JP2006303703A - Network relaying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network relaying apparatus capable of accurately collecting statistic information such as a payload length of a processed packet even on the occurrence of a fault or an abnormity in the network relaying apparatus itself and providing highly accurate statistic information even when processing large capacity data of several Kbytes. <P>SOLUTION: The network relaying apparatus connected to a network, for applying relay processing to packets received from the network, and outputting the processed packets to the network includes: counters 51 for the number of pieces of transfer provided by kinds of relay processes and sequentially summating statistic information by kinds of the relay processes during packet processing; storage devices 62 capable of storing accumulated values by the various counters; and a control section 63 that can summate and update the accumulated values of the storage devices and the counts of the counters for the number of pieces of transfer in time division by the kinds of the relay processes. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention inputs a packet, performs a plurality of processes according to the header information and apparatus setting information of the packet, and outputs a packet according to the processing result. In particular, the statistics of various processing items with respect to the packet input The present invention relates to a network relay device such as a high-performance router device that needs to collect information data at high speed and accurately.

  In the conventional network relay device, the collection of statistical information to be collected is extracted from the header information of the input packet. For example, various statistical information such as payload length is added in units of packets and stored in the storage device. (For example, see Patent Document 1)

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-318961 (FIG. 10, page 2-3)

  Since the conventional network relay device is configured as described above, the payload length of the header information matches the payload length of the packet to be relayed in the relay device (hereinafter abbreviated as “process packet”). If the above is satisfied as a precondition, it can be said that the collected statistical information is correct. However, for example, when there is a failure or abnormality in the relay device, an incorrect payload length may be set and output. However, it cannot always be said that the header information and the payload length of the processing packet match. In addition, since statistical information is added in units of packets, a giant packet (a packet that exceeds the MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) of the TCP standard. For ordinary Ethernet (registered trademark)), MTU = 1518 bytes Because the differential value of the statistical information is not correct during data processing of several kilobytes (such as a giant packet indicates a packet with a data size of 9 kilobytes) (conventionally, as soon as header information is input (received)) If you read the statistical information during data processing, it will be wrong.) In the process of detecting overflow using the statistical information value, such as buffer overflow processing, Conventional statistical information could not be used to determine the accuracy of statistical information.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional situation, and even when there is a failure or abnormality in the network relay device, statistical information such as the payload length of the processing packet can be collected accurately, and in general An object of the present invention is to obtain a network relay device capable of providing highly accurate statistical information even during processing of a large amount of data of several kilobytes exceeding the size of a typical Ethernet (registered trademark) packet of 1518 bytes.

  The network relay device according to the present invention is a network relay device that is connected to a network and relays a packet input from the network and outputs the packet to the network. The network relay device is provided for each type of relay processing and performs the relay processing during the packet processing. A transfer number counter that sequentially adds statistical information for each type, and a control unit that adds and updates the cumulative value of the storage device and the counter value of the transfer number counter in a time division manner for each type of relay processing. It is what.

  The present invention provides a network relay apparatus that is connected to a network and relays a packet input from the network and outputs the packet to the network. The network relay apparatus is provided for each type of relay processing, and performs statistics for each type of relay processing during the packet processing. A transfer number counter for sequentially adding information, a storage device capable of holding an accumulated value for each of these various counters, and an accumulated value of this storage device and a counter value of the transfer number counter are added in a time-sharing manner for each type of relay processing. Therefore, even when there is a failure or abnormality in the network relay device, it is possible to collect statistical information such as accurate payload length even when a large-capacity data packet is being processed.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the network relay device, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific configuration example of the statistical information processing unit 4 of the routing processing control unit 21 in FIG. In addition, in each figure, the same code | symbol shows the same part.

  In FIG. 1 showing an example of the overall configuration of a network relay device, a routing processing unit 2 is connected to a plurality of network interface units 8-1 to 8-n and a packet switch unit 1.

