JP2012080389A - Communication protocol specification compliance verification system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce restrictions on network media to which a device to be verified is connected and distance and numerical restrictions between a verification side and the device to be verified, in a communication protocol specification compliance verification system.SOLUTION: A communication protocol specification compliance verification system that verifies whether a device to be verified complies with a specification of a communication protocol comprises: a verification agent for communicating with the device to be verified using the communication protocol; and a verification manager for communicating with the verification agent using a general-purpose communication protocol and controlling verification processing for the device to be verified via the verification agent according to a predetermined verification sequence.

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication protocol specification conformity verification system that verifies a communication protocol of a data link layer or higher and verifies that a device to be verified conforms to the specification of the communication protocol.

  In the physical network topology used for the communication protocol specification conformance inspection, as shown in FIG. 14A, the verification device 500 and the device to be verified 600 are directly connected via the network medium 700. The network medium 700 can be, for example, Ethernet (registered trademark), IEEE 802.11, or the like. In this case, the connection form is as shown in FIG.

  With reference to FIG. 15, the configuration and operation of a conventional verification device 500 will be described. As shown in the figure, the verification device 500 includes a verification sequence control unit 510, an operation reception unit 520, a verification result output unit 530, a frame transmission unit 540, a frame reception unit 550, a frame storage unit 560, a frame comparison unit 570, a sequence. A definition unit 580 and a frame definition unit 590 are provided. In the sequence definition unit 580, a verification sequence corresponding to the network medium is recorded in advance.

  When the operation receiving unit 520 receives an activation operation from the user (S501), the verification sequence control unit 510 reads the verification sequence from the sequence definition unit 580 (S502).

  The verification sequence defines a procedure for verifying the device 600 to be verified. Here, a verification sequence as shown in FIG. 16 is used. In this verification sequence, the verification device 500 transmits the frame A to the verification target device 600, and the verification target device 600 returns a frame B as a result of processing the frame A to the verification device 500. The verification device 500 receives this and determines whether or not the parameter recorded in the frame B has an expected value, thereby verifying the communication protocol specification conformance of the device 600 to be verified.

  The verification sequence control unit 510 that has read the verification sequence from the sequence definition unit 580 reads the parameters of the frames A and B from the frame definition unit 590 in which the parameters of the frame used for verification by the verification device 500 are defined in advance (S503). .

  FIG. 17 shows an example of parameters defined in the frame A when the network medium 700 is Ethernet. As shown in the figure, the frame A used for verification defines various data used for verification of the communication protocol in addition to communication information such as a destination address and a transmission source address.

  The verification sequence control unit 510 instructs the frame transmission unit 540 to transmit the frame A (S504). The frame transmission unit 540 constructs a frame A based on the parameters given from the verification sequence control unit 510 and sends it to the network medium 700 (S505).

  The verification device 500 stores the frame received through the frame reception unit 550 in the frame storage unit 560 as needed. For this reason, the frame B returned by the device under verification 600 is received by the frame receiving unit 550 (S506) and stored in the frame storing unit 560 (S507).

  The verification sequence control unit 510 instructs the frame comparison unit 570 to diagnose the frame B in order to confirm whether or not the received frame B has the expected parameter (S508).

  The frame comparison unit 570 reads the frame B returned from the verification target device 600 from the frame storage unit 560 (S509), and whether the parameters are the same as compared with the frame B recorded in the frame definition unit 590. Determine if. Then, the verification result is notified to the verification sequence control unit 510.

  Finally, the verification sequence control unit 510 outputs the verification result through the verification result output unit 530 (S510). The output of the verification result can be displayed on a display device, written to a file, etc.

  Since the verification operation of the verification device 500 described above with respect to the verification target device 600 is performed via the network medium 700 for both transmission and reception, the verification device 500 needs to perform an operation depending on the network medium 700.

JP 2006-25433 A

  The conventional verification device 500 that verifies the communication protocol specification conformity of the device 600 to be verified has the first problem that there is a restriction due to the type of the network media 700.

