CN117675555A

CN117675555A - Slave gateway configuration method, electronic device, and computer-readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117675555A
Application number: CN202211055723.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邬立保; 王阿琴; 武云飞
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2022-08-30
Filing date: 2022-08-30
Publication date: 2024-03-08
Also published as: WO2024045765A1

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a slave gateway configuration method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium. The slave gateway configuration method comprises the following steps: generating a slave gateway configuration file according to the configuration parameters of the current master gateway and the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway; and under the condition that the slave gateway accesses to the current master gateway, issuing the slave gateway configuration file to the slave gateway.

Description

Slave gateway configuration method, electronic device, and computer-readable storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a slave gateway configuration method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Background

In the way that the current optical fibers are laid to the far-end nodes (FTTR, fiber to the Room) and all-optical gateways are networked, the current master-slave gateway configuration is still managed by the mediums such as an automatic configuration server (ACS, auto-Configuration Server) automatic configuration server terminal integrated management system (ITMS, integrated Terminal Management System) network manager or cloud platform. In the FTTR networking mode, since the number of accesses to the slave gateway is large, 0boot needs to be reported when the master gateway and the slave gateway are connected for the first time, and state information of the slave gateway needs to be periodically reported, for example, a part of ITMS specifications define a master gateway extension parameter landonterface configuration to obtain information such as port enable of a user side of the master gateway, port state of a passive optical network (PON, passive Optical Network), device information, logic identifier (LOID) and the like, and actively report network management when the node state is changed. If the configuration management of the slave gateway is all managed by the ITMS network manager or the cloud platform, the processing load of the ITMS network manager or the cloud platform is affected to a certain extent.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides a slave gateway configuration method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium.

In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a slave gateway configuration method for a master gateway, the slave gateway configuration method including:

generating a slave gateway configuration file according to the configuration parameters of the current master gateway and the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway;

and under the condition that the slave gateway accesses to the current master gateway, issuing the slave gateway configuration file to the slave gateway.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a slave gateway configuration method for a slave gateway, the slave gateway configuration method including:

and receiving a secondary gateway configuration file issued by a primary gateway accessed by the current secondary gateway, wherein the secondary gateway configuration file comprises a secondary gateway configuration file generated based on primary gateway configuration parameters of the primary gateway accessed by the current secondary gateway and a template configuration file corresponding to the current secondary gateway.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides an electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory having one or more programs stored thereon, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the slave gateway configuration method according to any one of the first and/or second aspects;

One or more I/O interfaces coupled between the processor and the memory configured to enable information interaction of the processor with the memory.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements a slave gateway configuration method according to any one of the first and/or second aspects.

Aiming at the problem of complex configuration management of a slave gateway in the existing FTTR all-optical networking scene, the invention provides a method for directly issuing a configuration file to the slave gateway by an FTTR master gateway so as to realize service data synchronization. The master gateway automatically generates a slave gateway configuration file according to the configuration information issued to the current master gateway by the ITMS network management or the cloud platform, and then directly issues the configuration file to the slave gateway through the OCMI or the OAM expansion transparent channel and other modes. The method does not manage the slave gateway through the ITMS network management any more, can effectively simplify the configuration management flow of the slave gateway, enables the slave gateway to have zero configuration access, and realizes plug and play of the slave gateway.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a slave gateway configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of another slave gateway configuration method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a slave gateway configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a slave gateway configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a slave gateway configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a slave gateway configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a slave gateway configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of another slave gateway configuration method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of another slave gateway configuration method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of another slave gateway configuration method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of another slave gateway configuration method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of another slave gateway configuration method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart of another slave gateway configuration method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a conventional FTTR master-slave gateway configuration management architecture.

Fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of an FTTR master-slave gateway profile synchronization architecture provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 16 is a flowchart of reporting file information in the MIB synchronization stage provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 17 is a flowchart of querying file information after MIB synchronization provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 18 is a flowchart of issuing a normal from a gateway profile provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 19 is a flowchart of an exception issue from a gateway profile provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 20 is a flow chart of a pre-inspection from a gateway profile provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 21 is a schematic diagram of a slave gateway XML configuration file format provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 22 is a schematic diagram of a slave gateway JSON profile format provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 23 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 24 is a schematic diagram of a computer-readable storage medium provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

In the following description, suffixes such as "module", "component", or "unit" for representing elements are used only for facilitating the description of the present disclosure, and have no particular meaning in themselves. Thus, "module," "component," or "unit" may be used in combination.

Under the FTTR master-slave gateway networking scene, the configuration of each slave gateway under the same master gateway is basically consistent, and partial schemes propose to support the wired and wireless related configuration of the slave gateway through eLink extension protocol between the master gateway and the slave gateway, and relate to the parameter configuration of dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP, dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) address allocation, flow forwarding control, wide area network (WAN, wide Area Network) connection configuration, interactive network television (IPTV) service, wireless access and the like. The existing methods of managing optical network units (ONUs, optical Network Unit) through ITMS network management or through cloud platform and eLink plug-in unit by using Data Bus (DBUS) interfaces are still relatively complex in each service issuing configuration management flow.

Since the configuration of the slave gateway is generally simpler, most configurations can directly acquire synchronization from the master gateway, such as WIFI account passwords and the like. How to simplify the configuration management of the slave gateway to realize plug and play of the slave gateway and reduce the processing load of the slave gateway to the ITMS network manager or the cloud platform needs to provide an effective solution. The inventor provides a solution for directly issuing configuration files to the slave gateway by the master gateway aiming at simplifying the configuration management of the slave gateway in the FTTR full-gateway networking scene, and reduces the processing load of the slave gateway on the ITMS network management or the cloud platform while simplifying the configuration management of the slave gateway.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for configuring a slave gateway, which is used for a master gateway, as shown in fig. 1, and includes the following steps:

in step S100, a slave gateway configuration file is generated according to the configuration parameters of the current master gateway and the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway;

in step S200, in case a slave gateway accesses to a current master gateway, the slave gateway configuration file is issued to the slave gateway.