  Although a plurality of routing processing units 2 are connected to the packet switch unit 1, FIG. 1 shows an example in which one routing processing unit 2 is connected. The packet switch unit 1 outputs the input communication packet to a specific routing processing unit according to the setting information. Since the network relay device can relay communication data, there are a plurality of routing processing units. In the case of a network interface card (NIC), only one routing processing unit is necessary.

  The routing processing unit 2 includes a routing processing control unit 21 that performs routing processing of packets received from the network interface units 8-1 to 8-n or the packet switch unit 1 via the packet transfer control unit 20, and this routing. The packet transfer control unit 20 performs a packet forwarding process according to the routing process result of the process control unit 21. The routing processing unit 2 is an interface unit that relays between the network interface units 8-1 to 8-n and the packet switch unit 1, and mainly performs data check when a packet is received to detect a failure. Or collect statistical information.

  The routing processing control unit 21 includes a packet processing unit 3 that performs routing processing and a statistical information processing unit 4 that collects statistical information data related to the routing processing.

  The processor unit 7 is a control processor used when referring to the statistical information, and is also used for controlling the routing processing unit (setting routing information).

  In FIG. 2 showing a specific configuration example of the statistical information processing unit 4 of the routing processing control unit 21 in FIG. 1, the statistical information processing unit 4 is composed of a statistical information control unit 5 and a statistical information holding unit 6. Yes.

  The statistical information control unit 5 includes therein a statistical information control unit buffer 50 and a transfer number counter 51 that counts the number of packet transfers based on packet transfer information input from the packet transfer control unit 20. Yes.

  The statistical information holding unit 6 includes a data addition control unit 60, a counter control unit 61, a storage device 62, a data addition unit 63, and a storage device write control unit 64.

  The network interface units 8-1 to 8-n packetize communication data input from the network line side such as 100base-T, and also send the packetized communication data to the network line side. Output.

  Next, the operation will be described.

  In FIG. 1, the routing process will be described first.

  In the routing processing unit 2, there are two cases: (1) a case where an input packet from a network line is transmitted to the packet switch unit 1, and (2) a case where a packet from the packet switch unit 1 is transmitted to the line. Is performed.

  Packets transmitted from the network interface unit 8-1 to the packet switch unit 1 are input from the network line to be connected to the network interface unit 8-1, and are subjected to layer 1 processing such as physical signal conversion, frame After performing a plurality of processes (or a single process) such as a layer 2 process such as a termination process according to the type, the packet is transmitted to the packet transfer control unit 20 of the routing processing unit 2.

  The packet transfer control unit 20 temporarily stores the received packet in the packet buffer unit 22, and transmits packet control header information including source address information indicating where the packet came from through the input signal line 300. To the unit 21.

  The routing processing control unit 21 performs transmission source information check, header normality check, and the like on the header information received from the packet transfer control unit 20. If the transmission source is the line, destination information (Next The routing search that determines the hop address) and the input filter search that passes or discards only the packets of the sender registered in advance to prevent the relay of the packet from the illegal or problematic sender The packet processing result is transferred to the packet transfer control unit 20 through the signal line 200.

  The packet transfer control unit 20 transfers or discards the packet temporarily stored in the packet buffer unit 22 to the packet switch unit 1 according to the packet processing result.

  The packet switch unit 1 transfers the packet to the routing processing unit 2 in accordance with the added switch control information (information indicating to which routing processing unit the communication data of a certain routing processing unit is transferred).

  Packets transmitted from the packet switch unit 1 to the network interface units 8-1 to 8-n have an ARP search for determining a physical address (MAC address) in the routing processing control unit 21, and are invalid or problematic. In order to prevent the packet from being relayed to the destination, an output filter search for passing or discarding only the packet of the source registered in advance is performed.

  The destination is determined based on the processing result, and the packet processing result such as the destination and additional information is transmitted to the packet transfer control unit 20 and the statistical information processing unit 4.

  The packet transfer control unit 20 transmits the packet temporarily stored in the packet buffer unit 22 from the packet processing result to the network interface unit 8-n corresponding to the designated physical address.

