CN116527193A

CN116527193A - Time slot allocation method, network equipment and system

Info

Publication number: CN116527193A
Application number: CN202210285749.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郑娟; 韩涛; 董杰
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-01-24
Filing date: 2022-03-22
Publication date: 2023-08-01

Abstract

The first network device determines that a first available time slot in time slots allocated to a first FlexE client does not meet the required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, if the first FlexE client can only use the first available time slot to send data of the first FlexE client, the SLA of the first FlexE client can be damaged, and the first network device reallocates at least part of time slots allocated to a second FlexE client with lower priority than the first FlexE client to the first FlexE client, so that the first FlexE client can use not only the first available time slot to send data, but also at least part of time slots originally belonging to the time slots of the second FlexE client to send data, thereby improving the SLA of high priority service of the first FlexE client.

Description

Time slot allocation method, network equipment and system

The present application claims priority to chinese patent application No. 202210098892.8 entitled "a method, apparatus, and system for allocating transmission resources" having application date 2022, month 01, 24, and the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, a network device, and a system for timeslot allocation.

Background

The flexible ethernet (flexible ethernet, flexE) technology is an interface technology for implementing service isolation and network fragmentation of a carrier network, and based on the standard ethernet technology defined by the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (institute of electrical and electronics engineers, IEEE) 802.3, a flexible ethernet Shim (FlexE Shim) layer is added between a medium access control (media access control, MAC) layer and a physical layer (PHY), so that decoupling of the MAC layer and the PHY layer is implemented, and thus, flexE clients (clients) can provide various flexible bandwidths for upper layer applications.

The FlexE standard defines a Client/group (Client/group) architecture, and can support mapping and transmission of any plurality of different FlexE clients on any group of PHYs of the FlexE group (group), so that schemes such as bandwidth on-demand allocation and hard pipeline isolation are realized, and the method is used for scenes such as ultra-large bandwidth interfaces, 5G network fragmentation and optical transmission equipment docking.

According to the current FlexE standard, when a PHY in a FlexE group is in a failure state, all FlexE clients that use this PHY to transmit data are damaged, wherein some FlexE clients carry high priority traffic data, which also cannot be transmitted through the failed PHY, resulting in a damaged service level agreement (service level agreement, SLA) for the high priority traffic.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present application provides a method, a network device and a system for time slot allocation for improving SLA of high priority traffic in a FlexE network.

In a first aspect, a method of slot allocation is provided, the method comprising: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment determines that a first available time slot in time slots allocated for a first flexible Ethernet (FlexE) client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client; the first network device reallocates at least some of the timeslots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, wherein a first priority of the first FlexE client is higher than a second priority of the second FlexE client.

Based on the scheme provided by the application, the first network device determines that a first available time slot in the time slots allocated to the first FlexE client does not meet the required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, if the first FlexE client can only send data of the first FlexE client by using the first available time slot, the SLA of the first FlexE client can be damaged, and the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client with lower priority than the first FlexE client to the first FlexE client, so that the first FlexE client can send data by using not only the first available time slot but also at least part of the time slots originally belonging to the second FlexE client, thereby improving the SLA of the high priority service of the first FlexE client.

In one possible implementation manner, in determining, by the first network device, that a first available time slot of time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the method includes: the first network device determines that a first physical layer PHY is malfunctioning, the first PHY being associated with the first FlexE client.

Based on the scheme provided by the application, when the first PHY breaks down, so that the first network device is not available in the time slots allocated to the first FlexE client, the remaining time slots are the first available time slots, the bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is not met, and the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client with lower priority than the first FlexE client to the first FlexE client, so that the first FlexE client can not only use the first available time slots to send data, but also use at least part of the time slots originally belonging to the second FlexE client to send data, and after the PHY breaks down, the SLA of the high priority service of the first FlexE client is improved.

In one possible implementation manner, in determining, by the first network device, that a first available time slot of time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the method includes: the first network device determines that the bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is changed from a second required bandwidth to the first required bandwidth, and the second required bandwidth is smaller than the first required bandwidth.

Based on the scheme provided by the application, the first network device allocates a first available time slot meeting the requirement for the first FlexE client according to the fact that the required bandwidth of the first FlexE client is a second required bandwidth, then the required bandwidth of the first FlexE client is changed from the second required bandwidth to a larger first required bandwidth, at this time, the first network device determines that the first available time slot in the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client any more, and the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client with a lower priority than the first FlexE client to the first FlexE client, so that the first FlexE client can not only use the first available time slot to send data, but also use at least part of the time slots originally belonging to the second FlexE client to send data, and in a capacity expansion stage, the SLA of high priority service of the first FlexE client is improved.

In one possible implementation, in the first network device reassigning at least part of the timeslots assigned to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the method includes: the first network device updates a second slot entry to a first slot entry, wherein the second slot entry indicates at least a portion of the slots of the second FlexE client.

In one possible implementation, the updating, by the first network device, the second slot entry to the first slot entry includes: the first network device updates a second identifier in the second timeslot entry to a first identifier in the first timeslot entry, where the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client and the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client.

In one possible implementation, before the first network device determines that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the method further includes: the first network device configures the first priority; the first network device receives a third priority sent by a second network device, wherein the second network device and the first network device comprise the same FlexE group, and the third priority is a priority allocated by the second network device to the first FlexE client; the first network device determines that the first priority is equal to the third priority.