Under the FTTR master-slave gateway networking scene, the configuration of each slave gateway under the same master gateway is basically consistent, and most of the configuration can directly acquire synchronization from the master gateway, so that the slave gateway configuration file can be generated according to the configuration parameters of the current master gateway. In order to facilitate the subsequent version updating, a template configuration file with a preset standard format is used as a basic template of all the slave gateway configuration files, the master gateway configuration parameters which need to be synchronized to the slave gateways are stored according to the format of the template configuration file, and the slave gateway configuration files for being issued to the slave gateways are generated.

In some embodiments, the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway includes configuration parameter templates corresponding to respective services of the slave gateway.

The slave gateway in the real-world network may be a device of a plurality of different manufacturers, and a plurality of different types of services are also operated on each slave gateway. Accordingly, for each slave gateway device configuration and each service type, a configuration parameter template corresponding thereto can be set. The master gateway determines configuration parameter templates corresponding to the services respectively according to the equipment form of the slave gateway and various service types operated on the slave gateway, obtains template configuration files corresponding to the slave gateway, and generates slave gateway configuration files corresponding to the slave gateway by combining the configuration parameters of the master gateway and the determined configuration template files.

In some embodiments, before the issuing of the slave gateway configuration file to the slave gateway, the method further includes:

the configuration parameters of the main gateway are obtained through the service configuration issued by the network manager or the management platform to which the current main gateway belongs.

It should be noted that, the source of the configuration file of the master gateway is not limited, and the master gateway may automatically generate the configuration file of the slave gateway according to the service configuration issued by the current network manager or the management platform, or may use the configuration file currently stored on the master gateway as the configuration file of the slave gateway. The generated configuration file format is not limited, and XML or JSON file coding formats with modularized structures are preferred, so that the configuration parameters can be conveniently added, deleted, assigned, modified and the like, and the configuration file can be conveniently and directly issued to the slave gateway through an OMCI or an extended OAM protocol.

When a slave gateway accesses, a pre-set LOID and a password are used for carrying out a PON authentication flow, after the master gateway carries out LOID encryption code authentication on the accessed slave gateway, the master gateway supporting the function of a mini optical line terminal (MiniOLT, mini Optical Line Terminal) supports PON layer characteristics of a PON interface at a WAN side of the slave gateway through PLOAM and OMCI management configuration, wherein the OMCI realized functions mainly comprise: the slave gateway basic information is queried, LOID and LOID password authentication are carried out, the slave gateway basic service model is configured, and the MiniOLT actively reports the slave gateway or own information. Under this configuration model, in a specific implementation, the configuration parameters can be further expanded by "ONU XML configuration download" or (mecass=65300) in the OMCI private definition, and the private attribute is added for issuing the related configuration parameters of the slave gateway.

The gateway is powered on with default pre-configuration, which can meet the requirements of basic internet and IPTV service, and the basic configuration of the device comprises: a default LOID and password (password) registered with the PON port of the main gateway, a global Wide area network (WEB) login account password, wireless 2.4G and 5G wireless service set identification (SSID, service Set Identifier) names and keys, a per WAN connection operation mode (bridge or route, default operation in bridge mode), and the like.

The slave gateway in the present disclosure does not need to modify the configuration, and can automatically synchronize the common user administrator password of the master device, and can automatically synchronize the configuration of the master device Wi-Fi, etc. E.g., modifying the ordinary user administrator password through the master device web page, modifying the 2.4G and 5G SSIDs or passwords. The master gateway automatically generates a slave gateway XML or JSON configuration file according to the local configuration, and when the slave gateway is powered on and accessed, the slave gateway is transmitted and downloaded through an OMCI or an extended OAM transparent channel according to the application scenes such as a Gigabit passive optical network (GPON, gigabit-Capable Passive Optical Network) or an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON, ethernet Passive Optical Network). And for the newly added parameter configuration items, displaying an instruction through an XML incremental configuration file, and calling an API interface provided by a related service module to take effect synchronously in real time after the instruction is analyzed from the gateway. As above, all slave gateways 2.4G and 5G SSID and password configurations can be synchronized in real time.

The master gateway in the present disclosure can realize zero configuration access after the slave gateway is powered on by a method of synchronously issuing the slave gateway configuration file to the slave gateway, and no ITMS network management issuing worksheet or cloud platform plug-in issuing configuration is required for management, so that the advantages of plug-and-play and the like can be realized.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the slave gateway configuration method further includes:

in step S211, when the configuration parameters of the master gateway are changed, a slave gateway configuration file is regenerated according to the changed configuration parameters of the master gateway and the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway;

in step S212, the regenerated slave gateway configuration file is issued to the slave gateway corresponding to the changed configuration parameter.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, since the slave gateway does not update the configuration file from the slave network manager, but synchronizes the configuration file directly from the master gateway, when a user modifies the configuration parameters of the current master gateway through the network manager, or modifies some parameters directly on the master gateway, or changes the parameters in the configuration file of the slave gateway caused by other reasons, the current master gateway needs to regenerate the configuration file of the changed slave gateway, and needs to actively synchronize the configuration to the slave gateway.