  The network interface unit 8-n performs layer 1 and 2 processing and outputs a packet to the line.

  When the destination is discard, the packet transfer control unit 20 discards the packet temporarily stored in the packet buffer unit 22.

  In general, the processing result information output from the packet processing unit 3 includes various types of processing other than the above. For this reason, it is necessary to perform statistical information processing of a plurality of various items for each packet.

  Hereinafter, processing of statistical information data will be described focusing on one collection item for each packet. Examples of statistical information processing will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 shows a flow of statistical information processing of packets in the statistical information processing unit 4, and the statistical information control unit 5 inputs and collects packet processing result-1 (500-1). In order to determine the statistic information, the packet processing result-1 recognizes that it is a packet addressed to a line, for example (hereinafter referred to as process type-1), and updates the statistical information data of the line-addressed payload length. Therefore, at the same time as transmitting the processing type-1 (501-1) to the transfer number counter 51, the execution signal 510-1 corresponding to the processing type-1 is also transmitted from the packet transfer control unit 20 (see FIG. 1). Transmit to the counter 51.

  The upper part of FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation of the transfer number counter 51 when the processing type-1 (501-1) and the execution signal 510-1 are received, and the execution signal 510-1 is executed. A counter value of -1 is added when it is in the middle, indicating that it is held when it is stopped.

  For example, when the packet is addressed to a switch (hereinafter referred to as process type-2), the counter value-2 can be processed in parallel in the lower part of FIG. Show.

  In the same manner, count values 1 to N corresponding to various processing types 1 to N can be collected. However, since the H / W resource is limited, the count value overflows as it is.

  Accordingly, the statistical information holding unit 6 periodically collects and clears the counter values 1 to N to prevent the count value from overflowing, and the collected count values 1 to N are stored in the payload length in the storage device 62. 1 to N and collect statistical information of processing types 1 to N.

  In the statistical information holding unit 6 of FIG. 3, the data addition control unit 60 periodically outputs count data 1 to N corresponding to all processing types 1 to N, and outputs 1 to N increment data ( Hereinafter, processing types 1 to N). The increment data of 1 to N are addresses of “processing types 1 to N”. In order to read the count values 1 to N, it is necessary to output the address information 1 to N in a time division manner.

  The processing types 1 to N (601) are sequentially transmitted to the counter control unit 61 with the values 1 to N. In FIG. 3 and FIG.

  The counter control unit 61 transmits the processing type-N (610) to the transfer number counter 51 and at the same time to the storage device 62.

  The transfer number counter 51 clears the counter value -N to 0 immediately after outputting the counter value -N (611) (value 12 in FIG. 5) corresponding to the processing type -N.

  The counter control unit 61 inputs the counter value -N (611), and at the timing when the old payload length -N (621) (value 100 in FIG. 5) is read from the storage device 62, the counter value -N ( 612) is output.

  The data adder 63 adds the old payload length −N (621) and the counter value −N (612) as the latest payload length −N (631) (the value 112 in FIG. 5). It transmits to the writing control part 64.

  The storage device write control unit 64 estimates the latest payload length −N (641) when there is no read or write request from the processor unit 7 (when there is no bus contention in the storage device 62). Write to device 62.

  In this way, according to the execution signals 1 to N corresponding to various processing types 1 to N, a method of collecting statistical information by H / W called a counter is used without using header information. Even when there is an abnormality, it is possible to collect statistical information such as accurate payload length even while processing a large amount of data packets.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention, as described above, a packet is input, a plurality or a single process is performed on the packet, and statistical information data on the input packet is collected in the network relay processing device that outputs the packet. This is a statistical information collection method, and when recording or updating the statistical information data collected for the input packet, it is classified by type such as a destination unit such as a line or a switch, a processing result unit of discard or passage, etc. , A transfer number counter for sequentially adding statistical information during the packet processing, a storage device means capable of holding a cumulative value for each of the various counters, a cumulative value of the storage device and a differential value of the transfer number counter (counter values 1 to N, which is simply a counter value) by adding a time division for each type of relay processing and updating it. A network relay processing device that is capable of collecting statistical information such as accurate payload length even when a large amount of data packets is being processed even when there is a failure or abnormality in the network relay device. In a network relay device that relays a packet input from the network and outputs the packet to the network, a transfer number counter that is provided for each type of relay processing and sequentially adds statistical information for each type of relay processing during the packet processing A storage device that can hold cumulative values for each of these various counters, and a control unit that can update the cumulative values of the storage devices and the differential value of the transfer number counter in a time-sharing manner. Even if there is a failure or abnormality, the correct payload length, etc. can be A network relay apparatus characterized by collect information.