Based on the scheme provided by the application, the first network device configures priorities for the FlexE clients, so that when the available time slots allocated for the high-priority FlexE clients do not meet the bandwidth requirements of the FlexE clients, at least part of the time slots allocated for the low-priority FlexE clients are reallocated to the high-priority FlexE clients, and therefore the SLAs of high-priority services of the high-priority FlexE clients are improved.

In one possible implementation, the first priority and/or the third priority is carried in a FlexE overhead frame.

In one possible implementation, before the first network device determines that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the method further includes: and the first network device determines that the first priority is higher than the second priority according to the fact that the first identifier is smaller than the second identifier, wherein the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client, and the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client.

Based on the scheme provided by the application, the first network device determines the priority levels of different clients by using the client identifiers in the existing FlexE protocol, so that when the available time slots allocated to the FlexE clients with high priority do not meet the bandwidth requirements, at least part of the time slots allocated to the FlexE clients with low priority are reallocated to the FlexE clients with high priority, thereby improving the SLA of the high priority service of the FlexE clients with high priority.

In one possible implementation, after the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the method further comprises: the method comprises the steps that a first network device determines that a second available time slot in time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, wherein the second available time slot comprises the first available time slot and at least part of time slots allocated for a second FlexE client; the first network device reallocates at least some of the timeslots allocated to a third FlexE client to the first FlexE client, wherein the first priority is higher than a third priority of the third FlexE client, and the third priority is higher than the second priority.

Based on the scheme provided by the application, when the FlexE client has a plurality of priorities, and a first available time slot in the time slots allocated by the first FlexE client with high priority does not meet the required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, after the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client with the lowest priority to the first FlexE client, the first network device determines that the second available time slot in the time slots allocated to the first FlexE client still does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client. The first network device then reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the third FlexE client to said first FlexE client. Therefore, the first FlexE client can not only use the second available time slot to send data, but also use at least part of time slots originally belonging to the time slots of the third FlexE client to send data, so that the SLA of the high-priority service of the first FlexE client is improved.

In one possible implementation, the first network device turns on the first FlexE client before the first network device reallocates at least some of the timeslots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client.

Based on the scheme provided by the application, before the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the first network device starts the first FlexE client and then preempts the time slots of the second FlexE client, so that when the time slots allocated to the first FlexE client by the first network device do not meet the bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the first FlexE client can keep the on state to continuously transmit the data with high priority, and the SLA of the high-priority service of the first FlexE client is improved.

In a second aspect, a first network device is provided, where the first network device has a function for implementing the behavior of the first network device in the above method. The functions can be realized on the basis of hardware, and corresponding software can be executed on the basis of hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In one possible design, the first network device includes a processor and an interface in a structure, where the processor is configured to support the first network device to perform the corresponding functions in the method described above. The interface is for supporting communication between a first network device and another network device from which information or instructions involved in the above method are received. The interface is also for supporting communication between the first network device and the user device. The first network device may also include a memory for coupling with the processor that holds the program instructions and data necessary for the first network device.

In another possible design, the first network device includes: processor, transmitter, receiver, random access memory, read only memory, and bus. The processor is coupled to the transmitter, the receiver, the random access memory and the read-only memory through buses, respectively. When the first network equipment needs to be operated, the first network equipment is guided to enter a normal operation state by starting a basic input/output system solidified in a read-only memory or a bootloader guiding system in an embedded system. After the first network device enters a normal operating state, the application and the action system are run in random access memory, causing the processor to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, a first network device is provided, the first network device comprising: the main control board and the interface board further comprise a switching network board. The first network device is configured to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect. In particular, the first network device comprises means for performing the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a first network device is provided that includes a controller and a forwarding sub-device. The forwarding sub-device includes: the interface board, further, can also include the exchange network board. The forwarding sub-device is configured to perform the function of the interface board in the third aspect, and further may perform the function of the switching fabric in the third aspect. The controller includes a receiver, a processor, a transmitter, a random access memory, a read-only memory, and a bus. The processor is coupled to the receiver, the transmitter, the random access memory and the read-only memory through buses, respectively. When the controller needs to be operated, the basic input/output system solidified in the read-only memory or the bootloader guide system in the embedded system is started to guide the controller to enter a normal operation state. After the controller enters a normal running state, running an application program and an action system in the random access memory, so that the processor executes the function of the main control board in the third aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a computer storage medium is provided for storing a program, code or instructions for use by the first network device, where the program, code or instructions, when executed by a processor or hardware device, perform the functions or steps of the first network device in the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, a communication system is provided, the communication system comprising a first network device, the first network device being the first network device of the first aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a chip is provided, including: an interface circuit and a processor. The interface circuit is coupled to the processor for causing the chip to perform some or all of the operations included in the method of any one of the preceding aspects and any possible implementation of any one of the preceding aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of data transmission using FlexE technology in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flow chart of a method of allocating timeslots according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of another method of allocating timeslots according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a first network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic hardware structure of a first network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic hardware structure of another first network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows an application scenario of the embodiment of the present application, and the scenario shown in fig. 1 is specifically described below, where fig. 1 includes 2 network devices, respectively, network device 1, network device 2, and 2 user devices, respectively, user device 1, and user device 2. The network device 1 may be an edge node in the carrier network, for example a Provider Edge (PE) node, in which case the network device 1 is directly connected to the user device 1, or an intermediate node in the carrier network, for example a provider (P) node, in which case the network device is connected to the user device 1 via other network devices. The network device 2 may also be an edge node or an intermediate node, and reference may be made to the description related to the network device 1, which is not described here again. The connection between the network device 1 and the network device 2 is a FlexE group, and a FlexE is formed by combining a plurality of physical structures, and can carry data of a plurality of FlexE clients.

