JPH09153900A - Method for selecting cell transmission testing route - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the decrease of reliability in a system under cell transmissive testing by transmitting a test cell to a device to be diagnosed by way of an active system device in executing a cell transmission test. SOLUTION: A normal cell and the test cell outputted from an intermediate speed control part 110A are inputted to a switch 01S and branched by a branching part 10 in the switch 01S and a same signal adding the normal cell and the test cell is inputted to the switches 02S and 12S. The switches 02S and 12S are provided with selectors 20, refer to the header of the inputted cell and judge whether the cell is the test cell or not and the selector of the switch 12S permits only the test cell to pass through. In this case, cell counters are respectively provided at the input and output sides of the respective switches 01S to 03S and 11S to 13S so as to count the numbers of the inputted cells and the outputted cells and to check whether the numbers are the same or not.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cell penetration test route selection method for an information processing system including a plurality of stages of devices multiplexed for each function.

[0002] Information processing systems and communication systems are becoming larger and more sophisticated, and the social impact of such a large-scale system going down is significant.

In order to avoid such a loss due to the system going down, each device constituting the system is duplicated and one device is operated as an active system and the other is operated as a standby system. In the event of an occurrence, a high reliability of the system is secured by immediately switching to the standby system device.

FIG. 5 shows an example of an information processing system to which the present invention is applied. Reference numeral 100 denotes a 0-system system including the devices 01 to 0n, and 101 denotes a 1-system system including a device 11 having the same function as that of the device 01, and hereinafter, a device 1n similarly having the same function as that of the device 0n.

Here, for example, when a failure occurs in the device 0i, by changing the connection to the device 1i having the same function as the device 0i, the information processing system can operate under the same conditions as before the failure occurred. It will be possible.

In FIG. 5, a system in which each device constituting the system is duplicated has been described. However, even in a system having a multiplex configuration of triple or more, it operates normally by changing to the faulty device. It is the same that the operation can be continued under the same conditions by changing the connection to a device capable of doing so.

In such a multiplexed system, when a failure occurs and the suspected device is determined, it is necessary to accurately test the suspected device.

[0008]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a conventional example. Reference numeral 100 in the figure denotes a 0-system system composed of the devices 01 to 04, and 101 denotes a 1-system system composed of the devices 11 to 14 having the same functions as the devices 01 to 04.

Here, i = 0 of the device ij is the 0-system 1
00, where i = 1 indicates the 1-system 101
It belongs to. Further, j = 1 to 4 indicate the function of each device.

In the system having such a configuration, for example, when the device 14 is detected as a suspected device, in order to diagnose the device 14, all of the 1-system devices 11 to 13 are used as a standby system, that is, OUS ( Out Of Service) state, from the test cell generator 120 to the 1-system 10
The test was conducted by passing the test cell through the device 11 which is the device to be diagnosed through the devices 11 to 13 of No. 1.

[0011]

In the test method described in the above-mentioned conventional example, the preliminary system devices 11 to 13 are used to
Since the test cell is permeated, the standby system devices 11 to 1
3 also has a fault, even if the cell penetration test result in the device 14 is determined to be a fault, the cause is caused by the device 14 which is the device to be diagnosed, or the other device 11 It is not possible to determine whether it is due to ~ 13.

Further, since the standby system devices 11 to 13 are set to the OUS state and the cell permeation test is performed, if a failure occurs in the active system devices 01 to 04 during this time, the partner device 1j to be switched disappears. , The system cannot be operated as a redundant configuration.

According to the present invention, when a cell penetration test is performed, the test cell is sent to the device to be diagnosed via the active system device to perform a highly accurate cell penetration test, and the cell penetration test An attempt is made to realize a cell permeation test method that can prevent a decrease in system reliability.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention. The figure shows a step 1 in an information processing system consisting of a plurality of stages of devices multiplexed for each function.
Selects an active system device for the device to be diagnosed and sets a diagnostic route, STEP 2 connects the active test cell generator to the test route, and STEP 3 connects the test cell generator to the test route. Send test cell, STEP4
Counts the test cells that have passed through the device to be diagnosed to configure the test cell transmission path to the device to be diagnosed in the active system, and to perform the cell penetration test of the device to be diagnosed, which is the suspected device, with high accuracy. It will be possible. (Claim 1) Further, the processing device for discarding the test cell is written in the header portion of the test cell as a destination, and the processing device receiving the test cell is provided with a step for performing the discard process for the test cell.

By providing such steps, the used test cells that have passed through the device to be diagnosed do not interfere with the communication of the active system. (Claim 2)

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 is a diagram (1) explaining an embodiment of the present invention. The figure shows an embodiment of the present invention.
It will be described with reference to a cell permeation test of the switching unit of the ATM switch.

In ATM communication, the information to be transmitted is
It is divided into 8 bytes, and a header in which destination information of 5 bytes is written is added to each of them, and communication is performed in units of 53-byte packets.

For example, a small cell is assigned to voice data having a small amount of information, and a large number of cells are assigned to data communication having a large amount of information such as program download. This enables communication from low speed to high speed.