  For example, the counter is based on an enable signal such as RX_EN of GMII (Gigabit Medium Independent Interface) standard by IEEE 802.3 work group and header information and error information such as MAC address and FCS error. Payload length can be calculated by counting.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of avoiding bus contention with a read / write request from the processor in the statistical information processing unit of FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 avoids bus contention with a read / write request from the processor. It is a figure which shows the example of a specific operation to do.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention described above, when the storage device write control unit 64 has no read or write request from the processor unit 7 (when there is no bus contention of the storage device 62), Although the case where the latest payload length −N (641) is written to the storage device 62 has been described, in the second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, a scheduling unit 66 is provided, and the data addition control unit 60 Addition read permission 661 for reading the storage device 62, Addition write permission 662 for the storage device write control unit 64 to write to the storage device 62, Processor read permission 663 for the processor unit 7 to read the storage device 62, and the processor unit 7 Outputs the processor write permission 664 for writing the storage device 62 exclusively for ΔT time. It is like that.

  Accordingly, the four processes to the storage device 62 are executed at a constant cycle of Δ4T, the statistical information update cycle is made constant, and the variation in the delay of statistical information processing due to the processor processing is suppressed.

  In order to realize this scheduling processing, a processor control unit 67 is provided which inputs a read or write request to be transmitted from the processor unit 7 to the storage device 62 and controls according to the processor read permission 663 and the processor write permission 664. .

  The processor control unit 67 transmits the read data 701 to the processor unit 7 at an appropriate timing based on the read data 672 from the storage device 62.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the case where the processor unit 7 reads the processing type-N and then writes the value 0. The processing until the payload type-N of the upper processing type-N is collected is described above. Although the same as FIG. 5, the data read by the processor unit 7 is read with a delay of a maximum Δ4T time in accordance with the permission signals 661 to 664 output from the scheduling unit 66, but statistical information processing required for one processing type Since time is always processed in Δ4T time, the delay time due to processor processing and statistical information collection is constant.

  In the above description, the case of reading from the processor unit 7 has been described. Similarly, the case of writing from the processor unit 7 is also delayed by a maximum Δ4T time, but the latest number added by the transfer number counter 51 and the storage device 62 is added. A safer H / W operation can be realized without overlapping the payload length write timing.

  If the writing from the processor unit 7 and the writing of the latest payload length added by the transfer number counter 51 and the storage device 62 overlap, the data after writing is not guaranteed. As shown in FIG. 7, if the writing from the processor unit 7 and the writing of the latest payload length added by the transfer number counter 51 and the storage device 62 do not overlap, the data after writing is correct and guaranteed. The

  As described above, the second embodiment of the present invention adds the accumulated value of the storage device and the differential value of the transfer number counter and writes the updated statistical information to the storage device. By making the timing of reading or writing statistical information exclusive by scheduling processing, the statistical information update cycle is made constant, and variations in packet processing time and statistical information collection time due to processor processing that occurs irregularly are eliminated. Is a network relay device.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
The third embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. 8 showing a specific operation example for automatically clearing the storage device when reading from the processor.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention described above, the case where the processor unit 7 writes the value 0 after reading the payload length -N of the processing type-N of the storage device 62 has been described. In mode 3, as shown in FIG. 8, after the processor unit 7 reads the latest payload length (112 in FIG. 8) according to the processor read permission 663 for reading the storage device 62, the next processor write permission 664 The processor control unit 67 automatically writes the value 0 and clears the payload length-N of the processing type-N, so that the writing process performed by the processor can be omitted and the processor processing can be reduced.