Before the master gateway actively makes configuration synchronization to the slave gateway, a message of updating indication can be sent to the slave gateway, and the slave gateway determines whether to perform configuration synchronization according to version information, verification information and the like of the configuration file. If configuration synchronization is needed, a configuration file update request is sent to the main gateway. After receiving the update request, the master gateway starts to execute the step of synchronizing the changed slave gateway configuration file with the slave gateway.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 4, the slave gateway configuration method further includes:

in step S221, when the configuration parameters of the master gateway are changed, an incremental configuration file of the slave gateway is generated according to the changed configuration parameters of the master gateway and the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway; the incremental configuration file is a configuration fragment generated for the changed main gateway configuration parameters;

in step S222, the incremental configuration file is issued to the slave gateway accessing to the current master gateway, so that the incremental configuration file and the slave gateway configuration file stored in the slave gateway are combined to form a modified slave gateway configuration file.

Configuration parameter changes, including the addition, deletion, modification, etc. of configuration parameters. Sometimes only individual parameters change, if the complete slave gateway configuration file is regenerated each time, the complete configuration file is synchronized to all slave gateways, which is wasteful of network resources. Therefore, the master gateway can generate a complete slave gateway configuration file according to the changed parameters, and can perform configuration synchronization to the slave gateway in a mode of adding the configuration file in order to save resources and reduce the burden of file transmission on the network. For example, in a modularized file coding format such as XML, JSON and the like, only the module content with the parameter change is contained in one increment file, so that lightweight configuration synchronization is realized. After receiving from the gateway, synchronous update can be made only to the parameters in the incremental configuration on the basis of the existing configuration file, and other contents are unchanged.

Similar to full-volume synchronization, before the master gateway actively makes incremental configuration synchronization to the slave gateway, a message indicating update may be sent to the slave gateway, and the slave gateway determines whether to perform configuration synchronization according to version information, verification information, and the like of the configuration file. If configuration synchronization is needed, a configuration file update request is sent to the main gateway. After receiving the update request, the master gateway starts to execute the step of issuing the incremental configuration file to the slave gateway.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, the slave gateway configuration method further includes:

in step S231, determining a slave gateway to be updated according to the configuration update information of the slave gateway;

in step S232, the slave gateway configuration file locally stored by the current master gateway is issued to the slave gateway to be updated.

Further, as shown in fig. 6, before the determining, according to the configuration update information of the slave gateway, the slave gateway to be updated further includes:

in step S233, an update check message of the slave gateway configuration file is sent to at least one slave gateway accessed to the current master gateway;

in step S234, configuration update information fed back to the current master gateway by each slave gateway for the update check message is received.

Further, as shown in fig. 7, before the determining, according to the configuration update information of the slave gateway, the slave gateway to be updated further includes:

in step S235, a configuration file query message is sent to a slave gateway which is accessed to the current master gateway;

in step S236, the configuration update information sent by the slave gateway for the configuration file query message is received.

Further, the determining the slave gateway to be updated according to the configuration update information of the slave gateway includes:

analyzing the configuration updating information to obtain version information of a slave gateway configuration file locally stored in a slave gateway;

determining that the slave gateway is the slave gateway to be updated under the condition that the version information of the slave gateway configuration file stored on the slave gateway is different from the version information of the slave gateway configuration file stored locally on the current master gateway;

and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the determining the slave gateway to be updated according to the configuration update information of the slave gateway comprises the following steps:

analyzing the configuration updating information to obtain a hash code for checking the integrity of the configuration file of the slave gateway stored on the slave gateway;

and under the condition that the hash code verification fails, determining the slave gateway as the slave gateway to be updated.

In some embodiments, the slave gateway is issued a slave gateway profile through a proprietary defined channel of an optical network unit management control interface OMCI or an extended operations management maintenance OAM channel. In the MIB synchronization stage, the master gateway sends update check to all the slave gateways registered in the current master gateway, and judges which slave gateways need to be synchronized according to the version information fed back by the slave gateways. After the synchronization is completed, in daily operation, the master gateway can also send a query (GET) message to the slave gateway through MIB Audit (audio), obtain version information, hash codes, time information and the like of the configuration files stored on the slave gateway, and judge which configuration files of the slave gateway need to be synchronized.

When the master gateway sends version information containing the configuration file of the slave gateway to the slave gateway or reports the version information of the configuration file on the slave gateway to the master gateway from the slave gateway, hash codes (Hashcode) for checking the integrity of the configuration file can be simultaneously sent.

When the master gateway updates and checks the configuration file to the slave gateway, the master gateway checks the update condition of the configuration file according to the Hashcode attribute value reported by the slave gateway, and optionally initiates a configuration file issuing operation to the slave gateway according to the update condition. The slave gateway reports the Hashcode in two schemes, one is that in the MIB uplink stage, the master gateway sends update checking information to the slave gateway, and the slave gateway reports the update checking information through MIB Upload next response information; the other is that after the MIB audit is completed, the master gateway queries the slave gateway XML configuration file information through a configuration file query message (GET message). Both the two modes can acquire configuration file version information, corresponding hash codes, update time information and the like of the slave gateway, and can determine which slave gateway is used as the slave gateway to be updated according to the information.

In some embodiments, said synchronizing said profile to said slave gateway further comprises:

in response to receiving a request for synchronizing a configuration file of a slave gateway, the step of synchronizing the slave gateway configuration file to the slave gateway is performed.

In addition to the above-mentioned several scenarios, there are scenarios such as power-up from gateway null configuration, restart from gateway, initial network access from gateway, etc., where the slave gateway actively sends out a configuration synchronization request to the master gateway. In these scenarios, the step of synchronizing the slave gateway profile to the slave gateway can be achieved, either by the master gateway sending the profile or by the slave gateway downloading the profile.

