the control channel do not affect each other.

[0043] In one embodiment, in the above another implementation, the message header can also carry ID information of the message forwarding chip, so as to distinguish from which board card the message comes.

[0044] In one embodiment, in order to avoid too many data channel messages affecting the message forwarding of the control channel, in the message forwarding chip of each board card, the data channel is respectively configured with a first buffer, and the control channel is respectively configured with a second buffer, that is, the data channel and the control channel have respective buffers.

[0045] In one embodiment, in the message forwarding chip of each board card, the data channel and the control channel are also configured with a shared buffer, which can be used when the respective buffers are used up, so as to achieve better forwarding performance.

[0046] Since protocol interaction and network management are needed between network devices, it is possible to extract protocol packets that need to be processed by the CPU in the network device and / or management messages that need to be processed by the CPU in the network device from the data channel to the CPU for processing, and it is also possible to insert protocol packets that need to be externally sent and / or management messages that need to be externally sent generated by the CPU in the board card of the opposite device into the data channel. That is, in the same board card, protocol packets and management messages need to be extracted from the data channel to the control channel, and / or protocol packets and management messages need to be inserted from the control channel to the data channel.

[0047] Therefore, in one embodiment, in the message forwarding chip of each board card, the data channel is connected with the outside (such as the uplink port or the user port) and the control channel, and the control channel is connected with the CPU in the board card.

[0048] In one embodiment, in the message forwarding chip of each board card, the data channel and the control channel are connected through a designated port, wherein the designated port is a virtual port or a logical port, for example, the designated port can be a loopback port. This loopback port inside the chip is used for reprocessing messages between the two channels.

[0049] For example, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, in the message forwarding chip 21 of the board card 1, the data channel 211 and the control channel 212 are connected through a designated port 213; as shown in FIG. 2, in the message forwarding chip 22 of the board card 2, the data channel 221 and the control channel 222 are connected through a designated port 223; as shown in FIG. 3, in the message forwarding chip 23 of the board card 3, the data channel 231 and the control channel 232 are connected through a designated port 233.

[0050] On this basis, the message forwarding chip can redirect or copy the first message to the specified port and add a layer 2 header in front of the original message of the first message in a case where it is determined based on a preset manner that the first message contains at least one of a protocol packet requiring CPU processing in the network device and a management message requiring CPU processing in the network device, wherein in the layer 2 header, the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU in the board card, and the source MAC address is the MAC address of the message forwarding chip; the control channel of the message forwarding chip forwards the first message to the CPU according to the layer 2 header, and the CPU removes the layer 2 header after receiving the first message containing the layer 2 header and sends the original message of the first message to the protocol stack for processing. And / or, the CPU in the board card can add a layer 2 header in front of the original message of the second message in a case where it is determined based on a preset manner that the second message contains at least one of a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board card and requiring external sending and a management message generated by the CPU in the board card and requiring external sending, wherein in the layer 2 header, the source MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU in the board card, and the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the message forwarding chip; the control channel of the message forwarding chip removes the layer 2 header before or after forwarding the second message to the specified port according to the layer 2 header, and the data channel of the message forwarding chip forwards according to the original message header of the second message.

[0051] The preset manner can include but is not limited to a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) or a forwarding table.

[0052] The network device provided in the specification will be described below through two specific embodiments.

[0053] Embodiment one

[0054] FIGS. 4 and 5 show the structure and communication link diagram of a network device according to another embodiment of the specification. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the network device can include a master control board 51, a backup control board 42 and a line card 43. The master control board 51, the backup control board 42 and the line card 43 are respectively provided with a message forwarding chip, the message forwarding chip is provided with a data channel and a control channel, and the data channel and the control channel are isolated from each other.

[0055] In the master control board 51, the standby control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel is used to forward the first message, and the first message comprises at least one of the service data message, the protocol packet needing the CPU in the network device to process and the management message needing the CPU in the network device to process; the control channel is used to forward the second message, and the second message comprises at least one of the inter-board communication message, the protocol packet needing the CPU in the board card to generate and the management message needing the CPU in the board card to generate.