  In the third embodiment of the present invention, as described above, immediately after the processor reads the statistical information of the storage device, the H / W automatically clears the statistical information in the storage device. The network relay device is characterized in that clear processing is omitted and processor processing is reduced.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
The fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. 9 showing a specific example in which the statistical information processing control unit of FIG. 3 is compared with the header information of the input packet.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention described above, the method of sequentially calculating statistical information using the execution signal 510-1 corresponding to the processing type-1 and the transfer number counter 51 has been described. In Embodiment 4 of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 9, when the payload length is registered in the header information of the input packet, the packet processing unit 3 sets the payload length of the header information to the packet processing result −1 ( 500-1), the statistical information control unit buffer 50 transmits the processing type-1 (502) to the current transfer number counter 52.

  The current transfer number counter 52 uses the same processing as the transfer number counter 51 according to the processing type-1 (502) and the execution signal 510-1 of the processing type-1, and uses the payload length of the input packet. And the counter value-1 (680), which is the result of the calculation, is transmitted to the payload length determination unit 68.

  The payload length determination unit 68 compares the counter value-1 (680) with the current payload length-1 (503) output from the statistical information control unit buffer 50, and when a mismatch occurs, By providing a redundant circuit that can recognize a failure, it is possible to improve the reliability of statistical information and to realize a safer network relay device.

  In the fourth embodiment of the present invention, as described above, when the payload length is registered in the header information of the input packet, a transfer number counter from the start to the end of the packet transfer process is newly provided to complete the transfer. A network relay device characterized by having a payload length determination unit that sometimes compares the header information and the payload length of the transfer number counter, thereby improving the reliability of statistical information and recognizing failures and abnormal states in the device .

Embodiment 5. FIG.
Embodiment 5 of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. 10 showing a specific configuration example in which the packet processing unit is replaced with a failure detection unit (abnormality detection unit) in the routing processing control unit of FIG.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention described above, for example, a method of collecting statistical information data such as a line-addressed payload length has been described. However, in the fifth embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. The packet transfer control unit 20 and the packet processing unit 3 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) in the first embodiment are replaced with a failure detection unit (or abnormality detection unit) 8 that detects a failure or abnormality of the network relay device. Thus, for example, the processing result 800 indicating an abnormal type such as a buffer overflow and the abnormal signal 520 indicating an abnormal state such as an error such as a buffer overflow are used as the statistical information processing unit in the first embodiment of the present invention described above. By making the statistical information processing unit 4 that uses 4 input, statistical information useful for failure analysis or the like can be obtained. Moreover, if this collection method is diverted, various statistical information can be collected.

  In the fifth embodiment of the present invention, as described above, even with statistical information other than the input packet such as the payload length, for example, a signal indicating a failure or abnormal state in the relay device is generated, By applying to the statistical information collection method from the transfer number counter to the storage device shown in the first embodiment of the invention, useful information can be accumulated at the time of failure analysis in the relay device. A network relay device capable of collecting statistical information is obtained.

  Further, as described above, the fifth embodiment of the present invention is a network relay device that is connected to a network and relays a packet input from the network and outputs the packet to the network. A transfer number counter that sequentially adds the generated signals for each type of the failure or abnormal state, a storage device that can hold a cumulative value for each of these various counters, a cumulative value of the storage device, and the A network relay device comprising: a control unit that adds and updates a counter value of a transfer number counter in a time division manner for each type of failure or abnormal state.

  Further, when the fifth embodiment of the present invention is combined with at least one of the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention described above, a network relay device capable of collecting various statistical information can be obtained.

