Transfer Device SPOF Detection and Route Addition
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Solution Overview
Problem
In mesh networks, conventional technologies often create a single point of failure (SPOF) despite redundant path configurations, leading to communication interruptions when a failure occurs in a communication device or passage.
Innovation Solution
A transfer device that calculates and stores redundant routes, detects single points of failure, and generates additional route information to remove these failures, improving network reliability by registering new routes that avoid SPOFs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundant paths are configured in a mesh network, then communication reliability should improve, but a single point of failure (SPOF) may still exist on the redundant path, causing communication interruption when a failure occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of single points of failure in redundant paths and proactively generates alternative routes before actual failures occur. The SPOF detector identifies potential failure points and the route generator pre-computes backup paths, ensuring that when failures do occur, communication can switch to alternative routes without interruption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where topology information is continuously collected and processed to detect SPOFs in redundant paths. The detected SPOF information feeds back to the route generator, which then creates alternative routes. This closed-loop feedback ensures that the network adapts to structural weaknesses and maintains high reliability.
2Reliability
If multiple paths are set between two communication devices to achieve redundancy, then communication should be resilient, but communication is still interrupted when a failure occurs in the communication device or passage corresponding to the SPOF
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and removes single points of failure from the network topology by detecting them through SPOF detection and generating alternative routes that bypass these critical nodes. The harmful SPOF elements are effectively taken out of the primary communication path, replacing them with safer alternative routes that do not depend on these vulnerable points.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the communication path into multiple independent routes by detecting SPOFs and generating diverse alternative paths. Instead of relying on a single redundant path, the network creates multiple segmented routes that distribute traffic across different paths, reducing dependency on any single point and eliminating the harmful effect of SPOFs.
3Speed
If conventional SPB protocol is used for path control, then equal cost multi-path (ECMP) can be configured for high-speed path switching, but redundant paths may still contain single points of failure
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary SPOF detection and alternative route generation before actual failures occur. By pre-identifying vulnerable points in ECMP paths and pre-computing backup routes, the system ensures that when failures occur, high-speed switching can immediately transition to reliable alternative paths without waiting for failure detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enhances the ECMP feedback mechanism by continuously monitoring redundant paths for SPOFs and using this information to dynamically adjust route selections. This feedback loop ensures that high-speed path switching is combined with reliability, as the system learns from topology changes and adapts to avoid SPOFs in future switching decisions.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a redundant route calculator that calculates, on the basis of first topology information on a network made up of a plurality of transfer devices, a plurality of shortest routes from a first transfer device to a second transfer device among the plurality of transfer devices, and generates redundant route information; a forwarding database that stores the redundant route information; and a single point-of-failure detector that detects a single point of failure on the basis of the redundant route information and generates second topology information obtained by removing the single point of failure from the first topology information. On the basis of the second topology information, the redundant route calculator calculates an additional route candidate from the first transfer device to the second transfer device. The single point-of-failure detector decides the additional route to register in the forwarding database.