[0056] In an embodiment, in the master control board 51, the standby control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel and the control channel are respectively provided with respective forwarding tables to realize the forwarding isolation of the data channel and the control channel. After the traffic of the data channel and the control channel is isolated, the L2 and L3 forwarding of the message between the ports on the two channels cannot be performed even in the same Virtual Local Area Network (vlan).

[0057] In an embodiment, in order to avoid too many data channel messages affecting the message forwarding of the control channel, in the message forwarding chip of any one of the master control board 41, the standby control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel is correspondingly configured with a first cache, and the control channel is correspondingly configured with a second cache, that is, the data channel and the control channel have respective caches.

[0058] In an embodiment, in the message forwarding chip of any one of the master control board 41, the standby control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel and the control channel are further configured with a shared cache, and the shared cache can be used after the respective caches are used up, so that better forwarding performance is achieved.

[0059] In the embodiment, in the message forwarding chip of any one of the master control board 41, the standby control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel and the control channel can use independent physical ports or shared physical ports.

[0060] Specifically, in the embodiment, the port data table channel attribute of the uplink port can be configured as the data channel, the CPU port attribute table channel attribute can be configured as the control channel, and the port attribute table channel attribute of the interconnection between the board cards on the backboard can be configured as the shared channel.

[0061] More specifically, in an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the message forwarding logic port A used by the control channel of the master control board 41 and the message forwarding logic port B used by the data channel share the same physical port; the message forwarding logic port C used by the data channel of the standby control board 42 and the message forwarding logic port D used by the control channel share the same physical port.

[0062] Wherein, the messages forwarded by the message forwarding logic port A and the message forwarding logic port B sharing the physical port are distinguished by queues, such as the message forwarding logic port A used by the control channel contains queues 0-7; the message forwarding logic port B used by the data channel contains queues 8-15. The chip ID information and the queue information of the message forwarding chip are added in the header of the forwarded message, so that the end board card can send the message to different channels for forwarding according to the chip ID information and the queue information of the message header. For example, the message forwarding chip of the line card 43 sends the message from the queues 0-7 to the control channel for forwarding, and sends the message from the queues 8-15 to the data channel for forwarding. The method of sharing the physical port by the data channel and the control channel greatly reduces the number of inter-board switching ports. This method is suitable for network equipment with more data of the board card. Each queue can be configured with a respective bandwidth, so that the data channel and the control channel will not affect each other.

[0063] On the basis of the network equipment shown in Figure 5, an example of data message forwarding is given: the service data message sent by the upper link port of the master master control card 41 to the line card 43 is identified as a data channel port attribute when entering the upper link port, so the L2 layer or L3 layer forwarding table of the data channel is searched, and it is found that the destination port is the message forwarding logic port B. Assuming that the priority (cos) of the message is 0, the message is mapped to queue 8 according to the cos of the message. The message forwarding logic port adds a message header in front of the original message, and the message header contains the chip ID information of the forwarding line card chip and the queue 8 information. After the message is sent from the queue 8 to the line card 43, the message forwarding chip of the line card 43 identifies that the queue 8 of the chip ID belongs to the data channel queue, so the message of the queue 8 is sent to the data channel, and then according to the search result of the forwarding table, the message is sent to the corresponding user port.

[0064] On the basis of the network equipment shown in Figure 5, another example of control message forwarding is given, and the communication link is indicated by reference numeral 44: the control message sent by the CPU of the master master control card 41 to the CPU of the line card 43 is identified as a control channel port attribute when entering the CPU port of the message forwarding chip of the master master control card 41, so the L2 layer forwarding table of the control channel is searched, and it is found that the destination port is the message forwarding logic port A. Assuming that the priority (cos) of the message is 0, the message is mapped to queue 0 according to the cos of the message. The message forwarding logic port A adds a message header in front of the original message, and the message header contains the chip ID information of the forwarding line card chip and the queue 0 information. After the message is sent from the queue 0 to the line card 43, the message forwarding chip of the line card 43 identifies that the queue 0 of the chip ID belongs to the control channel queue, so the message of the queue 0 is sent to the control channel, and then according to the search result of the forwarding table, the message is sent to the CPU port of the line card.