In some embodiments, the slave gateway is issued a slave gateway profile through a proprietary defined channel of an optical network unit management control interface OMCI or an extended operations management maintenance OAM channel.

It should be noted that, according to application scenarios such as GPON or EPON, a channel that is defined by private and uses an optical network unit management control interface OMCI, or a channel that is used for extended operation management maintenance OAM may be selected and used, where the scenario that various types of master gateways issue slave gateway configuration files to slave gateways described in the embodiments of the present disclosure, including the scenario that the slave gateway issues the slave gateway configuration files when the slave gateway is just accessed, the scenario that the slave gateway configuration files issue after the change in the configuration parameters of the master gateway, or the incremental configuration files may also include the slave gateway configuration files issued in the MIB synchronization or MIB audit stage, which is not listed herein, where the scenario that the master gateway issues configuration files to the slave gateway through the channel that is defined by private and uses an extended OAM of the master gateway falls within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

In the optical network, the slave gateway may be an ONU, and the master gateway may be an optical line terminal (OLT, optical Line Terminal) or an ONU supporting the MiniOLT function. For convenience of description, the ONU is exemplified as the slave gateway in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is not limited to scenarios employing ONUs as slave gateways.

In the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the default pre-configuration file is loaded from the gateway in a power-on manner, for example, the default pre-configuration file presets that the Internet bridge can implement basic Internet surfing and IPTV multicast services, and ensures that the slave gateway can register to the master gateway normally. The primary gateway stores a basic service XML or JSON default configuration file template of the secondary gateway, and the XML or JSON file format content is defined according to TR098 parameter specifications and DB storage parameters inside each service module. And after the master gateway is powered on, reading and loading the XML template configuration file of the slave gateway, acquiring the current configuration file version of the slave gateway and the last updating time information after the slave gateway is accessed, and confirming whether updating is needed.

Configuration download from gateway, involving private definition extension, extended by "ONU xml configuration download" or (mecass=65300) in OMCI private definition, adds two attributes: (1) FileVersion: representing configuration file version information, which is not equal to software version information; (2) Hashcode: overall MD5 summary information indicating the last successfully updated configuration file.

And checking the updating condition of the configuration file of the master gateway according to the Hashcode attribute value reported by the slave gateway, and optionally initiating the configuration file issuing operation. There are two schemes for reporting the Hashcode, one is that in the MIB uplink stage, the Hashcode is reported from the gateway through MIB Upload next response information; and the other is that after the MIB audit is completed, the master gateway inquires the information of the XML configuration file of the slave gateway through a GET message.

When the master gateway confirms that the XML configuration file of the slave gateway needs to be updated, such as modifying the user account of the slave gateway through WEB, all online slave gateways need to be notified to update the related configuration files immediately. The XML file in the slave gateway is consistent with the default pre-configuration file basic format of the master-slave gateway version, the XML configuration file basic format is defined by referring to FIG. 21, and the basic content is as follows: and adding a HashCode attribute into the < DB > tag, wherein the content is a value calculated by an MD5 digest algorithm of the whole file, and the HashCode attribute is used for verifying the integrity of the content of the whole XML file. There must be a Version field configuration of the CfgFile table in each XML and the configuration of the table must be located at the forefront. The definition of the CfgFile table includes two fields Version and HashCode; version represents an iteration of the configuration file from which the product confirms whether it is applicable to the current slave gateway. The HashCode adopts an MD5 digest algorithm, after the configuration file is validated, the field is used for storing the Hash value of the whole original configuration file received from the main gateway, and after each restart, the HashCode is reported to the main gateway from the gateway for detecting whether the configuration file is updated or not.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a slave gateway configuration method, for a slave gateway, as shown in fig. 2, the slave gateway configuration method including the steps of:

in step S300, a slave gateway configuration file issued by a master gateway to which the slave gateway is currently connected is received, wherein the slave gateway configuration file includes a slave gateway configuration file generated based on master gateway configuration parameters of the master gateway to which the slave gateway is currently connected and a template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway.

According to the service configuration of the current main gateway, the main gateway in the present disclosure is a slave gateway configuration file generated for a slave gateway registered in the current main gateway. In some scenarios, such as configuration parameter change, MIB synchronization stage, MIB audit stage, etc., the master gateway actively performs configuration update check, or queries configuration related information of the slave gateway, determines the slave gateway to be updated, and instructs the slave gateway to be updated to perform configuration synchronization; in other scenarios, such as power-up from gateway null configuration, restart from gateway, initial access from gateway, etc., the slave gateway will also actively send a configuration synchronization request to the master gateway.

The slave gateway judges whether a judging basis for configuring the synchronous request is required to be sent to the master gateway or not by comparing the version information of the configuration file stored on the current slave gateway with the version information of the configuration file of the slave gateway generated by the master gateway. The different version information means that the configuration files are different, and the step of synchronizing the slave gateway configuration files from the master gateway needs to be performed.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 8, in a case where the current slave gateway already stores a slave gateway configuration file issued by a master gateway to which the current slave gateway accesses, the slave gateway configuration method further includes:

in step S311, a secondary gateway configuration file re-issued by the primary gateway is received.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 9, the slave gateway configuration method further includes:

in step S321, the re-issued slave gateway configuration file is parsed to obtain an incremental configuration file, where the incremental configuration file is a configuration fragment generated by the master gateway for the changed master gateway configuration parameters;

in step S322, the incremental slave gateway configuration file is combined with the slave gateway configuration file stored on the current slave gateway to form a modified slave gateway configuration file.