  That is, in the OSI reference model, for example, when the network medium 700 is Ethernet, the data link layer has two sub-layers, a media access control (MAC) layer and a logical link control (LLC) layer, as shown in FIG. Access to the network medium 700 itself is controlled by a data link layer depending on each network medium.

  Therefore, in the conventional protocol specification conformance inspection, the verification device 500 that verifies the communication protocol specification conformity for the data link layer needs to select the network medium 700 for each target data link layer.

  Note that in the communication protocol specification conformity verification system for verifying the network layer and above, even if the network media are different, the verification device 500 and the verification device 500 are connected via the media converter 800 as shown in FIG. A configuration in which the verification device 600 is connected can be employed. Here, Ethernet and IEEE802.11 are used as different network media, and mutual conversion is performed by the media converter 800.

  However, as shown in FIG. 19B, the protocol below the data link layer is automatically converted by the media converter 800. Therefore, the protocol freely accessible from the verification device 500 is the protocol above the network layer. It will be limited. Therefore, in the case of a communication protocol specification conformity verification system that verifies the data link layer or higher, with the configuration using the media converter 800, the verification device 500 cannot directly verify the data link layer of the device 600 to be verified.

  Secondly, the conventional verification device 500 that verifies the communication protocol specification conformity of the device to be verified 600 has a problem that there are restrictions due to the number and distance of network interfaces.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 20, when the device under verification 600 is an intermediate node of a wireless mesh network based on IEEE 802.11, when verifying the communication protocol specification conformance of the device under verification 600, each wireless node 900 ( The verification device 500 is arranged so as to correspond to the wireless node A 900a, the wireless node B 900b, and the wireless node C 900c). That is, the verification device 500 verifies each wireless network between the wireless node A 900a and the device under verification 600, between the wireless node B 900b and the device under verification 600, and between the wireless node C 900c and the device under verification 600.

  At this time, the physical network topology of the verification device 500 and the verification target device 600 forms a form as shown in FIG. However, in the form shown in FIG. 21, since each wireless network between the device under verification 600 and the verification device 500 is performed at the same distance, it is configured as a wireless network having the same signal strength and signal quality. Verification that takes into account signal strength and signal quality due to distance conditions cannot be performed.

  Furthermore, the number of wireless networks that can be verified by the verification device 500, that is, the number of wireless nodes 900 with respect to the verification target device 600 is limited to the number of network interfaces provided in the verification device 500.

  Therefore, the present invention aims to reduce the restrictions on the network media to which the device to be verified is connected and the distance and numerical restrictions between the verification side and the device to be verified in the communication protocol specification conformity verification system. To do.

  In order to solve the above problems, a communication protocol specification conformity verification system of the present invention is a communication protocol specification conformity verification system that verifies whether a device to be verified conforms to a communication protocol specification, and uses the communication protocol to A verification agent that communicates with the device to be verified; and a verification manager that communicates with the verification agent using a general-purpose communication protocol and controls verification processing for the device to be verified according to a predetermined verification sequence. It is characterized by that.

  The verification manager transmits a first frame to be transmitted to the device to be verified and a second frame to be returned to the verification agent, and the verification agent transmits the first frame to the verification frame. By comparing the frame returned from the device to be verified with the second frame, the device to be verified can be verified, and the verification result can be returned to the verification manager.

  Moreover, the communication protocol specification conformity verification system can include one verification manager and a plurality of verification agents.

  In addition, the verification agent can perform wireless or wired communication with the device to be verified, and verification of whether the device to be verified conforms to a communication protocol specification targets a communication protocol at a data link layer or higher. can do.

  According to the present invention, a verification agent that communicates with a device to be verified using a communication protocol to be verified, a verification agent, and a communication using a general-purpose communication protocol are performed, and verification is performed according to a predetermined verification sequence. And a verification manager that controls the verification process for the device to be verified via the agent. Even when the network media to which the verification manager is connected is different from the network media to which the device to be verified is connected, It is possible to perform a uniform operation that does not depend on it.