[0065] It should be noted that in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the communication link indicated by reference numeral 45 is a schematic diagram of the communication link in another example of control message forwarding, and the process is similar to the communication link indicated by reference numeral 44, except that the transition between the primary master card and the standby master card occurs. The present specification will not be described again.

[0066] In addition, since protocol interaction and network management are required between network devices, it is possible to need to extract protocol packets that need to be processed by the CPU in the network device and / or management messages that need to be processed by the CPU in the network device from the data channel to the CPU for processing, and it is also possible to need to insert protocol packets generated by the CPU in the board card and / or management messages generated by the CPU in the board card that need to be externally transmitted into the data channel by the CPU to the peer device. That is, in the same board card, it is necessary to extract protocol packets and management messages from the data channel to the control channel, and / or insert protocol packets and management messages from the control channel to the data channel. Therefore, in an embodiment, in the message forwarding chip of any one of the primary master board 41, the standby master board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel is connected with the outside (such as the uplink port or the user port) and the control channel respectively, and the control channel is connected with the CPU in the board card.

[0067] In an embodiment, in the message forwarding chip of any one of the primary master board 41, the standby master board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel and the control channel are connected through a designated port, wherein the designated port can be a loopback port. The loopback port inside such a chip is used for the reprocessing of messages between the two channels.

[0068] On this basis, in any one of the master control board 41, the standby master control board 42 and the line card 43, the message forwarding chip can be redirected or copied to the specified port in the case that the first message contains at least one of the protocol packet needing the CPU in the network device to process and the management message needing the CPU in the network device to process based on the preset mode, and a two-layer header is added in front of the original message of the first message, wherein in the two-layer header, the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU in the board, and the source MAC address is the MAC address of the message forwarding chip. The control channel of the message forwarding chip forwards the first message to the CPU according to the two-layer header, and the CPU removes the two-layer header after receiving the first message containing the two-layer header, and sends the original message of the first message to the protocol stack for processing. And / or, the CPU in the board can add a two-layer header in front of the original message of the second message in the case that the second message contains at least one of the protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board and needing to be externally sent and the management message generated by the CPU in the board and needing to be externally sent based on the preset mode, wherein in the two-layer header, the source MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU in the board, and the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the message forwarding chip. The control channel of the message forwarding chip removes the two-layer header before or after forwarding the second message to the specified port according to the two-layer header, and the data channel of the message forwarding chip forwards according to the original message header of the second message. It can be understood that the packet extraction from the data channel to the control channel (referred to as packet extraction) and the packet insertion from the control channel to the data channel (referred to as packet insertion) are two opposite processes.

[0069] Wherein, the preset mode can include but is not limited to a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) or a forwarding table.

[0070] Here is another example of extracting a data channel protocol packet to a control channel: the uplink port of the master control card 41 is configured on the data channel, and the CPU port is configured on the control channel. The protocol packet (such as lacp protocol) of the uplink port is redirected to the loopback port between the data channel and the control channel after being hit by the TCAM, and an additional two-layer header is added in front of the original message, the destination mac is the mac of the master control board CPU, the source mac is the mac of the data channel of the chip, the vlan is the vlan 4090 planned on the control channel, the cos is 7, and the ethernet type is 0x88b5. After the message passes through the loopback port to the control channel, the two-layer forwarding table is searched, and the destination port is found to be the CPU port, so the message is sent to the CPU, and the CPU removes the additional two-layer header and sends the original message to the protocol stack for processing. The process of packet insertion is similar, only the direction is opposite, which will not be described here.

[0071] Embodiment Two

[0072] Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 show the structure of a network device and the schematic diagram of communication link according to another embodiment of the present specification. As shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, the network device can include a master control board 51, a backup control board 42 and a line card 43. The master control board 51, the backup control board 42 and the line card 43 are respectively provided with a packet forwarding chip, and the packet forwarding chip is provided with a data channel and a control channel, and the data channel and the control channel are isolated in forwarding.

