JP2003101581A - Ip packet measuring method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To confirm the normality and the performance of communication paths rapidly in connectionless type communication in a simple constitution without imposing an excessive load on a network. SOLUTION: An OAM (operation and maintenance) terminal h for maintenance gives an instruction for transmission of O&M packets, and receives and outputs packet information when a return test is carried out. A GGSN (gateway GPRS support node) e transmits a specific flag indicating the O&M packets including an IP (internet protocol) address of its own node based on the instruction from the OAM terminal h after writing the specific flag to a header of the packet. A SGSN (servicing GPRS support node) d and an RNC (radio network controller) c relay the O&M packets to an NB (base station) b. The NB b receives the O&M packets transmitted from the RNC c and recognizes the IP address of the GGSN by referring to the header of this packets. The OAM terminal i for maintenance receives and outputs the packet information recognized by the NB b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connectionless communication system, and more particularly to an IP packet measurement system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in connectionless type communication using an IP routing device or the like, ATM (Asynch) is used.
It has been difficult to confirm the normality and performance of the guaranteed communication path in connection-type communication represented by the Robust Transfer Mode (asynchronous transfer mode). Therefore, generally known ping is used to confirm the normality of the communication path.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional method, the normality of the communication path can be confirmed, but it is necessary to confirm the entire packet, which requires a lot of processing. In addition, in this conventional method, it is not possible to confirm the performance at the same time as the normality, and if the route cannot communicate correctly due to a failure in the middle, etc., where does the failure occur? It was difficult to narrow down that point.

Further, it is difficult to grasp the state of the network because the constituent elements of the network and the packet transfer route change from time to time and various applications are used at the same time. As a means, there is a method of continuously sending a large number of measurement packets to the network, but this has a problem that it may put an excessive burden on the network. An object of the present invention is to provide an IP packet measurement method capable of confirming the normality and performance of a communication path at high speed and without imposing an excessive load on a network with a simple device configuration in connectionless communication. To provide.

[0005]

According to the IP packet measuring method of the present invention, there is provided a first packet processing means which is provided in a source node and writes and sends a specific flag indicating an O & M packet to a packet header. It is a normal packet by referring to the header of the packet provided in the destination node and received from the source node, or the O &
A second packet processing means for identifying whether the packet is an M packet and recognizing the source IP address shown in the header of the O & M packet. The first packet processing means writes and sends the time information at the time of sending this packet to the O & M packet, and the second packet processing means sends the time information indicated inside the received packet and this packet. The time difference is calculated by comparing with the time information at the time of reception. The IP packet measurement method of the present invention provides a maintenance first OAM terminal for instructing the transmission of O & M packets and receiving and outputting packet information at the time of a loopback test, and a self-operation based on an instruction from the first OAM terminal. A source node having a first packet processing unit that writes a specific flag including the IP address of the node and indicates that it is the O & M packet in a header of the packet, and relays the O & M packet to a subsequent node or Incoming call having a relay node for returning to the node and a second packet processing unit for receiving the O & M packet transferred from the relay node and referring to the header of the packet to recognize the IP address of the source node A destination node and a second OAM terminal for maintenance that receives and outputs the packet information recognized by the destination node
The first packet processing unit writes and sends the time information at the time of sending this packet to the O & M packet, and the second packet processing unit sends the time information indicated inside the received packet and this packet. The time difference is calculated by comparing with the time information at the time of reception. In the second OAM terminal, the first packet processing unit periodically sends a plurality of the O & M packets to the succeeding node,
May be configured to calculate the average value of the time difference calculated by the packet processing unit, and the second OAM terminal holds the time difference data calculated by the second packet processing unit. May be

Each of the first and second OAM terminals has an input section for performing various operation inputs, and an instruction for outputting an instruction to send the O & M packet to the source node based on an operation of the input section. A sending unit, an information receiving unit that receives packet information edited and output by the first or second packet processing unit, an output unit that outputs information received by the information receiving unit, and a control unit that controls each unit. With. Each of the first and second packet processing units holds clock information common to the entire system and outputs current clock information when an output request is made, and a clock management unit.
An instruction receiving unit that receives and outputs instruction information from the OAM terminal, a packet receiving unit that receives the input packet, and a packet management unit that receives a packet sending instruction from the instruction receiving unit. When the clock information is read and added to the packet, the flag indicating that this packet is an O & M packet and the source IP address are written in the packet header, or when the packet reception is notified by the packet reception unit A packet editing unit that recognizes a flag and a source address, acquires current clock information from the clock management unit, compares it with clock information in a received packet, calculates a time difference, and outputs the result to the packet information transmission unit, A packet sending unit for sending the packet edited or copied by the packet editing unit, The packet information analyzed by the received after the packet editing unit in the serial packet receiving unit and a packet information generating portion for sending to the OAM terminal. The packet editing unit is configured to copy the received O & M packet, transfer one packet to a later position, change the other packet to information indicating that the O & M flag is a loopback, and return the packet to the transmission source node. Alternatively, the packet editing unit may add time information at the time of return to the O & M packet returned to the transmission source node.

