Fault Tolerant Network Switch Traffic Termination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Fault-tolerant networks face interference and congestion due to error communications from failed nodes or equipment, which can lead to loss of visibility or control of other nodes and equipment, despite existing redundancy and error correction mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A system with a switch that selectively terminates network traffic on multiple communication channels, allowing the fault tolerance manager to reroute traffic and prevent error messages from interfering with legitimate communications, using network traffic analysis and statistics to determine when and how to terminate traffic.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundancy of components is provided to ensure fault tolerance, then network reliability is improved, but network complexity increases due to multiple communication paths and interface cards
Solution Approach 1:
The network is segmented into multiple independent communication paths with dedicated fault tolerance managers for each segment. This allows localized fault management without affecting the entire network, maintaining reliability while reducing overall complexity through modular organization.
Solution Approach 2:
A fault tolerance manager acts as an intermediary between network components and communication channels. It monitors traffic, detects failures, and reroutes communications without requiring complex configurations at each node, simplifying the network architecture while ensuring fault tolerance.
2Reliability
If fault tolerance manager reroutes traffic around failed nodes, then network availability is maintained, but error traffic from failed nodes continues to interfere with legitimate communications
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful error traffic is extracted and isolated from the network by blocking it at the switch level. The fault tolerance manager identifies failed nodes and instructs switches to drop traffic from these nodes, preventing error propagation while maintaining legitimate communications through alternative paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The system takes preliminary anti-action by proactively blocking error traffic before it can interfere with legitimate communications. The fault tolerance manager monitors network health and pre-empts error propagation by instructing switches to terminate traffic from failed nodes immediately upon detection.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If switch terminates network traffic on failed channels, then error communication is prevented, but legitimate traffic may be incorrectly blocked without proper identification
Solution Approach 1:
The fault tolerance manager implements feedback mechanisms by monitoring network traffic and component status continuously. When a failure is detected, it provides feedback to switches to terminate traffic from specific failed nodes, ensuring precise control that prevents both error propagation and legitimate traffic blocking.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses traffic tagging or identification mechanisms (analogous to color changes) to differentiate between legitimate and error traffic. Switches are instructed to terminate traffic based on identification markers from failed nodes, ensuring selective blocking that preserves legitimate communications while eliminating error traffic.
Data Source
AI summary
Devices, systems and methods for managing communications traffic on a fault tolerant network are disclosed. The exemplary system may include a fault tolerant network with at least two nodes and at least two channels of communication. Each channel of communication is in communication with each of the two nodes. Each node selectively communicates on one of the plurality of channels. A switch is in communication with the at least two channels. The switch receives network traffic and terminates network traffic on one or more of the channels. The termination of network traffic causes a fault tolerance manager to reroute network traffic on one of the two communication channels based on received network traffic.