[0073] In the master control board 51, the backup control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel is used to forward a first packet, and the first packet includes at least one of a service data packet, a protocol packet which needs to be processed by a CPU in the network device and a management packet which needs to be processed by the CPU in the network device; and the control channel is used to forward a second packet, and the second packet includes at least one of an inter-board communication packet, a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board card and needing to be externally sent and a management packet generated by the CPU in the board card and needing to be externally sent.

[0074] In an embodiment, the data channel and the control channel in the master control board 51, the backup control board 42 and the line card 43 are respectively provided with respective forwarding tables to realize the forwarding isolation of the data channel and the control channel. After the traffic of the data channel and the control channel is isolated, the ports on the two channels cannot perform L2 and L3 forwarding of packets even in the same Virtual Local Area Network (vlan).

[0075] In the embodiment, the data channel and the control channel in the packet forwarding chip of any one of the master control board 41, the backup control board 42 and the line card 43 can use independent physical ports or shared physical ports.

[0076] Specifically, in the embodiment, the port data table channel attribute of the uplink port can be configured as the data channel, the CPU port attribute table channel attribute can be configured as the control channel, and the port attribute table channel attribute of the interconnection between the boards on the backboard can be configured as the shared channel.

[0077] More specifically, in one embodiment, in any of the master control board 41, the standby control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel and the control channel are respectively configured with respective and independent receiving physical ports, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the uplink port on the data channel in the master control card 41 and the user port in the line card 43, and the CPU port on the control channel in the master control card 41 and the standby control card 42, etc. The port attribute table can be configured to determine whether the port is on the data channel or the control channel. And / or, as shown in FIG. 6, in the master control board 41, the data channel and the control channel are respectively configured with respective and independent forwarding physical ports B and forwarding physical ports A, so that the isolation of the data channel and the control channel in the master control board 41 is the isolation of the physical ports; and in the standby control card 42, the data channel and the control channel are respectively configured with respective and independent forwarding physical ports C and forwarding physical ports D, so that the isolation of the data channel and the control channel in the standby control card 42 is the isolation of the physical ports.

[0078] In FIG. 6, the forwarding logical port A used by the control channel of the master control card 41 is an independent physical port, and the forwarding logical port B used by the data channel is another independent physical port; the forwarding logical port C used by the control channel of the standby control card 41 is an independent physical port, and the forwarding logical port D used by the data channel is another independent physical port. It should be noted that this port deployment mode is suitable for network devices with fewer board cards.

[0079] On the basis of the network device shown in FIG. 6, an example of control message forwarding is given, and the communication link is indicated by reference numeral 44: the control message sent by the CPU of the master control card 41 to the CPU of the line card 43. When entering the CPU port of the message forwarding chip of the master control card 41, the port attribute is identified as the control channel, so the two-layer forwarding table of the control channel is searched, and the destination port is found to be the message forwarding logical port A. Through the message forwarding logical port A, the message is sent to the control channel of the line card 43, and then according to the search result of the forwarding table of the control channel, the message is sent to the CPU port of the line card.

[0080] In one embodiment, in order to avoid too many data channel messages affecting the message forwarding of the control channel, in the message forwarding chip of any of the master control board 41, the standby control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel is configured with a first cache, and the control channel is configured with a second cache, that is, the data channel and the control channel have their own caches.

[0081] In an embodiment, in the packet forwarding chip of any one of the master main control board 41, the backup main control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel and the control channel are further configured with shared buffers, and when the respective buffers are used up, the shared buffers can be used, so as to achieve better forwarding performance.

[0082] Since protocol interaction and network management are needed between network devices, it is possible to need to extract protocol packets needing CPU processing in the network device and / or management packets needing CPU processing in the network device from the data channel to the CPU for processing, and it is also possible to need to insert protocol packets needing external sending generated by the CPU in the board card to the peer device and / or management packets needing external sending generated by the CPU in the board card into the data channel. That is, in the same board card, it is needed to extract protocol packets and management packets from the data channel to the control channel, and / or insert protocol packets and management packets from the control channel to the data channel. Therefore, in an embodiment, in the packet forwarding chip of any one of the master main control board 41, the backup main control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel is connected with the outside (such as the uplink port or the user port) and the control channel respectively, and the control channel is connected with the CPU in the board card.

