Network Topology Redundancy Detection for Communication Availability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Information handling systems face challenges in ensuring continuous communication availability due to lack of topological redundancies in networked devices, where devices often have single connections to network switches, making them vulnerable to failures.
Innovation Solution
An information handling system collects electronic network topology data to identify and utilize topological redundancies, ensuring that networked devices have at least two physical connections to separate devices, thereby maintaining communicative availability even if one switch fails by using redundant connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If networked devices have single connections to network switches, then device complexity is reduced, but reliability deteriorates due to vulnerability to failures
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of network topology data to identify potential single points of failure before they cause communication disruptions. By proactively detecting devices with only one connection to a switch, the system can alert administrators to add redundant connections before failures occur, thus improving reliability without requiring complex automated redundancy management
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously collects network topology data and provides feedback about the redundancy status of networked devices. This feedback mechanism allows administrators to monitor connection reliability and take corrective actions, creating a closed-loop system that improves communication availability through informed decision-making rather than complex automated control
2Reliability
If topological redundancy analysis is implemented, then communication availability is improved, but system complexity increases due to data collection and analysis requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system leverages existing network infrastructure and protocols to automatically collect topology data without requiring additional specialized monitoring hardware or complex external management systems. By using readily available network information and simple analysis algorithms, the system achieves redundancy detection with minimal added complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a simplified virtual representation of the physical network topology to analyze redundancy relationships. Rather than directly monitoring complex physical connections, it works with a copied logical model that captures essential connectivity information, reducing the complexity of the monitoring system while maintaining effective redundancy detection
Data Source
AI summary
An information handling system such as a server, network switch, or virtual host collects electronic network topology data to identify topological redundancies between networked devices. Each topological redundancy indicates that a particular networked device has at least two physical cable connections to at least two other, separate devices. A topological redundancy to two network switches, for example, ensures that a networked device remains communicatively available should one of the network switches fail.