It should be understood that fig. 1 illustrates only 2 network devices and 2 user devices, and that the network may include any other number of network devices and user devices, which are not limited in this embodiment. The FlexE communication system shown in fig. 1 is merely an example, and the application scenario of the FlexE communication system provided in the present application is not limited to the scenario shown in fig. 1. The technical scheme provided by the application is suitable for all network scenes in which the application adopts the FlexE technology to carry out data transmission.

Before describing particular embodiments, flexE-related technical terms will be described first.

FlexE client: an ethernet data stream supporting various rates, such as 10 gigabits per second (gigabits per second, gbps), 40Gbps, n×25Gbps, and even a non-standard rate data stream, specifically, flexE client is a container of the data stream, and may also be regarded as a logical interface, which is a transmission interface of the data stream, and the data stream is delivered to the FlexE shim layer through a 64B/66B coding manner.

FlexE group: essentially, the Ethernet PHY layers defined by the IEEE 802.3 standard, default to pool PHY bandwidth into 5GE granularity resources.

FlexE shim: as an additional logic layer interposed between MAC and PHY (PCS sublayer) of the conventional ethernet architecture, the FlexE Shim divides each PHY in the FlexE group into a plurality of slots, and generally, a default support is divided into 20 slots of data-carrying channels, where each slot corresponds to a bandwidth of 5gbps, and the FlexE Shim segments ethernet frames in an original data stream of the FlexE client in units of Block atomic data blocks (64/66B encoded data blocks), and these atomic data blocks implement slot mapping and transmission in the FlexE group by using a FlexE Shim's calndar mechanism, so as to implement strict isolation.

The present application does not limit that only one FlexE group exists between two network devices, i.e. there may be multiple FlexE groups between two network devices. One PHY may be used to carry at least one client, and one client may transmit on the at least one PHY.

Next, a procedure of transmitting data by using FlexE technology by the network device 1 and the network device 2 shown in fig. 1 will be described with reference to fig. 2. In fig. 2, the bandwidth of each PHY is 10gbps, and PHY1, PHY2, PHY3, PHY4 are bundled into a FlexE group through which data is transmitted between network device 1 and network device 2. The FlexE group corresponds to 3 clients, namely client1, client2 and client3, wherein the service data in client1 is the most important data, the required bandwidth is 20Gbps, the service data in client2 is the least important data, the required bandwidth is 10Gbps, the service data in client3 is the important data in the middle, and the required bandwidth is 10Gbps, then, the network device 1 allocates 4 time slots for client1, corresponds to PHY1 and PHY2, the network device 1 allocates 2 time slots for client2, corresponds to PHY3, the network device 1 allocates 1 time slot for client3, corresponds to PHY4, the network device 1 establishes a time slot table, and instructs the network device 1 to transmit the data of the corresponding client according to the time slot indication of the time slot table, as shown in table 1. It should be understood that the network device 1 may establish 1 slot table for one FlexE group, such as table 1, or may establish one table for one PHY, and table 1 may be split into 4 tables, which is not limited in the form of slot tables in the embodiment of the present application.

Time slot number	FlexE client number	PHY identification	FlexE group
				1	1	1	1
2	1	1	1
				1	1	2	1
2	1	2	1
				1	2	3	1
2	2	3	1
				1	3	4	1
2	3	4	1

TABLE 1

It should be understood that the network device 2 will establish the same slot table as table 1 according to the shim layer control protocol, and is used to instruct the network device 2 to receive data of a corresponding client in a corresponding slot.

The FlexE shim slices the data according to the same clock, encapsulates the sliced data into pre-divided slots, and then maps each divided slot to PHY in FlexE group for transmission according to slot table 1.

According to the current FlexE standard, when a PHY in a FlexE group is in a failure state, all FlexE clients that use this PHY to transmit data are damaged, where some FlexE clients carry high priority traffic data, such as client1, which cannot be sent through the failed PHY, resulting in damaged SLAs for high priority traffic.

In view of this, referring to fig. 3, the present application proposes a method 100 for slot allocation for improving SLA of priority traffic. The method 100 may be used in the scenario shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2, and the method 100 is described below in connection with the scenario shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2, where a first network device corresponds to the network device in fig. 1 or fig. 2, e.g. network device 1, and a second network device corresponds to the network device in fig. 1 or fig. 2, e.g. network device 2, and the method includes S101-S102.

S101, a first network device determines that a first available time slot in time slots allocated for a first flexible Ethernet FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client.

In general, in the following 3 scenarios, the first network device determines that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for the first flexible ethernet FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client:

scene 1, failure scene: the first network device determines that a first physical layer PHY is malfunctioning, the first PHY being associated with the first FlexE client.

