Network Relay Apparatus Gateway Redundancy Subscriber Status
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current gateway redundancy systems in active-active configurations face issues with communication continuity and resource efficiency, particularly in L2 frame relay networks, where failures lead to communication disruptions and inefficient resource utilization due to lack of effective algorithms for quick recovery and load balancing.
Innovation Solution
A network relay apparatus with a storage unit to record and manage redundancy and subscriber status, including used address information, and a management unit to monitor communication and notify status changes, ensuring seamless transitions and load balancing between active and standby systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If active-active redundancy configuration is adopted to improve load balancing and resource efficiency, then communication continuity is improved, but communication disruptions occur during failover due to address reassignment requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The standby gateway apparatus preliminarily acquires and stores subscriber status information (including address information) from the active gateway apparatus before failover occurs. This preliminary action ensures that when failover is needed, the standby gateway already possesses the necessary subscriber data to maintain continuous communication without address reassignment, thus resolving the contradiction between resource efficiency and communication continuity.
Solution Approach 2:
The standby gateway apparatus creates a copy of the subscriber status information table from the active gateway apparatus. This copying mechanism allows the standby gateway to replicate all subscriber data including address assignments, enabling seamless takeover during failover without disrupting ongoing communications or requiring address changes, thereby maintaining both resource efficiency and communication reliability.
2Device complexity
If active-standby configuration is used to simplify redundancy management, then device complexity is reduced, but load balancing capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between active-standby and active-active operational modes based on real-time conditions. Under normal conditions, the system operates in active-standby mode for simplified management. When the active gateway fails or needs maintenance, the system transitions to active-active mode enabling both gateways to handle subscriber traffic simultaneously, thus providing load balancing capability while maintaining simple redundancy management architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameter of gateway status from static (fixed active or standby) to dynamic (can switch between active and standby roles). By allowing gateways to change their operational state based on load conditions and failure detection, the system achieves both simplified management during normal operation and enhanced load balancing capability when needed, resolving the contradiction between device complexity and productivity.
3Reliability
If gateway failover is implemented to ensure redundancy, then communication reliability is improved, but resource utilization deteriorates due to idle standby resources
Solution Approach 1:
The standby gateway apparatus continuously monitors network conditions and maintains readiness to takeover subscriber connections. Instead of being completely idle, the standby gateway performs continuous status acquisition and maintenance operations, ensuring it can immediately assume active role if needed. This continuous preparation maintains communication redundancy reliability while minimizing resource waste by keeping the standby gateway in a low-power but ready state rather than completely offline.
Solution Approach 2:
The standby gateway performs preliminary actions by continuously acquiring and updating subscriber status information from the active gateway. This preliminary data acquisition ensures that when failover is needed, the standby gateway already has all necessary information to maintain continuous service, thereby ensuring communication redundancy while reducing the need for fully operational standby resources and improving overall resource utilization efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a network relay apparatus of a gateway redundancy system, including: a storage unit configured to store, as an internal status, a redundancy status for indicating whether the network relay apparatus operates as an active system or a standby system for each subscriber terminal or subscriber terminal group, and a subscriber status for indicating a list of used address information for each subscriber terminal; and a management unit configured to: monitor communication between another network relay apparatus in a redundancy configuration and a subscriber terminal group; record, into the storage unit, used address information assigned by the another network relay apparatus to a subscriber terminal as a part of the subscriber status; and notify or advertise the sequentially recorded internal status to a notification destination sequentially at a predetermined timing.