JP2001274800A - Network connector and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network connector that attains automatic control so as not to reduce a network processing capability, in the case of diagnosing a fault of an Ethernet(R) card. SOLUTION: An IP card and an Ethernet address of a card of a fault diagnostic object are copied to an IP address register, and an Ethernet address register 501 corresponding to a card operated on behalf of the fault diagnosis object card on the occurrence of an interrupt. Then a slot control firmware 140 disconnects the card of the fault diagnosis object and connects with the substituted card. When the fault diagnosis is finished, the slot control firmware 140 connects with the fault diagnosis object card and disconnects the substituted card. The slot control firmware 140 applies these operations for to all cards.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network connection device, and more particularly, to a network connection device for automatically diagnosing a failure of a network interface card without reducing network processing performance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a network connection apparatus of this kind, when a failure diagnosis of an Ethernet card connected to a computer is performed, an operator sets the Ethernet card targeted for the failure diagnosis to an inoperable state, and then performs a computer operation. Disconnect from Here, the Ethernet card refers to a device for connecting a computer to a local area network. Then, the fault diagnosis of the disconnected Ethernet card is performed. If there is a fault, the repaired or replaced Ethernet card is connected to the computer. If there is no fault, the Ethernet card is directly connected to the computer. . Then, after connecting a normal Ethernet card, the Ethernet card is made operable.

[0003]

The first problem of the above-mentioned conventional device is that during the fault diagnosis, the Ethernet card targeted for the fault diagnosis becomes inoperable. The point is that communication processing using a card becomes impossible.

[0004] A second problem is that since the operator manually disconnects, diagnoses, and connects the Ethernet card, the burden on the operator is large.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to prevent a decrease in network processing capability by performing communication processing that should be performed by an Ethernet card under failure diagnosis by another Ethernet card in place of failure diagnosis. Is to provide a network connection device that automatically reduces the burden on the operator by automatically performing the control.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, a network connection device for an Ethernet card according to the present invention is connected to a plurality of Ethernet cards, and is performed by the Ethernet card under fault diagnosis while the fault diagnosis is being performed. The other Ethernet card performs the communication processing to be performed instead.

In another network connection device of the present invention, one of the plurality of Ethernet cards includes an Ethernet address register for holding a copy of the Ethernet address of the Ethernet card under failure diagnosis. A device controller for copying an Ethernet address value to the Ethernet address register.

Further, another network connection device of the present invention further includes an interrupt control device for notifying the device control device that a failure diagnosis should be performed.

[0009] In another network connection device of the present invention, the notification is performed at regular intervals.

[0010] In another network connection device of the present invention, the interrupt control device further includes a clock generator for outputting a clock signal at regular time intervals, and a signal from the clock generator for inputting the clock signal at regular time intervals. A count register that increases the value held by one at a time, an interrupt value register that holds the time until the next failure diagnosis, and a comparison between the value held by the count register and the value held by the interrupt value register. An interrupt detector that generates an interrupt when they match each other; and an interrupt notification unit that notifies the device controller that a failure diagnosis should be performed when an interrupt is issued from the interrupt detector. including.

Further, in another network connection device of the present invention, the device control device includes a plurality of IP address registers for holding IP addresses corresponding to the plurality of Ethernet cards, respectively, Slot control means for copying an IP address to an IP address register corresponding to an Ethernet card operating in place of the Ethernet card under failure diagnosis.

In another network connection device of the present invention, the device control device further includes a plurality of connection bits indicating whether or not the plurality of Ethernet cards are connected, in addition to the plurality of IP address registers. And the slot control means further determines which one of the plurality of Ethernet cards is used to output data based on the IP address register and the connection bit.

[0013] In another network connection device of the present invention, the device control device further includes a transfer indication bit indicating whether or not each of the plurality of Ethernet cards is performing communication processing. Further, it is determined whether or not the plurality of Ethernet cards can be disconnected according to the in-transfer indicator bit.