Configuration changes, sometimes only individual parameters change, and if a complete slave gateway configuration file is regenerated each time, then the complete configuration file is synchronized to all slave gateways, which is a waste of network resources. Therefore, the master gateway can generate a complete slave gateway configuration file according to the changed parameters, and can perform configuration synchronization to the slave gateway in a mode of adding the configuration file in order to save resources and reduce the burden of file transmission on the network. For example, in a modularized file coding format such as XML, JSON and the like, only necessary module contents are contained in one increment file, so that lightweight configuration synchronization is realized. After receiving from the gateway, synchronous update can be made only to the parameters in the incremental configuration on the basis of the existing configuration file, and other contents are unchanged.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 10, the slave gateway configuration method further includes:

in step S331, configuration update information is sent to the master gateway, for characterizing the current version of the slave gateway.

Further, as shown in fig. 11, in the MIB synchronization stage, before sending configuration update information to the master gateway, the method further includes:

in step S332, in response to the file update check message of the primary gateway, configuration update information for the file update check message is fed back to the primary gateway.

Further, as shown in fig. 12, after the MIB audit is completed, before the configuration update information is sent to the master gateway, the method further includes:

in step S333, in response to the profile query message of the primary gateway, configuration update information for the profile query message is to be sent to the primary gateway.

Further, the configuration update information includes: version information of the slave gateway configuration file stored on the slave gateway and/or a hash code for checking the integrity of the slave gateway configuration file stored on the slave gateway.

In some scenarios, such as configuration change, inconsistent GET to slave gateway configuration file version in MIB audit, etc., the master gateway may actively initiate configuration synchronization for the slave gateway, the slave gateway may receive an update indication of update configuration file of the master gateway, and then perform the step of configuration synchronization.

In other situations, such as when the primary gateway is powered on, the primary gateway will first send out an update check message, collect version information fed back from the gateway, and hash codes corresponding to the current configuration file, and determine whether to continue to perform the configuration synchronization step by the primary gateway.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 13, after the step of receiving the slave gateway configuration file issued by the master gateway to which the slave gateway is currently connected, the method further includes:

In step S341, a verification is performed on the secondary gateway configuration file issued by the primary gateway;

in step S342, in case of verification failure, the download failure is acknowledged to the primary gateway;

in step S343, in case of successful verification, the relevant service module is invoked for parameter configuration.

In some embodiments, the checking the secondary gateway configuration file issued by the primary gateway includes at least one of the following checks:

file validity check, time check, download integrity check, content validity check, configuration validity check. In some embodiments, in the case that the verification is successful, before the step of calling the relevant service module to perform parameter configuration, the method further includes:

performing configuration check on the configuration file of the slave gateway issued by the master gateway;

the configuration check includes at least one of the following checks:

file base element checking, file integrity checking, and parameter value validity checking. When the master gateway confirms that the XML configuration file of the slave gateway needs to be updated, such as modifying the user account of the slave gateway through WEB, all online slave gateways need to be notified to update the related configuration files immediately. The XML file in the slave gateway is consistent with the default pre-configuration file basic format of the master-slave gateway version, the XML configuration file basic format is defined by referring to FIG. 21, and the basic content is as follows: and adding a HashCode attribute into the < DB > tag, wherein the content is a value calculated by an MD5 digest algorithm of the whole file, and the HashCode attribute is used for verifying the integrity of the content of the whole XML file. There must be a Version field configuration of the CfgFile table in each XML and the configuration of the table must be located at the forefront. The definition of the CfgFile table includes two fields Version and HashCode; version represents an iteration of the configuration file from which the product confirms whether the current gateway is applicable.

The HashCode in the XML configuration file header is generated by using an MD5 algorithm according to the whole file, and after the MD5 value is calculated, the Hashcode field is backfilled, namely the Hashcode is a secret key of the MD5 algorithm. The processing of the XML configuration file from the gateway ONU interior is mainly divided into two processes: and (5) checking and configuring. If one parameter in the verification stage is not passed, the verification stage immediately returns failure, and all items enter the configuration stage after the verification is successful. If the parameter configuration fails in the configuration stage, the following configuration items are continued. Hierarchical verification of XML configuration files includes the following aspects:

1) And (3) verifying legality: checking the header of the configuration file to confirm whether the file is applicable to the current ONU product;

2) And (3) time checking: checking the header of the configuration file to confirm whether the file is an updated file;

3) And (5) downloading complete verification: the master gateway calculates the CRC based on the entire file, receives and calculates the contrast (optionally, functionally close to MD 5) from the gateway;

4) Content validity verification: based on the MD5 information abstract of the file header, completing content verification;

5) Configuration validity check: the parameter content is pre-checked piece by piece, and the main check list is correct, and the fields and the field values are correct.

The analysis configuration of the XML configuration file is to call the API interface provided by each module to carry out parameter configuration, so that the service configuration can be immediately effective.

The gateway is used for checking and merging configuration files, wherein the configuration checking mainly comprises XML file basic element checking, whole file integrity checking and parameter value validity checking, and the configuration checking comprises the following steps of:

1) The basic element inspection of the XML file is completed by an XML framework;

2) The file integrity check is completed by the configuration download function framework;

3) The validity check of the parameter value is completed by the corresponding service module.

When the configuration of the master gateway discovers the change, if the slave gateway is involved, the XML configuration file is synchronously updated, and the secondary gateway is notified to issue again, so that the correctness and the integrity of the configuration file content are checked by the slave gateway.

In some embodiments, the channel of the maintenance OAM is managed through a proprietary defined channel or an extension operation of the OMCI, and the slave gateway configuration file issued by the master gateway is received.

In some embodiments, the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

when the slave gateway detects that the synchronization condition is met, a configuration file synchronization request is sent to the master gateway;

wherein the synchronization conditions include at least one of the following conditions:

the slave gateway is powered on, restarted, newly network-entered, and has only default configuration.

