JP2007243581A - Method for testing communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for testing a communication apparatus by which existence of a fault in a stand-by system can be known during the operation of an active system so as to improve a serviceability. <P>SOLUTION: By using a stand-by system substrate of a line interface substrate having (N+1) redundant constitution, an instruction is provided from an active system control substrate C0 to the line interface substrate 7S to switch the route of a communication line to the stand-by system. A communication confirmation test is executed from the line interface substrate 7S to the active system control substrate C0 under the state to confirm the normality of the stand-by system communication line. Consequently, the existence of a fault in layer 2 switches 21, 31, 41 arranged in the communication line of the stand-by state can be confirmed before switching of systems, and when a fault is detected, replacement or the like is executed before switching the systems. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a test method for a communication device used for connecting different networks to each other, and more particularly to a test method for a communication device having a redundant configuration by duplication.

  As in the device of Patent Document 1, in many communication systems, a redundant configuration is adopted in order to improve fault tolerance performance. In the apparatus described in this document, the line control unit has N + 1 redundancy, the line switch unit has 1: 1 redundancy, and the line interface unit does not have a redundant configuration.

In addition to this, there are various ways of assembling the redundancy in the device. For example, the control board is configured in a duplex configuration, the line interface board is configured in a single configuration, and the communication path between the control board and the line interface board is duplexed. There is a system that performs path switching by selection and switching in a board interface. However, in a system having such a configuration, even if the standby communication path is out of order, it cannot be known in advance. That is, there is a case where an abnormality of the standby communication path is detected only after the operation system / standby system of the communication path is changed in conjunction with the switching of the control board to the standby system. For this reason, there is a problem that service continuity and failure replacement procedures are restricted.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-15757

As described above, in the existing duplex system, the failure of the standby system cannot be known during the operation of the active system. For this reason, there are problems that the service is stopped at the time of redundant switching, and that the procedure for failure replacement is restricted.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to make it possible to know whether or not there is a failure in the standby system during operation of the active system, thereby improving the serviceability. It is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, a plurality of line interface boards each connected to a communication network, and a control board for controlling the plurality of line interface boards are provided, The circuit interface board has N + 1 redundancy in which one standby system board is prepared for a plurality of operation system boards, and the control board has dual redundancy in which one standby system board is prepared for one operation system board. None, a communication path between the control board and the plurality of line interface boards is a test method for a communication device having redundant redundancy in which an active system and a standby system are switched in conjunction with system switching of the control board, A connection step of connecting a specific line interface board to the standby communication path in an operating state of the active communication path, and the specific line interface by the connection step; A test step for testing communication between the active control board and the specific line interface board via the standby communication path in a state where the interface board is connected to the standby communication path; And a determination step for determining whether the standby communication path is normal or abnormal based on a result of the communication confirmation in the test step.

  By taking such means, for example, a standby line interface board is connected to the standby communication path in a state where the active communication path is in operation. In this state, communication between the active control board and the standby line interface board via the standby communication path is tested. If communication is possible, it is confirmed that the standby communication path is normal. If communication is impossible, an abnormality in the standby communication path is confirmed.

  By such a procedure, it is possible to confirm the normality of a communication path (standby communication path) that should be a new active system in advance before system switching when a failure actually occurs. In addition, the communication between the operation system control board, the operation system communication path, and the operation system line interface board is not affected in the above procedure. Therefore, it becomes possible to know whether there is a failure in the standby system during operation of the active system.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method for testing a communication apparatus that can know whether there is a failure in the standby system during the operation of the active system, thereby improving serviceability.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a communication apparatus according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a gateway device that interconnects a subscriber line and an IP (Internet Protocol) network is taken as an example of a communication device. The gateway device 1 of FIG. 1 includes a control unit 16, subscriber line interfaces 11 and 12, an IP conversion unit 14, and a packet switch 15.

  Among these, the subscriber line interface 11 performs interface control of the subscriber line 114, and the subscriber line interface 12 performs interface control of the subscriber line 115. That is, the subscriber line interface 11 accommodates subscriber terminals and radio base stations via the subscriber line 114, and provides an exchange side interface for ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network). The subscriber line interface 12 is connected to the subscriber line 115 and provides a terminal side interface of ISDN. The control unit 16 includes an exchange unit 100 such as a time division switch. The exchange unit 100 exchanges and connects communication paths between the IP network DN and each of the subscriber lines 114 and 115.