In another network connection device of the present invention, the device control device further includes a data storage memory for storing data output from the plurality of Ethernet cards or data input to the plurality of Ethernet cards. Wherein the slot control means further determines an Ethernet card to be used by the output data from the plurality of IP address registers when the data stored in the data storage memory is the output data. In the case where the data stored in the data storage memory is the input data, the plurality of IP address registers are compared with the IP addresses of the data stored in the data storage memory, and they must match. If the data is discarded.

In the method for controlling a network connection device according to the present invention, the IP address of the Ethernet card to be diagnosed is stored in an IP address register corresponding to another Ethernet card operating in place of the Ethernet card to be diagnosed. Copying, copying the Ethernet address of the Ethernet card of the failure diagnosis target into an Ethernet address register, and determining whether the Ethernet card of the failure diagnosis can be disconnected. After disconnecting the Ethernet card to be diagnosed, the other Ethernet card is connected. If disconnection is not possible, the system waits until disconnection is possible, and diagnoses the Ethernet card to be failed.

[0016]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a network connection device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main storage device 20, an arithmetic processing device 30, a system control device 40, and a hub 50.
, Network 60, bus 70, input / output control device 80, device control device 100, card A200
, Card B300, card C400, and card D5
00 is included. Also, card D500
Is configured to include an Ethernet address register 501. The input / output control device 80 and the main storage device 20
And the arithmetic processing unit 30 are connected to the system control unit 40. The input / output control device 80, the device control device 100, the card A200, the card B300, the card C400, and the card D500 are connected to the bus 70. Further, card A200, card B300,
Card C400, card D500, and network 6
0 is connected to the hub 50.

Referring to FIG. 2, the input / output control device 80 of the present invention includes an interrupt control device 10. The interrupt control device 10 includes a clock generator 11, a count register 12, and an interrupt value register 13. , An interrupt detector 14 and an interrupt notification firmware 15. Clock generator 11 is connected to count register 12. The count register 12 and the interrupt value register 13 are connected to an interrupt detector 14 and an interrupt notification firmware 15, respectively. Further, the interrupt detector 14 is connected to the interrupt notification firmware 15.

The interrupt controller 10 issues an instruction to perform a failure diagnosis to the device controller 100 from the interrupt notification firmware 15 at every time set in the interrupt value register 13. Clock generator 11
Is a device that outputs a clock signal every second, for example, and outputs this clock signal to the count register 12. The count register 12 receives the clock signal from the clock generator 11 and counts up the held value, for example, every second. Also, the count register 1
The value held by 2 is set to “0” by the interrupt notification firmware 15 each time an interrupt indicating that failure diagnosis is to be performed. The interrupt value register 13 holds the time until the failure diagnosis is performed, and an arbitrary value is set by the interrupt notification firmware 15. The interrupt detector 14 monitors the value of the count register 12 and the value of the interrupt value register 13 and generates an interrupt to the interrupt notification firmware 15 when the values match. Interrupt notification firmware 15
Controls the entire interrupt control device 10. Specifically, when an interrupt from the interrupt detector 14 occurs, the device control device 100 is instructed to perform a failure diagnosis. Further, the interrupt notification firmware 15 sets values of the count register 12 and the interrupt value register 13.

Referring to FIG. 1, main memory 20 stores data to be output to network 60 and network 6.
Holds data input from 0.

The arithmetic processing unit 30 outputs a transfer request for data transfer between the main storage device 20 and the network 60 to the interrupt control unit 10 in the input / output control unit 80 via the system control unit 40.

The system control device 40 is connected to the input / output control device 80, the main storage device 20, and the arithmetic processing device 30, and is connected between the interrupt control device 10 and the main storage device 20 in the input / output control device 80. Is passed.

The hub 50 includes a card A200 and a card B3.
00, the data output from the card C400 and the card D500 to the network 60 is put together, and the data input from the network 60 is distributed to the card A200, the card B300, the card C400 and the card D500.