The figure shows an AT used for such ATM communication.
A switching unit of the M switch, 100S indicates a 0-system switch unit, and switches 01S to 03S that perform switching by referring to a cell header, a test cell generator 120 that generates a test cell, and a test cell generator 12
It is composed of medium-speed cell interface communication control units (hereinafter referred to as medium-speed control units) 110A and 110B which send out the test cell generated at 0 to the switch 01S.

Reference numeral 101S is a 1-system switch section having the same structure as the 0-system switch section 100S.
3S, a test cell generator 121, and medium speed cell interface communication control units 111A and 111B.

Here, the diagonal lines connecting the respective switches are routes for switching the connection to the other switch when one of the duplicated switches fails.

In FIG. 2, the switch 12S is the suspected device. Here, the active test cell generator 12
The test cell is transmitted from 0 and is transmitted to the active switch 01S via the medium speed control unit 110A. Switch 01
In S, the test cell is referred to by referring to the header of the test cell, and the test cell is sent to the switch 12S which is the suspicious device. The test cell passing through the switch 12S is output through the switch 13S of the standby system. The thick line in the figure indicates the passage route of the test cell.

As described above, by configuring the route for sending the test cell to the suspected device by using the active device, it is possible to guarantee that the route to the suspected device is normal. The normality of the test cell input to 12S is guaranteed. Therefore, when an abnormality is detected in the test result, it can be known whether the abnormality is caused only in the suspected device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram (2) for explaining the embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment (2) shown in FIG. 3 uses the switch 02S of the embodiment (1) shown in FIG. 2 as a suspected device.

In this case, the test cell generated by the test cell generator 120 is sent to the switch 01S through the medium speed controller 110A, the switch 02S as the suspected device, and the standby switch 13S. Output.

Switching between the switch 02S and the switch 12S having such a duplex configuration is performed by the control of a main processor (not shown) that controls the entire ATM switch. Further, in the present invention, as in the embodiments (1) and (2) shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the test cell is the suspected switch 02.
After passing through S or the switch 12S, it is sent to the intermediate speed control unit 111B of the standby system through the switch 13 of the standby system. Then, referring to the cell header, if the received cell is a test cell, it is discarded.

As described above, the switch 02 which is the suspected device
S or the route to the switch 12S uses the normal working system. Furthermore, when passing through the suspected device, the contents of the test cell may be rewritten due to the failure of the suspected device. By passing such a test cell whose contents have been rewritten through the device of the active system, The standby system switch 13 should not interfere with communication.
It is output via S.

Similarly, the test cell is discarded by the medium speed control unit 111B so that the used test cell does not affect the communication of the active system. Furthermore, when the test cell generator has a dual structure, the accuracy of the cell penetration test can be increased by using the test cell generator of the active system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention.
The figure shows the switches 01S to 03S and 11S to 13 of the 0-system switch unit 100S and the 1-system switch unit 101S shown in FIG.
Only S is taken out, and the switch 12S is the suspected device.

The normal cell and the test cell output from the medium speed controller 110A are input to the switch 01S,
A normal cell is branched by the branching unit 10 in the switch 01S.
And the same signal containing the test cell is switched 02S, 1
Input to 2S. Each of the switches 02S and 12S includes a selector 20, which refers to the header of the input cell,
It is determined whether the cell is a test cell, and the selector 20 of the switch 02S allows only the normal cell to pass, and the switch 12S
The selector 20 of S passes only the test cell.

The setting of the selector 20 as described above is performed by the main processor 200 through the control line. Also, the respective switches 01S to 03S, 11S to 13
A cell counter (not shown) is provided on each of the input and output sides of S, the number of input cells and the number of output cells are counted, and it is checked whether or not the numbers are the same.

As described above, by constructing the diagnostic route to the suspected device by the device of the active system, it becomes possible to send a correct test cell to the suspected device and perform a highly accurate cell penetration test.

[0033]

According to the present invention, in a multiplexed information processing system, when a device to be diagnosed is tested,
Since the active route is selected as the test route, it is guaranteed that a normal test cell is input as the test cell to be input to the device to be diagnosed, so that the accuracy of the cell transmission test can be improved.

Since the test route uses the active route and only the device to be diagnosed is disconnected from the information processing system, the devices other than the device to be diagnosed maintain the duplicated configuration and perform the cell penetration test. This will not reduce the reliability of the system.

Further, since the test cell generator also uses the working system mounted on the working system device, the normality of the test cell generating device is guaranteed and the accuracy of the cell penetration test can be improved.

Since the used test cell is discarded, the used test cell does not hinder the current system device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram (1) illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram (2) explaining the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of an information processing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 0 system 101 1 system 100S 0 system switch unit 101S 1 system switch unit 01-0n, 11-1n device 01S-03S, 11S-13S switch 110A, 110B, 111A, 111B Medium speed control unit 120, 121 Test cell Generator 200 Main processor 10 Branching unit 20 Selector

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information processing system comprising a plurality of stages of devices multiplexed for each function, said active device is selected for a device to be diagnosed, and a diagnostic route is set (STEP 1). Connect the active test cell generator to the route (S
TEP2), sending a test cell from the test cell generator to the test route (STEP3), and counting the test cells that have passed through the device to be diagnosed (STEP4). 2. The cell penetration test route selection method according to claim 1, further comprising: a step of discarding the test cell that has passed through the device to be diagnosed. .