  The IP conversion unit 14 is provided between the control unit 16 and the IP network DN, and performs protocol conversion between networks. That is, the IP conversion unit 14 converts the time division multiplexed signal from the switching unit 100 into an IP packet and inputs it to the packet switch 15. The IP packet is routed according to the destination IP address, and is sent to the IP network DN via a LAN (Local Area Network) cable 117. The IP converter 14 converts an IP packet input from the IP network DN via the LAN cable 117 and the packet switch 15 into a time division multiplexed signal.

  The control unit 16 performs overall control of the gateway device 1. That is, the control unit 16 requests the subscriber line interface 11 and the subscriber line interface 12 to control the subscriber line 114 and the subscriber line 115, and the subscriber line interface 11 and the subscriber line interface 12 Comprehensively manage detected failures.

  The gateway device 1 is connected to the network monitoring device ME via the IP network DN. The network monitoring device ME acquires the operation information of the gateway device 1 through communication with the control unit 16. The acquired information is processed in the network monitoring device ME and displayed on a monitor or the like. In this way, it is possible to remotely monitor and manage the operating state of the gateway device 1.

  In FIG. 1, the control unit 16 is connected to the IP network DN via the IP conversion unit 14 and the packet switch 15. Each of the subscriber line interfaces 11 and 12 and the control unit 16 includes a dedicated CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory (not shown), and operates by CPU arithmetic processing based on a program stored in each memory.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a redundant configuration of the gateway device 1 of FIG. In FIG. 2, control boards C0 and C1 all correspond to the control unit 16 in FIG. 1, and line interface boards 5A, 5S, 6A, 6S, 7A, and 7S correspond to the subscriber line interfaces 11 and 12 in FIG. . Layer 2 switches (L2SW) 20, 30, 40, 21, 31, 41 correspond to communication paths between the control boards C0, C1 and the line interface boards 5A, 5S, 6A, 6S, 7A, 7S. For example, it is formed by a device internal LAN using a protocol such as IP.

  The control boards C0 and C1 have a redundant redundant configuration consisting of an active system and a standby system, and either the 0 system control board C0 or the 1 system control board C1 is used as the active system. The line interface board has N + 1 redundancy in which one standby system board is prepared for a plurality of operation system boards. That is, one line interface board 5S serving as a standby system is provided for the plurality of line interface boards 5A. Similarly, one line interface board 6S serving as a standby system is provided for the plurality of line interface boards 6A, and one line interface board 7S serving as a standby system is provided for the plurality of line interface boards 7A. Each of the line interface boards 5A, 5S, 6A, 6S, 7A, and 7S has an internal relay. By switching the relay, the communication path via the L2SW is switched between the 0 system and the 1 system. This switching is performed in conjunction with the system switching of the control boards C0 and C1.

  The layer 2 switches 20, 30, and 40 form a 0-system communication path, and the layer 2 switches 21, 31, and 41 form a 1-system communication path. The control boards C0 and C1 and the layer 2 switch are connected via the interfaces P1 and P2, and the layer 2 switches of each system are connected via the interface P2. Communication between systems is enabled by the interface P2.

  Note that the gateway device 1 of FIG. 2 has a rack structure, and is configured by stacking a plurality of sub-racks into which substrates are inserted. Each subrack is provided with a line interface board having an N + 1 redundancy configuration.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a communication route related to the test method of the present invention. The state shown in FIG. 3 is assumed to be a failure-free state, that is, a state in which a communication path is formed from the control board C0 via the route A (solid line in the figure) without switching to the first system. At this time, the line interface board 7S is in a standby state, and on this condition, an instruction is sent from the active control board C0 to the line interface board 7S to switch the communication path to the 1-system side. In response to this instruction, the line interface board 7S switches the communication path to system 1. As a result, a route T (dotted line in the figure) passing through the 1-system communication path is formed between the control board C0 and the line interface board 7S.

  When the route T is formed, the line interface board 7S performs a communication confirmation test toward the layer 2 switches 21 and 41 and the control board C0 via the route T. Here, the test is performed by confirming the presence or absence of a response to the inquiry using a Ping command or the like. If there is a response to the inquiry, the normality of the 1-system communication path is confirmed, and the line interface board 7S reports to the control board C0 that the communication confirmation test has been normally completed. In response to this, the control board C0 gives an instruction to return the route to the line interface board 7S. In response to this, the line interface board 7S again enters a standby state as a spare for the line interface board 7A in the subrack for N + 1 redundancy. If there is no response to the inquiry, it is detected that the communication path of system 1 is abnormal, and that fact is notified to the network monitoring device ME via the IP network DN.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining redundancy switching in the gateway device 1 of FIG. In FIG. 4, in a state where the 0-system control board C0 is operating, the 0-channel is used as the communication path, and communication by the route A is performed. When system switching of the control system occurs from this state, system 1 becomes operational, and in conjunction with this, the communication path is also switched to system 1, and communication using route S (dashed line in the figure) is started.