In addition to the master gateway actively performing configuration synchronization to the slave gateway, the slave gateway may actively request configuration synchronization. In the case that the slave gateway is in a default zero configuration (or may have a default pre-configuration), the slave gateway is supported to realize plug and play of the slave gateway by issuing to the slave gateway in a slave gateway configuration file mode and immediately taking effect.

Compared with the prior art, the method and the system aim at solving the problems that the configuration management of the slave gateway is complex, the slave gateway is not managed through the ITMS network management, the process of the ITMS network management on the slave gateway is simplified, the slave gateway does not independently issue a work order, and the master gateway directly synchronizes the key configuration to the slave gateway, so that the slave gateway realizes plug and play.

Compared with the traditional scheme, the main advantages of the method are as follows: the configuration flow of the slave gateway is simplified, plug and play can be realized, ITMS network management or cloud platform and the like are not needed to directly perform configuration management on the slave gateway, the master gateway automatically generates an XML configuration file of the slave gateway according to the current networking configuration, and the slave gateway loads the XML file or the incremental XML file to meet the service effective requirement.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure. The objectives and other advantages of the disclosure will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims thereof as well as the appended drawings.

The slave gateway configuration method according to the first and second aspects of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments. It should be noted that, in the case of no conflict, the embodiments and features in the embodiments may be combined with each other.

Example 1

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of FTTR master-slave gateway configuration management architecture. In the current master-slave gateway networking architecture, configuration management of the master-slave gateway is still controlled by an ACS network manager and a cloud platform. If the slave gateway accesses, the master gateway proxy needs to authenticate the device platform from the gateway, and the master gateway controls the slave gateway according to the authentication result of the gateway management platform. The configuration management of the slave gateway is basically consistent with that of the current master gateway, and the load pressure on ACS network management and a cloud platform is high. In the existing master-slave gateway networking mode, the slave gateway generally works in a bridge forwarding mode, networking configuration is relatively simple, configuration parameters of the slave gateway depend on the master gateway, and the configuration of the slave gateway can be directly issued and synchronized through the master gateway. The FTTR master of the present disclosure thus optimizes the configuration management architecture of the slave gateway.

Fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of a Master-slave gateway configuration file synchronization framework in an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the present disclosure proposes a Master-slave gateway configuration synchronization method, and a Master gateway (Master ONU) presets a slave gateway XML template configuration file, and after a slave gateway successfully registers with a Master gateway through an LOID or SN, the slave gateway does not need to modify the configuration, and can automatically synchronize the relevant configuration of the Master device. The slave gateway equipment is electrically connected to the master gateway, the master gateway can automatically generate a slave gateway XML configuration file according to the local configuration, and the slave gateway is transmitted and downloaded through an OMCI or an extended OAM transparent channel when being electrically accessed. And for the newly added parameter configuration items, displaying an instruction through an XML incremental configuration file, and calling an API interface provided by a related service module to take effect synchronously in real time after the instruction is analyzed from the gateway. The Slave gateway defaults to zero configuration (or default pre-configuration can be provided), and the master gateway is supported to be issued to the Slave gateway (Slave ONU) in an XML configuration file mode and immediately takes effect. The method mainly comprises the following steps:

when the FTTR networking is opened, a basic template cfg.xml file is firstly stored in a main gateway, for example, an Internet transparent transmission bridge and wireless service set identifier (SSID, service Set Identifier) and key related configuration are pre-configured as default template configuration files, so that basic service can be realized after the access of the gateway. After the gateway is powered on or leaves the factory, an extensible markup language (XML, extensible Markup Language) file is automatically downloaded interactively with the main gateway, the ONU related service module reloads the configuration and takes effect immediately after the ONU is issued after the configuration file is issued, and the ONU does not need to be restarted, so that the influence of configuration upgrading on user experience is reduced.

The configuration file can be checked and modified through a local WEB page of the main gateway, and when the main gateway receives a related service configuration parameter change message issued by an ITMS network manager or a cloud platform, the main gateway dynamically and synchronously updates a cfg.xml file of the auxiliary gateway and automatically issues cfg.xml configuration to a plurality of auxiliary gateways ONU;

whenever an update is detected from cfg.xml on the gateway, the ONU must re-download cfg.xml;

the content in the XML file is defined privately according to specific service scenes and function requirements, and comprises WAN side and LAN side data service forwarding configuration, and for newly added function services, the XML file format needs to be synchronously expanded and adjusted;

the XML file can be preconfigured according to specific customization requirements, and the content of the XML file can be full-set configuration or incremental configuration.

Example 2

Fig. 16 is a flowchart of reporting file time information in a synchronization stage of a management information base (MIB, management Information Base) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which mainly includes the following steps:

step 201, the master gateway actively requests a file update check (MIB update next) in the MIB synchronization stage;

step 202, reporting from the gateway through MIB Upload next response message, wherein the message comprises: version information FileVersion of the configuration file (xml cfg) and hash code (HashCode) corresponding to the configuration file;

Step 203, the main gateway checks whether the file needs to be updated;

and 204, if the XML configuration file needs to be updated, downloading the configuration file.

Example 3

Fig. 17 is a flowchart of querying file time information after MIB synchronization in an embodiment of the present disclosure, which includes the following main steps:

step 301, master-slave gateway MIB audit (audio) is synchronously completed;

step 302, master gateway actively queries (GET) slave gateway XML file time information;

step 303, the master gateway receives a slave gateway query response (GET response) and checks whether the file needs to be updated;

and 304, if the XML configuration file needs to be updated, downloading the configuration file.