  As described above, according to the first to fifth embodiments of the present invention, the payload length of the processing packet is sequentially added by the transfer number counter from the method of adding the header information of the input packet in units of packets. Therefore, even when there is a failure or abnormality in the network relay device, it is possible to collect statistical information such as accurate payload length even while processing a large amount of data packets. With this configuration, statistical information can be collected even when the payload length is not registered in the header information of the input packet. In addition, when the payload length is registered in the header information of the input packet, the reliability of the statistical information can be improved by comparing the collected payload length with the payload length of the header information of the input packet. Can recognize malfunctions and abnormal conditions. In addition, when the processor unit reads data, the processor unit clear process can be omitted by automatically clearing the statistical information of the storage device by H / W. And, for example, even in statistical information other than payload length such as failure or abnormality information in the relay device, a signal indicating the time zone to be added can be generated and information can be easily collected by using the above method. Useful information can be accumulated during failure analysis.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention, and is a block diagram which shows an example of the whole structure of a network relay apparatus. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the first embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates a specific configuration example of the statistical information processing unit 4 of the routing processing control unit 21 in FIG. It is a figure which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention, and is a figure which shows a specific Example about the process of statistical information. It is a figure which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention, and is a figure which shows the specific example of an operation | movement about the process of a transfer number counter. It is a figure which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention, and is a figure which shows the specific operation example about the update process of a memory | storage device. It is a figure which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention, and is a figure which shows the specific Example which avoids bus contention with the read / write request from a processor about the statistical information processing part of FIG. It is a figure which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention, and is a figure which shows the specific example of operation which avoids bus contention with the read / write request from a processor. It is a figure which shows Embodiment 3 of this invention, and is a figure which shows the specific example of an operation | movement which clears a memory | storage device automatically at the time of the reading from a processor. It is a figure which shows Embodiment 4 of this invention, and is a figure which shows the specific Example compared with the header information of an input packet about the statistical information processing control part of FIG. It is a figure which shows Embodiment 5 of this invention, and is a figure which shows the specific structural example which replaced the packet process part with the failure detection part (abnormality detection part) about the routing process control part of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Packet switch part,
2 routing processing part,
3 Packet processing part
4 statistical information processing department,
5 statistical information control unit,
6 statistical information holding unit,
7 processor section,
8 Network interface part,
9 Failure detection unit or abnormality detection unit,
20 packet transfer control unit,
21 routing processing control unit,
22 packet buffer,
30 packet processor buffer,
50 statistical information control unit buffer,
51 Transfer counter,
60 data addition control unit,
61 Counter control unit,
62 storage devices,
63 Data adder,
64 storage device write controller,
66 scheduling section,
67 processor controller,
68 Payload length determination unit.

Claims (5)

  In a network relay device that is connected to a network and relays packets input from the network and outputs the packets to the network, statistical information is sequentially added for each type of relay processing provided for each type of relay processing. The number of transfer counters to be stored, a storage device capable of holding cumulative values for each of these various counters, and the cumulative value of this storage device and the counter value of the transfer number counter are added in a time-sharing manner for each type of relay processing and updated. A network relay device comprising a control unit.   2. The network relay device according to claim 1, wherein the statistical information updated by adding the accumulated value of the storage device and the counter value of the transfer number counter is written to the storage device; A network relay device characterized in that the timing for reading or writing the statistical information is made exclusive by scheduling processing.   3. The network relay device according to claim 2, wherein the H / W automatically clears the statistical information in the storage device immediately after the processor reads the statistical information of the storage device. Relay device.   In the network relay device according to claim 1, when the payload length is registered in the header information of the input packet, a transfer number counter from the start to the end of transfer processing of the packet is further provided, A network relay device comprising a payload length determination unit that compares a payload length of a transfer number counter.   In a network relay device that is connected to a network and relays a packet input from the network and outputs the packet to the network, a signal indicating various faults and abnormal states in the relay device is generated, and for each type of the fault or abnormal state A transfer number counter that sequentially adds the generated signals, a storage device that can hold an accumulated value for each of the various counters, and a time division of the accumulated value of the storage device and the counter value of the transfer number counter for each type of relay processing A network relay device comprising: a control unit that adds and updates in step (1).

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