And when the first PHY does not have a fault, the first network device allocates time slots for the first FlexE client according to the first bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client, so that the first network device determines that the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client are all available time slots and meets the first requirement bandwidth of the first FlexE client. Taking the first FlexE client as an example corresponding to client1 in fig. 2, the first required bandwidth of client1 is the bandwidth that meets the client data stream transmission requirement. In a specific implementation manner, a virtual interface is created for each client on the network device 1, a configuration corresponding to the client is configured under the virtual interface, a required bandwidth of the client1 is configured under the virtual interface 1, for example, 20Gbps, then the first network device allocates a time slot for the client1 according to 20Gbps to meet a transmission requirement of a data stream of the client1, as shown in table 1, the first network device allocates 4 time slots for the client1, wherein 2 time slots correspond to PHY1 and 2 time slots correspond to PHY2.

The first PHY fails, and at this time, among the timeslots allocated by the first network device to the first FlexE client, a partial timeslot that does not correspond to the first PHY is still available, and is a first available timeslot, and a partial timeslot that corresponds to the first PHY is not available. The faults in the embodiments of the present application include physical link faults, device faults of the transmitting side connecting to the PHY, device faults of the receiving side connecting to the PHY, and the like, and the present application does not limit the types of PHY faults. Taking the first PHY corresponding to PHY1 in fig. 2 as an example, at this time, 2 slots corresponding to PHY1 cannot transmit data of client1, and the remaining 2 slots corresponding to PHY2 do not satisfy the required bandwidth of 20Gbps of client 1.

Scene 2, dilatation scene: the first network device determines that the bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is changed from a second required bandwidth to the first required bandwidth, and the second required bandwidth is smaller than the first required bandwidth.

Before the bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is not changed, the bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is a second bandwidth requirement, and the first network device allocates a time slot for the first FlexE client according to the second required bandwidth, where the allocated time slot meets the second required bandwidth of the first FlexE client. Still referring to the example where the first FlexE client corresponds to the client1 in fig. 2, the second required bandwidth is 20Gbps, the first network device allocates timeslots for the client1 according to 20Gbps to meet the transmission requirements of the client1 data stream, as shown in table 1, the first network device allocates 4 timeslots for the client1, where 2 timeslots correspond to PHY1 and 2 timeslots correspond to PHY2.

The bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is changed from a second requirement bandwidth to the first requirement bandwidth, and the first requirement bandwidth is greater than the second requirement bandwidth, at this time, all time slots in the time slots allocated by the first network device to the first FlexE client are still available and are first available time slots, but the first requirement bandwidth of the first FlexE client is not satisfied due to the increased bandwidth requirement. For example, the required bandwidth of client1 is changed from 20Gbps to 40Gbps, and at this time, the original 4 slots are not enough to transmit 40Gbps data.

Scene 3, newly added client scene: and the first network equipment adds the client side newly, and determines that the time slot allocated for the added client side cannot meet the bandwidth requirement of the added client side.

In the scenario of fig. 2, a client4 is newly added, the required bandwidth of the client4 is 10Gbps, and the bandwidth of the current remaining PHY is 5Gbps, so that there is not enough PHY resource for the client4, and the number of timeslots allocated by the network device 1 to the client4 is 1, corresponding to the PHY4, and the bandwidth requirement of the client4 is not satisfied.

In this embodiment of the present application, when a first available time slot in the time slots allocated to the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the first network device opens the first FlexE client, that is, performs the capacity reduction processing on the FlexE client, rather than directly closing the FlexE client, and provides services for the FlexE client in a capacity reduction manner.

S102, the first network device reallocates at least part of time slots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, wherein the first priority of the first FlexE client is higher than the second priority of the second FlexE client.

In this embodiment of the present application, each FlexE client is associated with a priority, which indicates the priority of the traffic of the FlexE client, and the priorities of different FlexE clients may be the same or different. In the embodiment of the present application, taking the use of numbers to indicate priorities as an example, 1 indicates the highest priority, 2 indicates the middle priority, and 3 indicates the lowest priority, it should be understood that only 3 priorities are illustrated in the embodiment of the present application, and of course, more priority levels may be included, which is also in the protection scope of the present application. In FIG. 2, the priority of client 1 is 1, the priority of client 2 is 3, and the priority of client3 is 2.

The first network device and the second network device need to perform priority negotiation of the client to ensure that the priority configuration of the same client is the same, and the priority negotiation process is as follows: the first network device receives a third priority sent by a second network device, wherein the second network device and the first network device comprise the same FlexE group, and the third priority is a priority allocated by the second network device to the first FlexE client; the first network device determines that the first priority is equal to the third priority. Wherein the first priority and/or the third priority is carried in a FlexE overhead frame.

The embodiment of the application provides a priority negotiation mode of the following 2 clients.

Taking the scenario shown in fig. 2 as an example, the priority negotiation procedure of client1 on the network device 1 and the network device 2 is: the network device 1 and the network device 2 assign the priority of configuring the client1 as 1, then the network device 1 transmits the priority 1 to the network device 2, the network device 2 determines that the priority 1 of the client1 configured locally is the same, and the network device 2 transmits the confirmation message 1 to the network device 1 indicating that the priorities of the network device 2 and the network device 1 are the same. The network device 2 sends the priority 1 to the network device 1, the network device 1 determines that the priority 1 of the locally configured client1 is the same, the network device 1 sends an acknowledgement message 2 to the network device 2 indicating that the priorities of the network device 1 and the network device 2 are the same. Thereby, the priority negotiation of the network device 1 and the network device 2 is successful.