Example 4

Fig. 18 is a normal flow chart of issuing from a gateway configuration file according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the main steps of which include the following:

step 401, the master gateway requests to acquire the current configuration file version and update time (UpdateTime) of the slave gateway;

step 402, after receiving the request from the gateway, filling the relevant parameters and responding;

step 403, the primary gateway checks whether the XML configuration file is updated, and if so, downloads the configuration file through "ONU XML configuration download" in OMCI private definition and mecass=65300;

Step 404, after receiving the download configuration file end message (EndDownLoad) from the gateway, checking the cyclic redundancy check (CRC, cyclic Redundancy Check), checking the validity and integrity, and checking the update time;

step 405, if the above checks are all passed, sending an end message response (EndDownLoad response) message, wherein result=0 indicates success, and notifying the main gateway that the download is successful;

step 406, calling each related service module from the gateway to configure, and updating the local XML file version and the update time.

Example 5

Fig. 19 is a flowchart of an exception procedure issued from a gateway configuration file according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, including the following main steps:

steps 501 to 504 are the same as steps 301 to 304 in fig. 17;

step 505, after receiving the download configuration file end message EndDownLoad from the gateway, checking CRC, checking validity and integrity, checking update time, and if one of the checks fails, sending a EndDownLoad response message, and informing the master gateway that the download fails by result=1.

Example 6

FIG. 20 is a slave gateway XML configuration file pre-check flowchart of an embodiment of the present disclosure, as follows:

step 601, receiving an XML configuration file downloading end event from the gateway, checking and comparing the XML configuration file version and the update time, if no update is required, responding to the downloading failure of the main gateway supporting the MiniOLT function, and if update is required, continuing to step 602 as follows;

Step 602, calculating and checking CRC, if the check fails, responding to the downloading failure of the MiniOLT, and if the check succeeds, continuing to step 603 as follows;

step 603, calculating and checking MD5, if the checking fails, responding to the downloading failure of the MiniOLT, and if the checking succeeds, continuing to step 604 as follows;

and step 604, checking each parameter field table by table circularly, if the intermediate check fails, responding to the downloading failure of the main gateway MiniOLT, and if the check succeeds, continuing to load other table entries.

And step 605, responding to successful downloading of the MiniOLT, analyzing the related parameter nodes and calling an original TR069 related parameter application programming interface (API, application Program Interface) to distribute the service so as to ensure that the service takes effect synchronously in real time.

Example 7

Fig. 21 is a schematic diagram of a slave gateway XML configuration file format according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the format definition of the XML file may refer to the TR098 standard specification, and the vendor may redefine the specific parameter DB storage format of the WAN side or LAN side entity object according to the specification when implemented. Such as internet gateway device.

The WANConnection device XXX parameter configuration may be translated into individual parameter entries in the DB Table WANC. And the configuration file can be issued according to the whole set of the gateway service XML configuration file or the incremental XML configuration parameter set.

Example 8

Fig. 22 is a schematic diagram of a secondary gateway JS Object Notation (JSON, javaScript Object notification) configuration file format of an embodiment of the present disclosure, where format definitions of the JSON files are organized according to the key/value (key/value) format of the JSON file standard, and parameter names and parameter value contents are defined according to requirements of each business Object entity.

Other configuration file coding formats between the master gateway and the slave gateway can be supported, and expansion definition is specifically performed according to service requirements.

The present disclosure is capable of other various embodiments and its several details are capable of modification and variation in light of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art and can be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In summary, the disclosure discloses a method for synchronizing service data by using an FTTR master-slave gateway through a configuration file, by which configuration management of a slave gateway can be effectively simplified, and plug-and-play of the slave gateway is realized.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and do not limit the scope of the claims of the present disclosure. Besides the embodiment, the master gateway can also be made to play the role of ITMS network management, and the configuration is issued to the slave gateway through the TR069 work order.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides an electronic device, as shown in fig. 23, including:

one or more processors 701;

a memory 702 having one or more programs stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to implement the slave gateway configuration method as in any of the first and/or second aspects above;

one or more I/O interfaces 703, coupled between the processor and the memory, are configured to enable information interaction of the processor with the memory.

Wherein the processor 701 is a device having data processing capabilities, including but not limited to a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or the like; memory 702 is a device with data storage capability including, but not limited to, random access memory (RAM, more specifically SDRAM, DDR, etc.), read-only memory (ROM), electrically charged erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), FLASH memory (FLASH); an I/O interface (read/write interface) 703 is connected between the processor 701 and the memory 702 to enable information interaction between the processor 701 and the memory 702, including but not limited to a data Bus (Bus) or the like.

In some embodiments, processor 701, memory 702, and I/O interface 703 are interconnected by bus 704, which in turn is connected to other components of the computing device.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer readable storage medium, as shown in fig. 24, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the method for configuring a slave gateway according to any one of the first and/or second aspects.

Aiming at the problem of complex configuration management of a slave gateway in the existing FTTR all-optical networking scene, the invention provides a method for synchronizing configuration files of an FTTR master gateway directly to the slave gateway so as to realize service data synchronization. The master gateway automatically generates a slave gateway configuration file according to the configuration information issued to the current master gateway by the ITMS network management or the cloud platform, and then directly issues the configuration file to the slave gateway through the OCMI or the OAM expansion transparent channel and other modes. The method does not manage the slave gateway through the ITMS network management any more, can effectively simplify the configuration management flow of the slave gateway, enables the slave gateway to have zero configuration access, and realizes plug and play of the slave gateway. The configuration management of the slave gateway is simplified, and meanwhile, the processing load of the slave gateway to the ITMS network management or the cloud platform is also lightened.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or some of the steps of the methods, systems, functional modules/units in the devices disclosed above may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and suitable combinations thereof.