The network 60 is an external network connected to the network connection device of the present invention by a local area network or the like.

The bus 70 includes an input / output control device 80, a device control device 100, a card A200, and a card B3.
00, a card C400, and a card D500, and exchange data between these devices.

Referring to FIG. 3, the device control apparatus 100 of the present invention includes a slot table 110, a transfer display register 120, a data storage memory 130, and a slot control firmware 140. The slot table 110 includes an IP address register A111, an IP address register B112, an IP address register C113, and an IP address register D1.
14, connection bit A115, connection bit B116
And a connection bit C117 and a connection bit D118. The slot table 110, the transfer display register 120, and the data storage memory 130 are connected to the slot control firmware 140. Also, the slot control firmware 140 and the data storage memory 1
30 is connected to a bus 70. Note that the IP of the IP address is an abbreviation of the Internet protocol, and is a procedure for exchanging data that is standard on the Internet. The IP address refers to information allocated to identify a network interface card connected to the Internet.

The device controller 100 disconnects, diagnoses, and connects each Ethernet card according to an instruction from the interrupt controller 10. Slot table 11
0 sets and outputs the values of the respective IP address registers 111 to 114 and the respective connection bits 115 to 118 in accordance with an instruction from the slot control firmware 140. The IP address register A111 stores the IP address of the card A200, the IP address register B112 stores the IP address of the card B300, and the IP address register C.
113 holds the IP address of the card C400. The IP address of the Ethernet card to be diagnosed is copied to the IP address register D114. The connection bit A115 holds "1" when the card A200 is connected, and holds "0" when the card A200 is disconnected. The connection bit B116, the connection bit C117, and the connection bit D118 hold the presence or absence of the connection of the corresponding card similarly to the connection bit A115.

Referring to FIG. 4, the transfer indication register 1
20 has the same number of bits (4 bits in the above example) as the number of Ethernet cards, and indicates whether or not each Ethernet card is performing communication processing. The transfer status bit 1201 indicates that the card A is performing communication processing.
1 ”, otherwise, it is a bit that holds“ 0. ”Also, the transfer-indicating bit 1202 is
The transfer indication bit 1203 corresponds to the card C, and the transfer indication bit 1204 corresponds to the card D.

Referring to FIG. 3, the data storage memory 13
0 temporarily stores data output to the network 60 and data input from the network 60. The slot control firmware 140 stores the IP address registers 111 to 114 and the connection bits 115 to 11
8 is set. In addition, the slot control firmware 140 sets the values of the transfer-in-progress display bits 1201 to 1204 of the transfer-in-progress display register 120. In addition, the slot control firmware 140 stores the IP address registers 111 to 114 and the connection bits 115
To 118 and the transfer display register 120 control input and output of data stored in the data storage memory 130.

Referring to FIG. 1, card A200, card B300 and card C400 are Ethernet cards having non-resettable Ethernet addresses,
It is connected to the hub 50 and the bus 70. Also, card D5
Reference numeral 00 denotes an Ethernet card including an Ethernet address register 501 that can arbitrarily set an Ethernet address, and is connected between the hub 50 and the bus 70.
This card D500 is used to perform communication processing in place of the card under failure diagnosis when the other cards A to C are under failure diagnosis. Here, the Ethernet address is information indicating a destination of data, and is an address used in the data link layer of the OSI reference model. On the other hand, the IP address is also information indicating the destination of data, but is an address used in the network layer of the OSI reference model. Generally, communication is performed using an Ethernet card in which both the IP address and the Ethernet address of the data match the IP address and the Ethernet address of the Ethernet card.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. AAA. AA
A. The card B300 has an IP address of AAA and an Ethernet address of AA: AA: AA: AA, and the card B300
BB. BBB. BBB. BBB IP address and BB:
BB: BB: BB: Ethernet address, and the card C400 has CCC. CCC. CCC. CC
It has an IP address of C and an Ethernet address of CC: CC: CC: CC. In addition, card D50
0 indicates that the system has no IP address and no Ethernet address when the system is started.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5, first, the slot control firmware 140 disconnects the card D500 from the system in order to diagnose the failure of the card D500 used in place of each card. (Step S10). At this time, the connection bit D1
18 is set to “0”. At this time, the device control apparatus 100, the card A200, the card B300, and the card C4
FIG. 8 shows the state of 00 and card D500.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, the slot control firmware 140 diagnoses the failure of the card D500 after confirming from the connection bit D118 that the card D is disconnected (step S1). S20). As a result of the failure diagnosis (step S30), if there is an abnormality, a process such as repair or replacement is performed (step S130), and the process ends. If there is no abnormality, a failure diagnosis process (step S40) for each of the Ethernet cards 200 to 400 is performed.