[0083] In an embodiment, in the packet forwarding chip of any one of the master main control board 41, the backup main control board 42 and the line card 43, the data channel and the control channel are connected through a designated port, wherein the designated port can be a loopback port. The loopback port inside the chip is used for reprocessing of packets between the two channels.

[0084] On this basis, in any one of the master control board 41, the standby master control board 42 and the line card 43, the message forwarding chip can redirect or copy the first message to the specified port in the case that it is determined based on the preset mode that the first message contains at least one of the protocol packet needing the CPU in the network device to process and the management message needing the CPU in the network device to process, and add a layer 2 header in front of the original message of the first message, wherein in the layer 2 header, the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU in the board, and the source MAC address is the MAC address of the message forwarding chip. The control channel of the message forwarding chip forwards the first message to the CPU according to the layer 2 header, and after the CPU receives the first message containing the layer 2 header, the layer 2 header is removed, and the original message of the first message is sent to the protocol stack for processing. And / or, the CPU in the board can add a layer 2 header in front of the original message of the second message in the case that it is determined based on the preset mode that the second message contains at least one of the protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board and needing to be externally transmitted and the management message generated by the CPU in the board and needing to be externally transmitted, wherein in the layer 2 header, the source MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU in the board, and the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the message forwarding chip. The control channel of the message forwarding chip removes the layer 2 header before or after forwarding the second message to the specified port according to the layer 2 header information, and the data channel of the message forwarding chip forwards according to the original message header information of the second message. It can be understood that the process of taking the packet from the data channel to the control channel (referred to as taking the packet) and the process of inserting the packet from the control channel to the data channel (referred to as inserting the packet) are two opposite processes.

[0085] The preset mode can include but is not limited to a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) or a forwarding table.

[0086] It can be seen that the difference between the above-mentioned embodiment two and embodiment one is that the forwarding logic port A used by the control channel of the master control card 41 is an independent physical port, and the forwarding logic port B used by the data channel is another independent physical port; the forwarding logic port C used by the control channel of the standby master control card 41 is an independent physical port, and the forwarding logic port D used by the data channel is another independent physical port.

[0087] The above describes a network device provided by the embodiments of the present specification. Based on the network device, the embodiments of the present specification also propose a communication method, which is described below.

[0088] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the network device provided by the embodiments of the present application, the network device comprises at least two boards, each of the at least two boards is provided with a packet forwarding chip, the packet forwarding chip is provided with a data channel and a control channel, the data channel and the control channel are isolated in forwarding, as shown in FIG. 7, the method can comprise the following steps:

[0089] In step 701, the packet forwarding chip forwards a first packet through the data channel, the first packet comprises at least one of a service data packet, a protocol packet and a management packet.

[0090] In step 702, the packet forwarding chip forwards a second packet through the control channel, the second packet comprises at least one of an inter-board communication packet, a protocol packet and a management packet.

[0091] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application is because the data channel and the control channel for forwarding isolation are simultaneously provided in the packet forwarding chip (forwarding plane chip) of the board of the network device, so that the network device can realize isolated communication of the service data packet and the inter-board communication packet through one chip, thereby one control plane chip can be saved, and the cost and power consumption of the network device are reduced, thereby bringing high economic benefits and green energy-saving benefits.

[0092] In an embodiment, the data channel and the control channel are respectively provided with respective forwarding tables, and correspondingly, step 701 can comprise: after determining that the first packet is received, the packet forwarding chip forwards the first packet according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel; and step 702 can comprise: after determining that the second packet is received, the packet forwarding chip forwards the second packet according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel. Thus, the flow isolation of the data channel and the control channel is realized.

[0093] In an embodiment, in the packet forwarding chip of each board, the data channel and the control channel are respectively configured with respective receiving physical ports, and the method further comprises the following steps:

[0094] After receiving a packet, the packet forwarding chip determines, before forwarding the packet, whether the packet is the first packet or the second packet according to the forwarding channel attribute of the receiving physical port of the packet. For example, the forwarding channel attribute of the uplink port in FIG. 4 can be configured as the data channel, and then for the packet from the uplink port, it can be determined according to the forwarding channel attribute that the packet is the first packet; for another example, the forwarding channel attribute of the CPU port in FIG. 4 can be configured as the control channel, and then for the packet from the CPU port, it can be determined according to the forwarding channel attribute that the packet is the second packet.

