Ethernet Ring Protection Fault Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
In Ethernet ring networks, unnecessary clearing of the forwarding table and self-learning during fault occurrence and recovery leads to increased broadcast traffic and bandwidth usage, as all nodes currently clear their forwarding tables even when the faulty link is the normally blocked port.
Innovation Solution
Implement a method to judge whether the faulty link is the normally blocked port, and only send control messages to nodes to clear the forwarding table if it is not, thereby avoiding unnecessary table clearing and self-learning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all nodes clear forwarding tables and perform self-learning upon any link fault, then network reliability is improved through consistent forwarding state, but broadcast traffic increases and bandwidth utilization deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the handling of link faults based on location. When a fault occurs on a non-blocked port, all nodes clear forwarding tables and perform self-learning. However, when a fault occurs on the blocked port, only local nodes clear tables while other nodes maintain their forwarding states. This localized response reduces unnecessary broadcast traffic and bandwidth consumption while maintaining network reliability where needed.
2Stability of the object's composition
If forwarding tables are cleared and self-learning is restarted for every link fault, then forwarding consistency is improved, but network load increases due to massive broadcast traffic
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by making the forwarding table clearing and self-learning process location-dependent. Instead of uniformly clearing tables at all nodes for every link fault, the system selectively clears tables only at nodes where the fault occurred or is directly affected. This reduces the quantity of broadcast traffic generated during fault recovery while maintaining forwarding consistency at critical nodes.
3Speed
If control messages are sent to all nodes upon link fault, then fault recovery speed is improved, but network complexity and overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by sending control messages selectively to specific nodes based on fault location rather than broadcasting to all nodes. When a link fault is detected, control messages are targeted only to nodes that need to clear their forwarding tables and perform self-learning. This reduces network overhead and complexity while maintaining fast fault recovery at the necessary nodes.
Data Source
AI summary
An Ethernet Ring Protection (ERP) method is disclosed. The method includes: when a link on an Ethernet ring network is faulty, determining whether the faulty link is a link where a normally blocked port is located; and sending a first control message which carries first indication information to a ring node on the Ethernet ring network if the faulty link is the link where the normally blocked port is located, wherein the first indication information indicates that a forwarding table is not desired to be cleared by the ring node. Through the method according to the present invention, the broadcast traffic generated by unnecessary clearing of the forwarding table and self-learning is reduced effectively.