Next, the failure diagnosis processing (S40 in FIG. 5) of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the slot control firmware 140
Copies the IP address of the card A200 into the IP address register D114 of the device control apparatus 100 (step S41), and copies the Ethernet address of the card A200 to the Ethernet address register 5 of the card D500.
01 (step S42). As a result, the same IP address and Ethernet address as those of the card A200 are set in the card D500, and the communication processing of the card A200 can be performed by the card D500 instead.

Next, the slot control firmware 140
Determines whether the card A200 targeted for failure diagnosis can be disconnected (step S43). At this time,
The slot control firmware 140 checks the transfer indication bit 1201. The transfer indication bit 1201 is "
If the value is "0", it can be confirmed that the card A200 can be disconnected because the card A200 is not performing the transfer process.
Since the card A200 is in the state of performing the transfer process,
The slot control firmware 140 sets the card A200 in the disconnected state (step S44), and sets the connection bit A115.
To “0”. Then, the slot control firmware 140 sets the card D500 in the connected state (step S45), and sets the connection bit D118 to “1”. When the detachment of the card A200 and the connection of the card D500 are completed, the failure diagnosis of the detached card A200 is performed (step S46).

Here, during the failure diagnosis of the card A200, the communication processing for designating the IP address and the Ethernet address of the card A200 is performed by the card A20.
Instead of 0, this is done via card D500 which has the same IP address and Ethernet address as card A200. FIG. 9 shows the states of the device control device 100, card A200, card B300, card C400, and card D500 at this time.

While the failure diagnosis of the card A200 is being performed, the IP address is changed from the AAA. AAA. AAA. When a request to output data of AAA and an Ethernet address of AA: AA: AA: AA is made, the output data is stored in the data storage memory 130 of the device control apparatus 100 via the bus 70. Next, the slot control firmware 140
Is the IP address held by the output data stored in the data storage memory 130 and each I
Compare the P address 111 to 114 with connection bit 1
Check from 15 to 118. At this time, the AAA. AA
A. AAA. Card A20 with AAA IP address
Since 0 is under failure diagnosis, the connection bit is "0".
Therefore, the communication process using the card A200 cannot be performed, but the card D500 has the AAA. AAA. AAA. AA
Since it has the IP address of A and the connection bit is “1”, the communication processing can be performed using the card D500. Next, the slot control firmware 140 controls the output data stored in the data storage memory 130 to be output using the card D500. Thus, data is output using the card D500.