In a hardware implementation, the division between the functional modules/units mentioned in the above description does not necessarily correspond to the division of physical components; for example, one physical component may have multiple functions, or one function or step may be performed cooperatively by several physical components. Some or all of the physical components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processing unit, digital signal processor, or microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed on computer readable media, which may include computer storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or transitory media). The term computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data, as known to those skilled in the art. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media.

The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, and are not thereby limiting the scope of the claims of the present disclosure. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure shall fall within the scope of the claims of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A slave gateway configuration method for a master gateway, the slave gateway configuration method comprising:

2. The slave gateway configuration method according to claim 1, wherein the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway includes configuration parameter templates corresponding to respective services of the slave gateway.

3. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 1, wherein the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

under the condition that the configuration parameters of the master gateway are changed, regenerating a slave gateway configuration file according to the changed configuration parameters of the master gateway and the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway;

And issuing the regenerated slave gateway configuration file to the slave gateway corresponding to the changed configuration parameters.

4. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 1, wherein the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

under the condition that the configuration parameters of the master gateway are changed, generating an incremental configuration file of the slave gateway according to the changed configuration parameters of the master gateway and the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway; the incremental configuration file is a configuration fragment generated aiming at the changed configuration parameters of the main gateway;

and the incremental configuration file is issued to a slave gateway accessed to the current master gateway, so that the incremental configuration file and the slave gateway configuration file stored on the slave gateway are combined to form a changed slave gateway configuration file.

5. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 1, wherein the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

determining a slave gateway to be updated according to the configuration updating information of the slave gateway;

and transmitting the slave gateway configuration file locally stored by the current master gateway to the slave gateway to be updated.

6. The slave gateway configuration method according to claim 5, wherein before the slave gateway to be updated is determined according to the configuration update information of the slave gateway, the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

Sending an update check message of a slave gateway configuration file to at least one slave gateway accessed to the current master gateway;

and receiving configuration update information fed back to the current master gateway by each slave gateway aiming at the update check message.

7. The slave gateway configuration method according to claim 5, wherein before the slave gateway to be updated is determined according to the configuration update information of the slave gateway, the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

sending a configuration file inquiry message to a slave gateway accessed to the current master gateway;

and receiving configuration update information sent by the slave gateway aiming at the configuration file inquiry message.

8. The slave gateway configuration method according to claim 5, wherein the determining the slave gateway to be updated according to the configuration update information of the slave gateway comprises:

and/or the number of the groups of groups,

9. The slave gateway configuration method according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the slave gateway configuration file is issued to the slave gateway through a proprietary defined channel of an optical network unit management control interface OMCI or an extended operation management maintenance OAM channel.

10. The slave gateway configuration method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein before said issuing a slave gateway configuration file to the slave gateway, further comprising:

11. A slave gateway configuration method for a slave gateway, the slave gateway configuration method comprising:

12. The slave gateway configuration method according to claim 11, wherein the template configuration file corresponding to the slave gateway includes configuration parameter templates corresponding to respective services of the slave gateway.

13. The slave gateway configuration method according to claim 11, wherein in case that the slave gateway already stores a slave gateway configuration file issued by a master gateway to which the slave gateway is currently connected, the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

and receiving the secondary gateway configuration file which is re-issued by the primary gateway.

14. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 13, wherein the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

analyzing the re-issued slave gateway configuration file to obtain an increment configuration file, wherein the increment configuration file is a configuration fragment generated by the master gateway aiming at the changed master gateway configuration parameters;

and combining the incremental slave gateway configuration file with the slave gateway configuration file stored on the current slave gateway to form a changed slave gateway configuration file.

15. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 11, wherein the slave gateway configuration method further comprises:

and sending configuration update information to the master gateway for characterizing the version of the current slave gateway.

16. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 15, wherein prior to sending configuration update information to the master gateway, further comprising:

and responding to the file update checking message of the master gateway, and feeding back configuration update information for the file update checking message to the master gateway.

17. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 15, wherein prior to sending configuration update information to the master gateway, further comprising:

and responding to the configuration file inquiry message of the master gateway, and sending configuration update information aiming at the configuration file inquiry message to the master gateway.

18. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 15, wherein the configuration update information comprises: version information of the slave gateway configuration file stored on the slave gateway and/or a hash code for checking the integrity of the slave gateway configuration file stored on the slave gateway.

19. The slave gateway configuration method according to claim 11, wherein after the step of receiving the slave gateway configuration file issued by the master gateway to which the slave gateway is currently connected, further comprising:

checking the configuration file of the slave gateway issued by the master gateway;

Under the condition of verification failure, the download failure is responded to the main gateway;

and under the condition that the verification is successful, calling a related service module to carry out parameter configuration.

20. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 19, wherein the checking the slave gateway configuration file issued by the master gateway includes at least one of the following checks:

file validity check, time check, download integrity check, content validity check, configuration validity check.

21. The slave gateway configuration method of claim 19, wherein, in the case that the verification is successful, before the step of invoking the relevant service module for parameter configuration, further comprising:

the configuration check includes at least one of the following checks:

file base element checking, file integrity checking, and parameter value validity checking.

22. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 21, wherein the slave gateway configuration file issued by the master gateway is received through a proprietary defined channel of OMCI or a channel of extended operations administration maintenance OAM.

23. An electronic device, the electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory having one or more programs stored thereon, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to implement the slave gateway configuration method according to any one of claims 1 to 22;

24. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which when executed by a processor implements a slave gateway configuration method according to any of claims 1 to 22.