Mode 2, network device 1 sends priority 1 to network device 2, and network device 2 determines that priority 1 is the same as locally configured client 1. The network device 2 transmits the priority 1 to the network device 1, and the network device 1 determines the same priority 1 as the locally configured client 1. Thereby, the priority negotiation of the network device 1 and the network device 2 is successful.

In the process of the priority negotiation, if any one network device finds that the received priority is different from the locally configured priority, the priority negotiation fails, and at this time, the network manager is required to check and correct the priority configuration of the network device, so as to ensure that the priorities of the network device configurations at both ends are the same.

In this embodiment of the present application, a rule may also be set in the FlexE communication system, for example, the priority of the client is positively or negatively correlated with the identifier of the client, and then, on the FlexE-supporting device, the relationship between the priorities of different FlexE clients can be determined without performing the above-mentioned priority configuration and negotiation process.

The manner in which the first network device determines the priority levels of the different FlexE clients is described above, and the following describes in particular the processing after the first network device determines that the first available time slot of the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client.

After determining that a first available time slot in time slots allocated to a first flexible ethernet FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the first network device reallocates at least part of time slots allocated to a second FlexE client with a priority lower than that of the first FlexE client to the first FlexE client, where the at least part of time slots may be part of time slots allocated to the second FlexE client by the first network device, or may be all of time slots allocated to the second FlexE client by the first network device. The first network device selects one client from clients with lower priority than the first FlexE client as a second FlexE client, or the first network device selects the client with lowest priority from clients with lower priority than the first FlexE client as the second FlexE client.

Next, corresponding to the 3 scenarios in S101, a process after the first network device determines that the first available time slot among the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not satisfy the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client is illustrated.

Scene 1, failure scene: PHY1 in fig. 2 fails, at this time, 2 slots corresponding to PHY1 cannot transmit data of client1, and the remaining 2 slots corresponding to PHY2 do not satisfy the required bandwidth of 20Gbps of client 1. Network device 1 reallocates the 2 slots allocated for client2 to client1, where client1 has 4 slots to transmit data, meeting the demand bandwidth of 20Gbps for client 1. Alternatively, the network device 1 reallocates 1 slot out of 2 slots allocated for the client2 to the client1, and at this time, the client1 has 3 slots to transmit data, and the transmission bandwidth obtained by the client1 increases. The remaining bandwidth of client2 does not meet the bandwidth demand, and client2 remains on.

Scene 2, dilatation scene: the required bandwidth of client1 in fig. 2 is changed from 20Gbps to 40Gbps, and at this time, the original 4 slots are not enough to transmit 40Gbps data. Network device 1 reallocates the 2 slots allocated for client2 to client1, at which point client1 has 6 slots to transmit data and the transmission bandwidth available to client1 increases. Alternatively, the network device 1 reallocates 1 slot out of 2 slots allocated for the client2 to the client1, and at this time, the client1 has 3 slots to transmit data, and the transmission bandwidth obtained by the client1 increases. The remaining bandwidth of client2 does not meet the bandwidth demand, and client2 remains on.

Scene 3, newly added client scene: the scenario of fig. 2 is newly added with a client4, the priority of the client4 is 1, the required bandwidth of the client4 is 10Gbps, the bandwidth of the current rest PHY is 0Gbps, then there is not enough PHY resources for the client4 to use, the bandwidth requirement of the client4 is not met, the network device reallocates 1 time slot of 2 time slots allocated for the client2 to the client4, at this time, the client4 has 1 time slot to transmit data, the bandwidth obtained by the client4 is increased, the client4 is kept in an on state, or the network device reallocates 2 time slots allocated for the client2 to the client4, at this time, the client4 has 2 time slots to transmit data, and the bandwidth requirement of the client4 is met. The remaining bandwidth of client2 does not meet the bandwidth demand, and client2 remains on.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the meaning of the client being turned on is the same as that of the client maintaining the turned-on state, and the client is configured to be turned on.

And the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, and updates a second time slot table entry to a first time slot table entry, wherein the second time slot table entry indicates at least part of the time slots of the second FlexE client.

The first network device updating the second slot table entry to the first slot table entry, comprising: the first network device updates a second identifier in the second timeslot entry to a first identifier in the first timeslot entry, where the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client and the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client.

For example, corresponding to the above-described failure scenario, network device 1 reallocates the 2 slots allocated for client2 to client1. The second slot table entry is table 1, and the network device 1 updates table 1 to table 2, specifically updates client2 in the FlexE client identifier in table 1 to client1.

Time slot number	FlexE client identification	PHY identification	FlexE group
				1	1	1	1
2	1	1	1
				1	1	2	1
2	1	2	1
				1	1	3	1
2	1	3	1
				1	3	4	1
2	3	4	1

TABLE 2

Therefore, according to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the first network device determines that the first available time slot in the time slots allocated to the first FlexE client does not meet the required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, if the first FlexE client can only use the first available time slot to send data of the first FlexE client, the SLA of the first FlexE client is damaged, and the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client with lower priority than the first FlexE client to the first FlexE client, so that the first FlexE client can send data by using not only the first available time slot but also at least part of the time slots originally belonging to the second FlexE client, thereby improving the SLA of the high-priority service of the first FlexE client.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 4, after the first network device reallocates at least part of the timeslots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the first network device also needs to perform S103-S104.

S103, the first network device determines that a second available time slot in the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client.