According to the present invention, the normality and performance of a communication path in connectionless communication using an IP routing device, without using a special device, at high speed and without imposing an excessive load on the network. Can be confirmed.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, an IP routing system is shown as an example of a connectionless communication system.

In FIG. 1, a UE (User Equi)
“Pment) a” is a user terminal of a mobile device such as a mobile phone, and is connected by a wireless line in this case. NB (Nod
eB) b is a base station, and has a function of controlling a communication line and a control line with the wireless network control device and with the user terminal. RNC (Radio Net
The work controller) c is a wireless network control device, and has functions of wireless management, mobility management, call control, monitoring control, and maintenance operation management. SGSN (S
serving GPRS Support Node)
d is GPRS (General Packet Ra)
dio Service; GSM (Global Sy
system for Mobile communica
tions; a subscriber exchange in a packet data communication service (of a digital mobile phone system mainly used in EU countries), which terminates layer 3 signals, compresses / decompresses user data with a mobile device, and Performs retransmission control. GGSN (Gateway GPRS Suppo)
rt Node) e is a gateway switching center located between a GPRS network and an external network in GPRS, and is a GTP (GPRS) in the GPRS network.
Tunneling Protocol; SG of GPRS
In addition to terminating the protocol for setting the tunneling for transferring the user IP between SN and GGSN, the incoming call process is activated. The ATM router f has a routing table inside and performs routing. IS
P (Internet Service Provide)
er) g is a business that provides Internet connection service contents, or a network thereof. OAM (Operation And Main) for maintenance
The terminal h and the OAM terminal i give an instruction to send an O & M packet to a device to which the terminal is connected and can refer to the actual state of the received packet. The OAM terminal h includes an input unit 21 for a maintenance person to input various operations, and a source node based on the operation of the input unit 21, in this case GGSNe.
An instruction transmission unit 22 that outputs an O & M packet transmission instruction, an information reception unit 23 that receives the packet information edited and output by the packet processing unit 1 of the GGSNe, and an output that outputs the information received by the information reception unit 23. A unit 24 and a control unit 25 that controls each unit are provided. A printer (not shown) may be connected to the output unit 24 for print output. The OAM terminal i is connected to the destination node, which is NBb in this case, and the configuration thereof is the same as that of the OAM terminal i, so the description thereof is omitted. The packet processing unit 1 uses NBb, RNCc, SGSNd, and GGSNe.
2 has a function related to packet processing common to the above, and a configuration related to this function is shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 2, the packet processing unit 1 includes a clock management unit 11, an instruction receiving unit 12, and
The packet reception unit 13, the packet editing unit 14, the packet transmission unit 15, and the packet information transmission unit 16 are provided.
The clock management unit 11 holds and manages clock information common to the entire system, and notifies the current clock information as soon as a read request is issued from the packet editing unit 14. Clock information is GPS
(Global Positioning System
m; global azimuth system), or by providing a common pulse, the whole system is synchronized by existing means.
The instruction receiving unit 12 notifies the packet editing unit 14 of the instruction from the OAM terminal. The packet receiving unit 13 receives the input packet and transfers it to the packet editing unit 14. The packet editing unit 14 edits a packet to be transmitted and analyzes the received packet. When a packet transmission instruction is issued from the instruction receiving unit 12, the clock information is read to the clock management unit 11, the clock information is added to the packet, and the packet transmission unit 15 is instructed to transmit the packet. At this time, FIG.
A flag having a meaning for O & M (hereinafter, abbreviated as O & M flag) is written in the packet header. Although this packet is an O & M packet, it is simply referred to as a packet here. When the packet reception unit 13 is notified of the packet reception, the current clock information is acquired, compared with the clock information in the received packet, the time difference is calculated, and the result is notified to the packet information transmission unit 16. In addition, when necessary, the packet sending unit 15 is instructed to copy the received packet and transfer the packet to the subsequent device. At this time, the clock information is not changed. The packet sending unit 15 sends the packet edited or copied by the packet editing unit 14. The packet information sending unit 16 uses the packet receiving unit 13
After receiving the packet, the packet information analyzed by the packet editing unit 14 is sent to the OAM terminal.