On the other hand, during the failure diagnosis of the card A 200, the I
If the P address is AAA. AAA. AAA. AAA,
When an input request for data with the Ethernet address AA: AA: AA: AA is made, the Ethernet card with the Ethernet address AA: AA: AA: AA is used. At this time, since the card A200 is not connected, communication processing using the card A200 cannot be performed. However, since the Ethernet address of the card D500 is also AA: AA: AA: AA, data is input to the card D500. . Next, the input data is transferred to the bus 7
0 is stored in the data storage memory 130 of the device control apparatus 100 via the “0”. Slot control firmware 14
0 is the IP address and IP address register D11 held by the input data stored in the data storage memory 130.
It is checked whether the IP address held by the server 4 matches the IP address. At this time, the AAA. AAA. AAA. Since the IP address of the AAA is stored, they match. Accordingly, the slot control firmware 140 controls the input data stored in the data storage memory 130 to be output to the main storage device 20 via the bus 70. If the IP addresses do not match, the input data is discarded. If the input data is discarded, no retransmission processing is performed.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, as a result of the failure diagnosis (step S50), if there is an abnormality, the slot control firmware 140 performs a process such as replacement or repair (step S130). The process ends. When there is no abnormality, the failure diagnosis processing is terminated,
A restoration process for returning the card A200 to the original state is performed (step S
60).

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 and FIG. 7, when performing the restoration process, the slot control firmware 140 determines whether the card D500 can be disconnected (step S61). At this time, the slot control firmware 140 checks the transfer indication bit 1204. If the transfer indication bit 1204 is "0", it can be confirmed that the card D500 can be disconnected because the card D500 is not performing communication processing. On the other hand, if it is “1”, the card D500 is in the state of performing the transfer process, and thus the card D500 is not separated until it becomes “0”. Thereafter, the slot control firmware 140 sets the card D500 in a disconnected state (step S62), and sets the connection bit 118 to "0". Further, the slot control firmware 140 reads the card A2
00 is connected (step S63), and the connection bit 114 is set to "1". From the above, card A20
This means that the failure diagnosis of 0 has been completed. At this time, the device control apparatus 100, card A200, card B300,
FIG. 10 shows the state of the card C400 and the card D500.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, according to the present invention, it is determined whether or not the above operation has been performed on all the cards (step S70). If so, the failure diagnosis of the card is performed (step S40). When the failure diagnosis process for all the cards is completed, the time for performing the failure diagnosis is set in the interrupt value register 13 (step S80), and the count register 12 starts counting up (step S90).

The interrupt detector 14 monitors whether the value of the count register 12 is equal to the value of the interrupt value register 13 to perform a fault diagnosis next (step S100). It reports to the interrupt notification firmware 15. The interrupt notification firmware 15 receiving this report generates an interrupt for performing failure diagnosis. If the value of the count register 12 is not equal to the value of the interrupt value register 13, no interrupt occurs and the count register 12 is counted up.

When an interrupt occurs, the interrupt notification firmware 15 stops counting up the count register 12 (step S110) and sets the count register 12 to "0" in order to diagnose the failure of each card 200 to 500. (Step S120). Then, the failure diagnosis of the card D is performed (step S20), and the failure diagnosis processing of the cards A to C is performed (step S44).
0).

The above operation is repeated every time an interrupt occurs.

In the present embodiment, the case where the number of Ethernet cards is four has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. Along with this, the number of IP address registers and connection bits, and the number of bits in the display register during transfer are not limited to these.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When performing the failure diagnosis of the Ethernet card, control is performed so that another Ethernet card performs communication processing instead of the Ethernet card under failure diagnosis, so that the network processing capacity does not decrease.

Further, since the interrupt control device and the device control device automatically disconnect the Ethernet card, diagnose the failure, and connect the Ethernet card, the burden on the operator can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network connection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an input / output control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a device control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation flow according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating states of the device control device and each card in an initial state according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating states of a device control device and each card at the time of failure diagnosis according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating states of the device control device and each card after restoration processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 interrupt controller 11 clock generator 12 count register 13 interrupt value register 14 interrupt detector 15 interrupt notification firmware 20 main storage device 30 arithmetic processing device 40 system control device 50 hub 60 network 70 bus 80 input / output control device 100 device control device 110 Slot Table 111 IP Address Register A 112 IP Address Register B 113 IP Address Register C 114 IP Address Register D 115 Connection Bit A 116 Connection Bit B 117 Connection Bit C 118 Connection Bit D 120 Transferring Display Register 130 Data Storage Memory 140 Slot Control firmware 200 Card A 200 300 Card B 300 400 Card C 400 500 Card D 500 501 Ether Net address register 1201 Transfer indication bit 1202 Transfer indication bit 1203 Transfer indication bit 1204 Transfer indication bit