Wherein the second available time slots include at least some of the first available time slots in the method 100 and the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client, for example, corresponding to the scenario of the failure in S101, after the PHY1 fails, the first available time slot in the time slots allocated by the network device 1 to the client1 is 2 time slots, the network device 1 allocates 1 time slot in the time slots allocated to the client2 to the client1, and the second available time slot in the time slots allocated by the network device 1 to the client1 is 3 time slots.

S104, the first network device reallocates at least part of time slots allocated to a third FlexE client to the first FlexE client, wherein the first priority is higher than a third priority of the third FlexE client, and the third priority is higher than the second priority.

The first network device determines that a first available time slot in time slots allocated to a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, then reallocates at least part of time slots of a second client with a lowest priority to the first FlexE client, and reallocates at least part of time slots allocated to a third FlexE client to the first FlexE client if the time slots of the first FlexE client are insufficient after the reallocation, wherein the first priority is higher than a third priority of the third FlexE client, and the third priority is higher than the second priority.

For example, corresponding to the scenario of the failure in S101, after the PHY1 fails, the first available time slot in the time slots allocated by the network device 1 to the client1 is 2 time slots, the network device 1 allocates 1 time slot in the time slots allocated to the client2 to the client1, the second available time slot in the time slots allocated by the network device 1 to the client1 is 3 time slots, and still the bandwidth requirement of the client1 is not satisfied, then the network device 1 allocates 1 time slot in the time slots allocated to the client3 to the client1, and at this time the client1 obtains 4 time slots for transmitting the data of the client1, so as to satisfy the bandwidth requirement thereof.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, when the FlexE client has a plurality of priorities, and a first available time slot in time slots allocated by a first FlexE client with high priority does not meet the required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, after the first network device reallocates at least part of time slots allocated to a second FlexE client with lowest priority to the first FlexE client, the first network device determines that the second available time slot in the time slots allocated to the first FlexE client still does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client. The first network device then reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the third FlexE client to said first FlexE client. Therefore, the first FlexE client can not only use the second available time slot to send data, but also use at least part of time slots originally belonging to the time slots of the third FlexE client to send data, so that the SLA of the high-priority service of the first FlexE client is improved.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a first network device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application. The first network device 1000 shown in fig. 5 may perform the corresponding steps performed by the first network device in the method of the above-described embodiments. The first network device 1000 is deployed in a communication network that also includes a second network device. As shown in fig. 5, the first network device 1000 includes a processing unit 1001 and a transceiving unit 1002.

A processing unit 1001, configured to determine that a first available time slot in time slots allocated for a first flexible ethernet FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client;

the processing unit 1001 is further configured to reallocate at least some of the timeslots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, where a first priority of the first FlexE client is higher than a second priority of the second FlexE client.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 1001 is configured to determine that, in a first required bandwidth of a first FlexE client, a first available time slot of time slots allocated for the first FlexE client is not satisfied, where the processing unit 1001 is specifically configured to: and determining that a first physical layer (PHY) fails, wherein the first PHY is associated with the first FlexE client.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 1001 is configured to determine that, in a first required bandwidth of a first FlexE client, a first available time slot of time slots allocated for the first FlexE client is not satisfied, where the processing unit 1001 is specifically configured to: and determining that the bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is changed from a second required bandwidth to the first required bandwidth, wherein the second required bandwidth is smaller than the first required bandwidth.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 1001 is configured to reallocate at least part of the timeslots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, and the processing unit 1001 is specifically configured to:

and updating a second time slot table entry into the first time slot table entry, wherein the second time slot table entry indicates at least part of time slots of the second FlexE client.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1001 is specifically configured to: updating a second identifier in the second slot table entry to a first identifier in the first slot table entry, wherein the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client and the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 1001 is configured to, before determining that a first available time slot in the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, configure the first priority;

the transceiver 1002 is configured to receive a third priority sent by a second network device, where the second network device and the first network device include the same FlexE group, and the third priority is a priority allocated by the second network device to the first FlexE client;

The processing unit 1001 is further configured to determine that the first priority is equal to the third priority.

In a possible implementation, before the processing unit 1001 is configured to determine that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the processing unit 1001 is further configured to: and determining that the first priority is higher than the second priority according to the fact that the first identifier is smaller than the second identifier, wherein the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client, and the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client.

In a possible implementation, the processing unit 1001 is configured to, after reassigning at least part of the timeslots assigned to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the processing unit 1001 is further configured to: determining that a second available time slot in time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, wherein the second available time slot includes at least part of the time slots allocated for the second FlexE client and the first available time slot;

And reassigning at least some of the timeslots assigned to a third FlexE client to the first FlexE client, wherein the first priority is higher than a third priority of the third FlexE client, and the third priority is higher than the second priority.

In a possible implementation, the processing unit 1001 is configured to, before reallocating at least part of the timeslots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the processing unit 1001 is further configured to turn on the first FlexE client.

Fig. 6 is a schematic hardware structure of a first network device 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application. The first network device 1100 shown in fig. 6 may perform the corresponding steps performed by the first network device in the method of the above-described embodiments.

As shown in fig. 6, the first network device 1100 includes a processor 1101, a memory 1102, an interface 1103 and a bus 1104. Wherein interface 1103 may be implemented by wireless or wired means. The processor 1101, memory 1102, and interface 1103 are connected by a bus 1104.