The configuration of the UE shown in FIG. 1 has been described above.
Since a, ATM router f, and ISPg are well known to those skilled in the art and are not directly related to the present invention, detailed configuration and description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the operation in the case of sending a packet from the GGSNe of FIG. 1 and confirming the normality of the communication path to the NBb will be described.

The OAM terminals h and i are connected to the GGSNe and NBb respectively, and the O & M terminal shown in FIG.
The OAM terminal h issues an IP packet transmission instruction having the M flag, and the IP packet is actually transmitted from the GGSNe. At this time, the destination of the transmitted IP packet is the UE
Specify a. Normally, a packet addressed to UEa is sent to UEa without being processed, but in this case O
When the presence of the & M flag is confirmed, the NBb extracts the packet and notifies the OAM terminal i of the content of the extracted packet. When processing a packet, it is not necessary to refer to the entire packet, and it is only necessary to confirm whether or not the header has an O & M flag. Further, the maintenance person can confirm the normality of the route by confirming that the O & M flag exists in the header of the extracted packet and confirming the IP address of the transmission source node, in this case, GGSNe.

Next, the header of the packet is shown in FIG. In the figure, the option field is almost unnecessary for communication itself, so an O & M flag is added here. However, although the word "flag" is used in the text, it does not have to be 1 bit in reality. Further, the format of this header is a well-known matter, and therefore its explanation is omitted.

Furthermore, when implementing the configuration of FIG. 1, all devices may be provided with a common clock. As shown in FIG. 3, the packet transmitted from GGGSNe has time stamp information in the information area, and this time stamp has time information at the time of packet transmission. In FIG. 3, as an example, information is provided at the beginning of the information area, but the actual position is arbitrary. It is possible to measure the processing delay by holding the time information at the time of receiving the packet to which the O & M flag is added by the NBb and comparing this with the time information inside the packet. Also, when a plurality of packets are sent periodically, the receiving terminal can more accurately measure the actual condition of communication by taking the average value of the received packets, and the error can be measured by holding the data of the received packets. It will be possible.

Next, the operation of the loopback test will be described. In FIG. 1, in order to perform the loopback test of the packet, the OAM terminal h outputs the instruction information indicating that the loopback test is performed, and the packet editing unit (not shown) of the packet processing unit 1 of the GGSNe sends this information. Is inserted in the packet and sent out. Non-NBb device, ie RNC
c and SGSNd packet editing units (not shown)
Then, the received packet is copied, one packet is transferred to the succeeding node, and the value of the O & M flag of the packet that received the other packet is changed to information indicating the loopback, and the packet is returned. In NBb, even if the packet is not addressed to itself, O & M
The flag is dropped as soon as the existence of the flag for O / M is confirmed, the value of the flag for O & M is changed, and the process returns. At the point where the packet is first transmitted, it is confirmed that the O & M flag has been changed, and the destination IP address in the header information is compared with its own IP address, and it is determined that they are the same.
The normality of both directions of the communication path can be confirmed. When the packet is not returned from the NBb, it is possible to confirm up to which section the communication is correctly performed by referring to the transmission source of the returned packet. Further, at this time, the packet editing unit adds the time information at the time of returning to the inside of the packet, so that the bidirectional processing delay measurement can be performed and the state of the network can be grasped more accurately.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is determined whether the packet is a normal packet or an O & M packet by referring to the flag data in the header, and if the packet is an O & M packet, the packet is transmitted. It becomes possible to measure the delay by comparing the time information of 1) with that at the time of reception and by referring to the IP address of the transmission source, and it becomes possible to easily grasp the network state, which was difficult until now. In addition, the normality of the communication path can be confirmed and the failure point can be specified.