Claims (10)

[Claims] In a network connection device to which a plurality of Ethernet cards are connected, while performing a failure diagnosis, control is performed such that another Ethernet card performs communication processing to be performed by the Ethernet card under failure diagnosis instead. Characteristic network connection device. 2. A network connection device to which a plurality of Ethernet cards are connected, wherein one of the plurality of Ethernet cards has an Ethernet address register for holding a copy of the Ethernet address of the Ethernet card under failure diagnosis. And a device control device for copying the value of the Ethernet address to the Ethernet address register. 3. The network connection device according to claim 2, wherein the network connection device further includes an interrupt control device that notifies the device control device that a failure diagnosis should be performed. 4. The network connection device according to claim 3, wherein the notification is made at regular intervals. 5. The interrupt control device further comprises: a clock generator for outputting a clock signal at regular time intervals; a signal from the clock generator being inputted; and a value held at regular time intervals increased by one. A count register, an interrupt value register for holding a time until the next failure diagnosis is performed, a value held by the count register is compared with a value held by the interrupt value register, and an interrupt is generated when they match. An interrupt detector; when an interrupt from the interrupt detector is performed,
5. The network connection device according to claim 4, further comprising: an interrupt notification unit that notifies the device control device that a failure diagnosis should be performed. 6. The device control apparatus, comprising: a plurality of IP address registers each holding an IP address corresponding to each of the plurality of Ethernet cards; an IP address of the Ethernet card under fault diagnosis; 3. The network connection device according to claim 2, further comprising: slot control means for copying an IP address register corresponding to an Ethernet card operating in place of the card. 7. The device control device further includes, in addition to the plurality of IP address registers, a plurality of connection bits indicating whether or not the plurality of Ethernet cards are respectively connected, and the slot control unit further includes: 7. The network connection device according to claim 6, wherein the IP address register and the connection bit determine which one of the plurality of Ethernet cards is used to output data. 8. The device control apparatus further includes a transfer indication bit indicating whether the plurality of Ethernet cards are performing communication processing, and the slot control means further includes: 7. The network connection device according to claim 6, wherein it is determined whether a plurality of Ethernet cards can be disconnected. 9. The device control device further includes a data storage memory for storing data output from the plurality of Ethernet cards or data input to the plurality of Ethernet cards, and the slot control unit further includes: When the data stored in the data storage memory is data output from the plurality of Ethernet cards, the Ethernet card used by the data output from the plurality of IP address registers is determined and stored in the data storage memory. If the data stored in the data storage memory is data to be input to the plurality of Ethernet cards, the IP addresses of the plurality of IP address registers and the data stored in the data storage memory are stored.
7. The network connection device according to claim 6, wherein the data is compared with an address, and if the addresses do not match, the data is discarded. 10. A method for controlling a network connection device to which a plurality of Ethernet cards are connected, comprising:
Copying the Ethernet address of the Ethernet card to be diagnosed to the Ethernet address register corresponding to another Ethernet card operating in place of the Ethernet card to be diagnosed, and copying the Ethernet address of the Ethernet card to be diagnosed to the Ethernet card It is determined whether or not the card can be disconnected.As a result of this determination, if the disconnection is possible, connect the other Ethernet card after disconnecting the Ethernet card for failure diagnosis, and if it is not possible, disconnect the Ethernet card. A method of controlling a network connection device, comprising: waiting until a failure occurs, and performing a failure diagnosis on the Ethernet card to be subjected to the failure diagnosis.