The interface 1103 may specifically include a transmitter and a receiver, which are configured to send and receive information between the first network device and the second network device in the foregoing embodiment. For example, the interface 1103 is configured to support sending control messages to the second network device. As an example, the interface 1103 is used to support the priority negotiation process in the process S102 in fig. 3. The processor 1101 is configured to perform the processing performed by the first network device in the above embodiment. For example, the processor 1101 is configured to perform an action of generating the control message; and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. By way of example, the processor 1101 is configured to support the process S101 in fig. 3. The memory 1102 is used for storing programs, codes or instructions, for example, the operating system 11021 and the application program 11022, which when executed by a processor or a hardware device, can perform the processing procedure related to the first network device in the method embodiment. Alternatively, the Memory 1102 may include Read-only Memory (ROM) and random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM). Wherein the ROM comprises a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) or an embedded System; the RAM includes application programs and an action system. When the first network device 1100 needs to be operated, the first network device 1100 is guided to enter a normal operation state by starting a BIOS cured in a ROM or a bootloader booting system in an embedded system. After the first network device 1100 enters the normal operation state, the application programs and the action systems running in the RAM, thereby completing the processing procedure related to the first network device in the method embodiment.

It is to be understood that fig. 6 shows only a simplified design of the first network device 1100. In practice, the first network device may comprise any number of interfaces, processors or memories.

Fig. 7 is a schematic hardware structure of another first network device 1200 according to an embodiment of the present application. The first network device 1200 shown in fig. 7 may perform the corresponding steps performed by the first network device in the method of the above-described embodiments.

As illustrated in fig. 7, the first network device 1200 includes: master board 1210, interface board 1230, switch fabric 1220 and interface board 1240. The main control board 1210, the interface boards 1230 and 1240 and the exchange network board 1220 are connected with the system back board through a system bus to realize intercommunication. The main control board 1210 is used for performing functions such as system management, equipment maintenance, and protocol processing. The switch board 1220 is used to complete data exchange between interface boards (interface boards are also referred to as line cards or traffic boards). Interface boards 1230 and 1240 are used to provide various service interfaces (e.g., POS interface, GE interface, ATM interface, etc.) and to enable forwarding of data packets.

Interface board 1230 may include a central processor 1231, forwarding table entry memory 1234, physical interface card 1233, and network processor 1232. The central processor 1231 is used for controlling and managing the interface board and communicating with the central processor on the main control board. The forwarding table entry memory 1234 is used for storing forwarding table entries. The physical interface card 1233 is used to complete the reception and transmission of traffic. The network memory 1232 is configured to control the physical interface card 1233 to send and receive traffic according to the forwarding table entry.

In particular, physical interface card 1233 is configured to send the first priority to the second network device. Specifically, the central processor 1231 is configured to control the network processor 1232 to send the first priority to the second network device via the physical interface card 1233.

It should be appreciated that the actions on the interface board 1240 in the embodiment of the invention are consistent with the actions of the interface board 1230, and for brevity, will not be described in detail. It should be understood that the first network device 1200 of the present embodiment may correspond to the functions and/or the various steps implemented in the above-described method embodiments, which are not described herein.

In addition, it should be noted that the main control board may have one or more blocks, and the main control board and the standby main control board may be included when there are multiple blocks. The interface boards may have one or more blocks, the more data processing capabilities the first network device is, the more interface boards are provided. The physical interface card on the interface board may also have one or more pieces. The switching network board may not be provided, or may be provided with one or more blocks, and load sharing redundancy backup can be jointly realized when the switching network board is provided with the plurality of blocks. Under the centralized forwarding architecture, the first network device may not need a switch board, and the interface board bears the processing function of the service data of the whole system. Under the distributed forwarding architecture, the first network device may have at least one switching fabric, through which data exchange between multiple interface boards is implemented, and a large capacity of data exchange and processing capability is provided. Therefore, the data access and processing power of the first network device of the distributed architecture is greater than that of the devices of the centralized architecture. Which architecture is specifically adopted depends on the specific networking deployment scenario, and no limitation is made here.

The present application provides a computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions for use by the first network device, which includes a program designed to execute the method embodiments described above.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip, which comprises: an interface circuit and a processor. The interface circuit is coupled to the processor for causing the chip to perform some or all of the operations of the method (e.g., method 100) of any of the preceding embodiments.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip system, which comprises: a processor coupled to a memory for storing programs or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system-on-a-chip to perform some or all of the operations of the method of any of the preceding embodiments (e.g., method 100).

Alternatively, the processor in the system-on-chip may be one or more. The processor may be implemented in hardware or in software. When implemented in hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like. When implemented in software, the processor may be a general purpose processor, implemented by reading software code stored in a memory.

Alternatively, the memory in the system-on-chip may be one or more. The memory may be integrated with the processor or may be separate from the processor, and embodiments of the present application are not limited. For example, the memory may be a non-transitory processor, such as a ROM, which may be integrated on the same chip as the processor, or may be separately provided on different chips, and the type of memory and the manner of providing the memory and the processor in the embodiments of the present application are not specifically limited.

The system-on-chip may be, for example, an FPGA, an ASIC, a system-on-chip (SoC), a CPU, an NP, a digital signal processing circuit (digital signal processor, DSP), a microcontroller (micro controller unit, MCU), a programmable controller (programmable logic device, PLD) or other integrated chips.