[0095] In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, in the message forwarding chip of each board card, the data channel and the control channel are respectively configured with respective forwarding physical ports; accordingly, the forwarding the first message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel can include forwarding the first message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel and the forwarding physical port; the forwarding the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel can include forwarding the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel and the forwarding physical port. It can be understood that, by isolating the physical ports, the traffic isolation of the data channel and the control channel can be better achieved.

[0096] In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, in the message forwarding chip of each board card, the data channel and the control channel can also share the same forwarding physical port, but the data channel and the control channel are respectively provided with respective queues; accordingly, the forwarding the first message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel can include forwarding the first message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel and carrying the queue information corresponding to the data channel in the message header of the forwarded first message; the forwarding the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel can include forwarding the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel and carrying the queue information corresponding to the data channel in the message header of the forwarded first message. It can be understood that, by using the queues, the traffic isolation of the data channel and the control channel can be better achieved.

[0097] In an embodiment, each of the queues is respectively configured with a respective bandwidth to ensure the forwarding performance of each queue, so as to achieve better forwarding performance.

[0098] In an embodiment, in order to avoid too many data channel messages affecting the message forwarding of the control channel, in the message forwarding chip of each board card, the data channel is configured with a first cache and the control channel is configured with a second cache, that is, the data channel and the control channel have respective caches. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 8, the communication method proposed in the embodiment of the present application can further include:

[0099] Step 703, the forwarding chip stores the first message in the first cache.

[0100] Step 704, the forwarding chip stores the second message in the second cache.

[0101] In an embodiment, in the message forwarding chip of each board card, the data channel and the control channel are also configured with a shared cache, which can be used when the respective caches are used up, so as to achieve better forwarding performance. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 9, the communication method proposed in the embodiment of the present application can further include:

[0102] Step 705, in the case that the first cache is fully occupied, the forwarding chip stores the first packet in the shared cache.

[0103] Step 706, in the case that the second cache is fully occupied, the forwarding chip stores the second packet in the shared cache.

[0104] Since protocol interaction and network management are needed between network devices, it is possible to need to extract protocol packets that need to be processed by the CPU in the network device and / or management packets that need to be processed by the CPU in the network device from the data channel to the CPU for processing, and it is also possible to need to insert protocol packets that need to be exported generated by the CPU in the board card to the peer device and / or management packets that need to be exported generated by the CPU in the board card into the data channel. That is, in the same board card, it is needed to extract protocol packets and management packets from the data channel to the control channel, and / or insert protocol packets and management packets from the control channel to the data channel.

[0105] Therefore, in an embodiment, the at least two board cards include a master board and a line card, in which the data channel in the packet forwarding chip is connected with the control channel, the data channel is connected with an uplink port or a user port, the first packet is from the uplink port or the user port, and the first packet further includes at least one of a protocol packet and a management packet, and the method further includes: the packet forwarding chip extracts the first packet from the data channel to the control channel.

[0106] Specifically, in each board card, the data channel in the packet forwarding chip is connected with the control channel through a specified port, wherein the packet forwarding chip extracting the first packet from the data channel to the control channel can include:

[0107] In the case that the packet forwarding chip determines that the first packet contains at least one of a protocol packet that needs to be processed by the CPU in the network device and a management packet that needs to be processed by the CPU in the network device based on a preset manner, the packet forwarding chip redirects or copies the first packet to the specified port, and adds a layer 2 header in front of the original packet of the first packet, wherein in the layer 2 header, the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU in the board card, and the source MAC address is the MAC address of the packet forwarding chip. The control channel of the packet forwarding chip forwards the first packet to the CPU according to the layer 2 header. After the CPU receives the first packet containing the layer 2 header, the CPU removes the layer 2 header and sends the original packet to the protocol stack for processing.