  Further, by connecting the verification manager and the verification agent with a general-purpose network medium, it is possible to increase the degree of freedom of arrangement of the verification agent and the device to be verified. Therefore, in the communication protocol specification conformity verification system, it is possible to reduce restrictions on the network medium to which the device to be verified is connected and distance and numerical restrictions between the verification side and the device to be verified.

It is a block diagram which shows the example of a connection of the communication protocol specification conformity verification system which concerns on this embodiment, and a to-be-verified apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the communication protocol specification conformity verification system comprised including a verification manager and a verification agent. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of a communication protocol specification conformity verification system. It is a figure explaining the process of a verification object production | generation part. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a verification object. A format used for communication between the verification manager and the verification agent will be described. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of a communication protocol specification conformity verification system. It is a figure which shows the flow of the message which generate | occur | produces between a verification manager, a verification agent, and a to-be-verified apparatus from a verification program start to the output of a verification result. It is a block diagram which shows the structure which operates the verification agent physically installed in the remote place through a router. It is a block diagram showing a configuration when a plurality of verification agents are arranged. It is a figure which shows the example of the network topology by this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure which has arrange | positioned the verification agent in the position away from the to-be-verified apparatus via a router. It is a figure which shows the example of the wireless mesh network by this embodiment. It is a figure explaining the connection form of a verification apparatus and a to-be-verified apparatus. It is a block diagram explaining the structure and operation | movement of the conventional verification apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a verification sequence. It is a figure which shows the example of a parameter defined in the flame | frame A in case a network medium is Ethernet. It is a figure for demonstrating the data link layer in case a network medium is Ethernet. It is a figure which shows the structure which connects a verification apparatus and a to-be-verified apparatus via a media converter. It is a figure which shows the case where a to-be-verified apparatus is an intermediate node of the wireless mesh network by IEEE802.11. It is a figure which shows the physical network topology of a verification apparatus and a to-be-verified apparatus.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a connection example between a communication protocol specification conformity verification system and a device to be verified according to the present embodiment. Note that the communication protocol specification conformity verification system is also simply referred to as a verification system.

  In this embodiment, the communication protocol specification conformity verification system 10 includes a verification manager 100 and a verification agent 200, and verifies the communication protocol specification conformity of the device 300 to be verified. In the present embodiment, in order to absorb the difference between the network medium to which the verification system 10 side is connected and the network medium to which the device to be verified 300 is connected, the conventional technology is constructed with one verification device. A verification system is constructed by using a plurality of verification managers 100 and verification agents 200.

  For example, a general-purpose information processing apparatus such as a PC can be used as the verification manager 100. The information processing apparatus can function as the verification manager 100 by executing a verification program installed in the information processing apparatus. become able to.

  Hereinafter, the network medium connecting the verification manager 100 and the verification agent 200 will be referred to as a general-purpose Ethernet 400, and the network medium connecting the verification system 10 and the device 300 to be verified will be referred to as ISA100.11a410. The verification agent 200 transmits / receives the ISA100.11a410 frame to / from the verification target device 300 according to the command input from the verification manager 100.

  In this case, the protocol to be verified is ISA100.11a410. ISA100.11a is a wireless communication standard for industrial automation, and is not necessarily a widely used communication protocol. In this embodiment, the verification agent 200 and the device to be verified 300 communicate with each other using the ISA100.11a410. There is no need to perform communication. The network medium between the verification system 10 and the device to be verified 300 is not limited to wireless and may be wired.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the communication protocol specification conformity verification system 10 configured to include the verification manager 100 and the verification agent 200.

  As shown in the figure, the verification manager 100 includes a verification manager control unit 110, an operation reception unit 120, a verification object generation unit 130, a verification system communication client 140, a verification result output unit 150, a sequence definition unit 160, and a frame definition unit 170. It has.

  The verification agent 200 includes a verification agent control unit 210, a frame transmission unit 220, a verification object storage unit 230, a frame reception unit 240, a frame storage unit 250, a frame comparison unit 260, and a verification system communication server 270.