Further, even when the performance between a plurality of devices is measured, a packet returned from each device is analyzed by a loopback test so that the packets are not only on the end devices of the measurement section but on the route. The processing time between each device can be measured, and it becomes easier to grasp the more accurate network status.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a packet processing unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the structure of an IP packet according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a format of a packet header.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 packet processing unit 11 clock management unit 12 instruction receiving unit 13 packet receiving unit 14 packet editing unit 15 packet transmitting unit 16 packet information transmitting unit 21, 31 input unit 22, 32 instruction transmitting unit 23, 33 information receiving unit 24, 34 output Unit 25, 35 control unit a UE (user terminal) b NB (base station) c RNC (radio network control device) d SGSN (subscriber switch) e GGSN (gateway switch) f ATM router g ISP (Internet service provider) h, i OAM terminal

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Tsutomu Nozaki             1-42 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo NEC Corporation             Communication system Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 5K030 GA14 HA10 HB08 HB11 JA10                       KX30 MA01 MC02                 5K034 AA01 AA07 DD01 EE11 FF02                       FF11 HH01 HH05 HH07 HH12                       HH14 HH15 HH17 HH18 HH65                       NN22

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A first packet processing means provided in a source node for writing and transmitting a specific flag indicating an O & M packet in a packet header, and a destination node provided for receiving from the source node. A second packet is identified by referring to the packet header to identify whether it is a normal packet or the O & M packet, and if it is the O & M packet, the source IP address indicated in the header is recognized. An IP packet measuring method comprising: a packet processing unit. 2. The first packet processing means includes the O
The time information at the time of sending this packet is written and sent to the & M packet, and the second packet processing means compares the time information shown inside the received packet with the time information at the time of receiving this packet. The IP packet measuring method according to claim 1, wherein the time difference is calculated. 3. A first OAM terminal for maintenance that gives an instruction to send an O & M packet and receives and outputs packet information during a loopback test, and an IP address of its own node based on an instruction from the first OAM terminal. And a source node having a first packet processing unit for writing and sending a specific flag indicating that the packet is an O & M packet to the header of the packet, and relaying the O & M packet to a succeeding node or returning to the preceding node. And a destination node having a second packet processing unit that receives the O & M packet transferred from the relay node and refers to the header of the packet to recognize the IP address of the source node, An IP comprising: a second OAM terminal for maintenance for receiving and outputting packet information recognized by the destination node. Packet measurement method. 4. The first packet processing unit is configured to operate the O &
The time information at the time of sending this packet is written and sent to the M packet, and the second packet processing unit compares the time information shown inside the received packet with the time information at the time of receiving this packet. 4. The IP packet measurement method according to claim 3, wherein the time difference is calculated. 5. In the second OAM terminal, the first packet processing unit periodically sends out a plurality of the O & M packets to a succeeding node, and the second packet processing unit calculates the packet. The IP packet measuring method according to claim 4, wherein an average value of the time difference is calculated. 6. The IP packet measurement method according to claim 4, wherein the second OAM terminal holds the data of the time difference calculated by the second packet processing unit. 7. The first and second OAM terminals each output an input section for performing various operation inputs, and output an instruction to send the O & M packet to the source node based on an operation of the input section. An instruction sending unit, an information receiving unit that receives the packet information edited and output by the first or second packet processing unit, an output unit that outputs the information received by the information receiving unit, and each unit. 5. The IP according to claim 3, further comprising a control unit.
Packet measurement method. 8. The clock management unit that holds clock information common to the entire system and outputs the current clock information when an output request is made, and the OAM terminal. An instruction receiving unit that receives and outputs instruction information from the packet receiving unit, a packet receiving unit that receives the input packet, and a packet sending instruction from the instruction receiving unit, the current clock information is displayed from the clock management unit. Read this and add it to the packet
& M packet flag and transmission source I
When the P address is written in the packet header or when the packet reception unit notifies the packet reception, the flag and the source address are recognized and the current clock information is acquired from the clock management unit to obtain the clock in the received packet. A packet editing unit that compares the time difference with information and outputs the result to the packet information sending unit, a packet sending unit that sends the packet edited or copied by the packet editing unit, and a packet receiving unit after receiving The packet information analyzed by the packet editing unit is used as the OA.
5. The IP packet measuring method according to claim 3, further comprising a packet information sending unit for sending to the M terminal. 9. The packet editing unit receives the received O & M.
Copy the packet for transfer, transfer one to the next, and send the other one to O
9. The IP packet measurement method according to claim 8, wherein the & M flag is changed to information indicating return and is returned to the transmission source node. 10. The IP packet measuring method according to claim 9, wherein the packet editing unit adds time information at the time of returning to the O & M packet returned to the transmission source node.