[0108] In an embodiment, in a message forwarding chip of each board card, a control channel in the message forwarding chip is connected with a CPU, the second message is from the CPU, and the second message further comprises at least one of a protocol packet and a management message, and the method further comprises: the message forwarding chip packetizes the second message from the control channel to a data channel.

[0109] Specifically, the data channel in the message forwarding chip is connected with the control channel through a specified port, wherein the message forwarding chip packetizes the second message from the control channel to the data channel comprises: the CPU in the board card adds a two-layer header before an original message of the second message in a case that the second message contains at least one of a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board card and needing to be externally sent and a management message generated by the CPU in the board card and needing to be externally sent, wherein in the two-layer header, a source MAC address is a MAC address of the CPU, and a destination MAC address is a MAC address of the message forwarding chip.

[0110] The control channel of the message forwarding chip removes the two-layer header before or after forwarding the second message to the specified port according to the two-layer header, and the data channel of the message forwarding chip forwards according to the original message header of the second message.

[0111] The above describes a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present specification, which can reduce one control plane chip, thereby reducing the cost and power consumption of the network device, and bringing high economic benefits and green energy-saving benefits.

[0112] In an embodiment, the present specification further provides a board card, wherein the board card is provided with a message forwarding chip, the message forwarding chip is provided with a data channel and a control channel, and the data channel and the control channel are isolated from each other, wherein the data channel is used to forward a first message, the first message comprises at least one of a service data message, a protocol packet needing to be processed by a CPU in the network device, and a management message needing to be processed by the CPU in the network device; and the control channel is used to forward a second message, the second message comprises at least one of an inter-board communication message, a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board card and needing to be externally sent, and a management message generated by the CPU in the board card and needing to be externally sent.

[0113] It can be understood that, since the board provided by the embodiment of the present specification is provided with a packet forwarding chip, the data channel and the control channel are arranged in the packet forwarding chip, and the forwarding isolation between the data channel and the control channel is achieved, so that the board can realize the forwarding of service data packets and inter-board communication packets with other boards through a chip, thereby saving a control plane chip, reducing the cost and power consumption of the network device, and bringing high economic benefits and green energy-saving benefits.

[0114] The above describes specific embodiments of the present specification. Other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims can be performed in an order different than the order in which they are recited in the embodiments and still achieve the desired result. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying drawings do not necessarily require the particular order shown or sequential order to achieve the desired results. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallel processing can be advantageous or possible.

[0115] In summary, the above only describes the preferred embodiments of the present specification, and is not used to limit the protection scope of the present specification. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present specification shall be included in the protection scope of the present specification.

[0116] It should also be noted that the terms "comprising", "including", or any other variant thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that processes, methods, articles or devices including a series of elements not only include those elements, but also include other elements not explicitly listed, or further include elements inherent in such processes, methods, articles or devices. Without more limitations, the element defined by the statement "comprising a" does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0117] Each of the embodiments in the present specification is described in a progressive manner, and the same or similar parts between each embodiment can be referred to each other, and each embodiment mainly explains the difference from other embodiments. In particular, for the method embodiment, since it is basically similar to the device embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant part can be referred to the part of the device embodiment.

Claims

1. A communication method, wherein, The method is applied to a network device, the network device comprising at least two boards, each of the at least two boards having a packet forwarding chip, the packet forwarding chip having a data channel and a control channel, the data channel and the control channel being isolated during forwarding, the method comprising: The message forwarding chip forwards a first message through the data channel. The first message includes at least one of the following: a service data message, a protocol packet that needs to be processed by the CPU in the network device, and a management message that needs to be processed by the CPU in the network device. The message forwarding chip forwards the second message through the control channel. The second message includes at least one of the following: an inter-board communication message, a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out, and a management message generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The data channel and the control channel are each equipped with their own forwarding tables; The message forwarding chip forwards the first message through the data channel, including: after determining that the first message has been received, the message forwarding chip forwards the first message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel; The message forwarding chip forwards inter-board communication messages through the control channel, including: after determining that a second message has been received, the message forwarding chip forwards the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The data channel and the control channel are each configured with their own receiving physical ports, and the method further includes: After receiving a message, the message forwarding chip determines whether the message is the first message or the second message based on the forwarding channel attribute of the physical port receiving the message before forwarding it.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The data channel and the control channel are each configured with their own forwarding physical ports; The step of forwarding the first packet according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel includes: forwarding the first packet according to the forwarding table and the forwarding physical port corresponding to the data channel; The step of forwarding the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel includes: forwarding the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel and the forwarding physical port.

5. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein, The data channel and the control channel share the same forwarding physical port, and the data channel and the control channel are each configured with their own queues. The step of forwarding the first message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel includes: forwarding the first message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the data channel, and carrying the queue information corresponding to the data channel in the header of the forwarded first message; The step of forwarding the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel includes: forwarding the second message according to the forwarding table corresponding to the control channel, and carrying the queue information corresponding to the data channel in the header of the forwarded first message.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, The data channel is configured with a first buffer, and the control channel is configured with a second buffer. The method further includes: The forwarding chip uses the first cache to store the first message; The forwarding chip uses the second cache to store the second message.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, The data channel and the control channel are also configured with a shared cache, and the method further includes: When the first buffer is fully occupied, the forwarding chip uses the shared buffer to store the first packet; When the second buffer is fully occupied, the forwarding chip uses the shared buffer to store the second packet.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 and 7, wherein, In the board, the data channel and control channel in the packet forwarding chip are connected via a designated port. The data channel is connected to an uplink port or a user port. The first packet originates from the uplink port or the user port, and the first packet includes at least one of a protocol packet that needs to be processed by the CPU of the network device and a management packet that needs to be processed by the CPU of the network device. The method further includes: The message forwarding chip extracts the first message from the data channel to the control channel.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein, The message forwarding chip extracts the first message from the data channel to the control channel, including: When the packet forwarding chip determines, based on a preset method, that the first packet contains at least one of a protocol packet that needs to be processed by the CPU in the network device and a management packet that needs to be processed by the CPU in the network device, the first packet is redirected or copied to the designated port, and a second-layer header is added before the original packet of the first packet. In the second-layer header, the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU in the board, and the source MAC address is the MAC address of the packet forwarding chip. The control channel of the message forwarding chip forwards the first message to the CPU according to the Layer 2 header; After receiving the first message with the second-level header, the CPU removes the second-level header and sends the original message of the first message to the protocol stack for processing.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein, In the board, the control channel in the message forwarding chip is connected to the CPU in the board, and the second message is at least one of a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out and a management message generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out. The method further includes: The message forwarding chip inserts the second message from the control channel into the data channel.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, The data channel and the control channel in the message forwarding chip are connected via a designated port, wherein the message forwarding chip inserts the second message from the control channel into the data channel, including: If the CPU in the board determines, based on a preset method, that the second message contains at least one of a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out and a management message generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out, a second-layer header is added before the original message of the second message. In the second-layer header, the source MAC address is the MAC address of the CPU and the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the message forwarding chip. The control channel of the message forwarding chip removes the Layer 2 header before or after forwarding the second message to the designated port based on the Layer 2 header, and the data channel of the message forwarding chip forwards the message based on the original header of the second message.

12. A network device, wherein, The network device includes at least two boards, each of which is equipped with a packet forwarding chip. Each packet forwarding chip has a data channel and a control channel, and the data channel and the control channel are isolated during forwarding. The data channel is used to forward a first message, which includes at least one of a service data message, a protocol packet that needs to be processed by the CPU of the network device, and a management message that needs to be processed by the CPU of the network device. The control channel is used to forward a second message, which includes at least one of the following: an inter-board communication message, a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out, and a management message generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out.

13. A circuit board, wherein, The board includes a message forwarding chip, which has a data channel and a control channel. The data channel and the control channel are isolated during forwarding. The data channel is used to forward a first message, which includes at least one of the following: a service data message, a protocol packet that needs to be processed by the CPU of the network device where the card is located, and a management message that needs to be processed by the CPU of the network device. The control channel is used to forward a second message, which includes at least one of the following: an inter-board communication message, a protocol packet generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out, and a management message generated by the CPU in the board that needs to be sent out.

Images