Trunk Network Failure Detection via Port Grouping
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Solution Overview
Problem
In trunk networks with multipoint-to-multipoint connections, detecting failures quickly is challenging due to the lack of one-to-one correspondence between links, leading to prolonged failure detection and route switching times, which increases communication downtime.
Innovation Solution
Classifying external connection ports into groups and using a node device with port state monitor and group state management units to detect changes and report state information across the network, allowing for rapid failure detection and notification to external devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If control packets are transmitted at a longer period to reduce processing load and bandwidth pressure, then device complexity and energy consumption are reduced, but failure detection time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the monitoring function by introducing intermediate relay nodes that independently monitor link status between themselves and external devices. This divides the original monitoring burden from end external devices, allowing longer control packet intervals while maintaining fast failure detection through the distributed monitoring network of relay nodes.
2Reliability
If control packets are transmitted more frequently to shorten failure detection time, then reliability improves, but processing load and bandwidth consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
Relay nodes serve as intermediaries that perform local link status monitoring and generate failure notifications independently. This intermediary monitoring layer eliminates the need for frequent control packets between external devices, reducing their processing load and energy consumption while maintaining high reliability through the intermediary nodes' continuous monitoring.
3Reliability
If survival verification control packets are used to detect failures in multipoint-to-multipoint networks, then failure detection capability is provided, but the lack of one-to-one link correspondence makes it difficult to determine which links are affected
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the monitoring scope by having each relay node independently monitor only its own link connections to external devices. This segmentation provides granular failure information that clearly identifies which specific link failed, eliminating the complexity of analyzing multipoint connections and determining affected links in multipoint-to-multipoint networks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses explicit link status notifications that clearly indicate the state of each link (similar to color changes providing immediate visual feedback). When a relay node detects a link failure, it generates a notification that clearly identifies the affected link, providing immediate and unambiguous failure information without requiring complex analysis of network-wide control packets.
Data Source
AI summary
In a trunk network, each node, when notified from another node of a change in the state of a group to which external connection ports belong, changes the states of the external connection ports to cause external devices to detect the failure of the transmission route. A port state monitor unit classifies external connection ports into groups in advance and stores the correspondence of the external connection ports and the groups. The port state monitor unit then detects changes in the states of external connection ports. When a change of the state of any external connection port is detected in the port state monitor unit, a group state management unit reports state information that includes the states of groups that correspond to the external connection port to other nodes that make up the trunk network. Upon receiving state information from any other node, the group state management unit, in accordance with the states of groups that are included in the state information, changes the states of external connection ports that belong to these groups.