The embodiment of the application further comprises a network system, the network system comprises a first network device and a second network device, the first network device is the first network device in the foregoing fig. 5 or fig. 6 or fig. 7, and the second network device is the second network device in the foregoing fig. 5 or fig. 6 or fig. 7.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied in hardware, or may be embodied in software instructions executed by a processor. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a user device. The processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user device.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described herein may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software. When implemented using a combination of hardware and software, the software may be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on the computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The above embodiments are further described in detail for the purposes, technical solutions and advantageous effects of the present application. It should be understood that the foregoing is only illustrative of the specific embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of slot allocation, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first network equipment determines that a first available time slot in time slots allocated for a first flexible Ethernet (FlexE) client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client;

the first network device reallocates at least some of the timeslots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, wherein a first priority of the first FlexE client is higher than a second priority of the second FlexE client.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the first network device determining that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, comprising:

the first network device determines that a first physical layer PHY is malfunctioning, the first PHY being associated with the first FlexE client.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the first network device determining that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet the first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, comprising:

The first network device determines that the bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is changed from a second required bandwidth to the first required bandwidth, and the second required bandwidth is smaller than the first required bandwidth.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein, in the first network device reassigning at least part of the time slots assigned to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, comprising:

the first network device updates a second slot entry to a first slot entry, wherein the second slot entry indicates at least a portion of the slots of the second FlexE client.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first network device updating the second slot table entry to the first slot table entry comprises:

the first network device updates a second identifier in the second timeslot entry to a first identifier in the first timeslot entry, where the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client and the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein before the first network device determines that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth for the first FlexE client, the method further comprises:

The first network device configures the first priority;

the first network device receives a third priority sent by a second network device, wherein the second network device and the first network device comprise the same FlexE group, and the third priority is a priority allocated by the second network device to the first FlexE client;

the first network device determines that the first priority is equal to the third priority.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the first priority and/or the third priority is carried in a FlexE overhead frame.

8. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein before the first network device determines that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the method further comprises:

and the first network device determines that the first priority is higher than the second priority according to the fact that the first identifier is smaller than the second identifier, wherein the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client, and the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client.

9. A method according to any of claims 1-8, wherein after the first network device reallocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the method further comprises:

The method comprises the steps that a first network device determines that a second available time slot in time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, wherein the second available time slot comprises the first available time slot and at least part of time slots allocated for a second FlexE client;

the first network device reallocates at least some of the timeslots allocated to a third FlexE client to the first FlexE client, wherein the first priority is higher than a third priority of the third FlexE client, and the third priority is higher than the second priority.

10. A method according to any of claims 1-9, wherein the first network device turns on the first FlexE client before the first network device re-allocates at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client.

11. A first network device, the first network device comprising:

a processing unit, configured to determine that a first available time slot in time slots allocated for a first flexible ethernet FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client;

The processing unit is further configured to reallocate at least some of the timeslots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, where a first priority of the first FlexE client is higher than a second priority of the second FlexE client.

12. The first network device according to claim 11, wherein in the processing unit, configured to determine that a first available time slot of time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

and determining that a first physical layer (PHY) fails, wherein the first PHY is associated with the first FlexE client.

13. The first network device according to claim 11, wherein in the processing unit, configured to determine that a first available time slot of time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

and determining that the bandwidth requirement of the first FlexE client is changed from a second required bandwidth to the first required bandwidth, wherein the second required bandwidth is smaller than the first required bandwidth.

14. A first network device according to any of the claims 11-13, characterized in that in the processing unit for reassigning at least part of the time slots assigned to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the processing unit is specifically adapted to:

15. The first network device of claim 14, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

updating a second identifier in the second slot table entry to a first identifier in the first slot table entry, wherein the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client and the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client.

16. The first network device of any of claims 11-15, wherein the processing unit is further configured to configure the first priority before the processing unit is configured to determine that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for the first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client;

The first network device further comprises a transceiver unit, and the transceiver unit is configured to receive a third priority sent by a second network device, where the second network device and the first network device include the same FlexE group, and the third priority is a priority allocated by the second network device to the first FlexE client;

the processing unit is further configured to determine that the first priority is equal to the third priority.

17. The first network device of claim 16, wherein the first priority and/or the third priority is carried in a FlexE overhead frame.

18. A first network device according to any of claims 11-14, characterized in that, before the processing unit is configured to determine that a first available time slot of the time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, the processing unit is further configured to:

and determining that the first priority is higher than the second priority according to the fact that the first identifier is smaller than the second identifier, wherein the first identifier indicates the first FlexE client, and the second identifier indicates the second FlexE client.

19. A first network device according to any of claims 11-18, characterized in that after the processing unit is arranged to reallocate at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client, the processing unit is further arranged to:

Determining that a second available time slot in time slots allocated for a first FlexE client does not meet a first required bandwidth of the first FlexE client, wherein the second available time slot includes at least part of the time slots allocated for the second FlexE client and the first available time slot;

20. A first network device according to any of claims 11-19, characterized in that the processing unit is further adapted to switch on the first FlexE client before the processing unit is adapted to re-allocate at least part of the time slots allocated to the second FlexE client to the first FlexE client.

21. A communication system comprising a first network device for performing the method of any of claims 1-10.

22. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when executed on a processor, implement the method of any one of claims 1-10.