  However, if the communication path of the 1 system is not tested, the failure state of the communication path cannot be known before system switching. For example, if the layer 2 switch 41 is out of order, communication between the line interface board 7S and the control board C1 is interrupted when the system 1 is in an operation state, and the operation state as a system is hindered. .

  Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the standby system board of the line interface board having the N + 1 redundancy configuration is used, and an instruction is given from the operation system control board C0 to the line interface board 7S to set the communication path. Switch to the standby system. From this state, the normality of the standby communication path is confirmed by conducting a communication confirmation test from the line interface board 7S to the active system control board C0. Since it did in this way, it becomes possible to confirm the presence or absence of a failure of the layer 2 switches 21 and 41 arranged on the communication channel in the standby state before system switching, and if a failure is detected, replacement work or the like To prepare for system switching. From these facts, it becomes possible to know the presence or absence of a failure in the standby system during the operation of the active system, thereby providing a test method for a communication apparatus that improves serviceability.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in FIG. 3, a switching instruction is given to the line interface board 7S for testing, but an instruction may be given to the line interface board 7A in a normal operation state to perform a communication test. However, when the line interface board 7A is in an in-service state, the communication may be hindered by the end-user communication. Therefore, the following procedure is performed.

(1) The active control board C0 confirms that the line interface board 7S is in a standby state.
(2) The N + 1 standby switching is instructed from the operation system control board C0 to the line interface board 7A, and the service in operation is taken over from the line interface board 7A to the line interface board 7S.
(3) A communication test is instructed from the active control board C0 to the line interface board 7A.
(4) The line interface board 7A switches the internal relay and conducts a communication confirmation test to the operation system control board C0.
(5) The line interface board 7A returns the internal relay, and notifies the operation control board C0 of the result of the communication confirmation test.
(6) The active system control board C0 instructs the line interface board 7S to switch back to the N + 1 preliminary switching state.
Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment.

The functional block diagram which shows embodiment of the communication apparatus concerning this invention. The block diagram which shows the redundant structure of the gateway apparatus 1 of FIG. The schematic diagram which shows the communication route concerning the test method of this invention. The figure for demonstrating the redundant switching in the gateway apparatus 1 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  114, 115 ... subscriber line, 1 ... gateway device, DN ... IP network, ME ... network monitoring device, 16 ... control unit, 11, 12 ... subscriber line interface, 100 ... switching unit, 14 ... IP conversion unit, 15 ... Packet switch, 117 ... LAN cable, C0, C1 ... Control board, 5A, 5S, 6A, 6S, 7A, 7S ... Line interface board, 20, 30, 40, 21, 31, 41 ... Layer 2 switch (L2SW)

Claims (5)

A plurality of line interface boards each connected to a communication network; and a control board for controlling the plurality of line interface boards, wherein the plurality of line interface boards are one standby for a plurality of operation system boards. The system board is provided with N + 1 redundancy, the control board is provided with a redundant redundancy in which one standby system board is prepared for one operation system board, and between the control board and the plurality of line interface boards. The communication path is a test method for a communication device having redundant redundancy in which an active system and a standby system are switched in conjunction with system switching of the control board,
A connection step of connecting a specific line interface board to the standby communication path in the operating state of the active communication path;
In the state where the specific line interface board is connected to the standby communication path by this connection step, communication between the active control board and the specific line interface board via the standby communication path Testing steps to test,
And a determination step of determining whether the standby communication path is normal or abnormal based on a result of the communication confirmation in the test step. The connecting step includes
2. The communication according to claim 1, wherein the step of connecting the specific line interface board to the communication path of the standby system by sending an instruction from the control board of the active system to the specific line interface board. Equipment test method. 2. The communication apparatus testing method according to claim 1, wherein the specific line interface board is a standby line interface board. 2. The communication apparatus testing method according to claim 1, wherein the specific line interface board is any one of an active line interface board. 2. The communication according to claim 1, further comprising a step of notifying the network monitoring apparatus through the communication network when an abnormality of the standby communication path is determined in the determination step. Device testing method.

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