  The operation of the communication protocol specification conformity verification system 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the first half will be described with reference to FIG. When the operation reception unit 120 receives a startup operation from the user (S101), the verification manager control unit 110 reads the verification sequence from the sequence definition unit 160 (S102). The verification sequence is the same as the example shown in FIG. However, frame A and frame B are ISA100.11a frames. A verification sequence is prepared for the protocol to be verified.

  The verification manager control unit 110 that has read the verification sequence from the sequence definition unit 160 reads the parameters of the frames A and B from the frame definition unit 170 (S103). Frame A defines a transmission frame, and frame B defines a reception frame. The transmission frame definition and the reception frame definition are prepared for the verification target protocol.

  Then, the verification manager control unit 110 instructs the verification object generation unit 130 to generate a verification object (S104). The verification object can be generated from the verification sequence, frame A (transmission frame definition), and frame B (reception frame definition). As shown in FIG. 4, the verification object generation unit 130 includes a verification sequence, a transmission frame definition, Input received frame definition and output verification object.

  The verification object may be a simple combination of these input data, or may be a further compression. Further, it may be a machine code generated by a process such as compilation according to the design. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, it is assumed that the verification sequence, the transmission frame definition, and the reception frame definition are combined in order.

  The verification object output from the verification object generation unit 130 is transferred to the verification system communication client 140 (S105), and the verification system communication client 140 commands the registration of the verification agent 200 in the storage area via the Ethernet 400 (S106). )

  Note that a communication protocol used for communication between the verification manager 100 and the verification agent 200 at this time may be a protocol higher than the data link layer protocol. Here, as an example, UDP operating on IPv6 is used.

  With reference to FIG. 6, the format used for communication between the verification manager 100 and the verification agent 200 will be described. As shown in the figure, the verification system communication protocol data following the UDP header is composed of a “command” field indicating the data type and a “command specific data” field that is different for each data type.

  The data type when registering the verification object in the verification agent 200 is “registration”. When the “command” field is “registration”, the format of “command specific data” includes an “object ID” field for identifying a verification object and a “verification object” field for carrying the verification object. Since “object ID” is used as an identifier when a plurality of verification objects are registered in the verification agent 200, the “object ID” is a unique value in the verification system 10. However, the format is arbitrary. Other data types will be described later.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 3, when a verification object is acquired from the verification manager 100 through the verification system communication server 270 (S106), the verification agent 200 sends a verification object registration command to the verification agent control unit 210 (S107). The agent control unit 210 stores the verification object in the verification object storage unit 230 (S108). The verification object storage unit 230 is a storage area in which a plurality of verification objects can be stored. A plurality of verification objects can be identified and specified by “object ID”.

  Next, the second half of the operation of the communication protocol specification conformity verification system 10 will be described with reference to FIG. If the verification object is stored in the verification object storage unit 230, the user can start verification of communication protocol specification conformance at an arbitrary timing by operating the operation reception unit 120 (S109).

  When the verification start operation is received from the user, the verification manager control unit 110 instructs the verification system communication client 140 to execute verification (S110). Further, the verification system communication client 140 commands the verification agent 200 to perform verification via the Ethernet 400 (S111).

  Referring to FIG. 6 again, the format used when instructing the verification agent 200 to perform verification will be described. The data type at this time is “execution”. When the “command” field is “execute”, the format of the “command specific data” is composed of only the “object ID” field for identifying the verification object. As the “object ID”, a value when a verification object is registered in the verification agent 200 is used.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 7, the verification agent 200 instructed to execute verification from the verification manager 100 through the verification system communication server 270 performs verification execution of the verification object specified by the verification object ID to the verification agent control unit 210. Command is given (S112). The verification agent control unit 210 searches the verification object storage unit 230 for a verification object corresponding to the specified verification object ID and reads it (S113).

  As shown in FIG. 5, the verification object describes the verification sequence, the transmission frame definition (frame A), and the reception frame definition (frame B). The verification agent control unit 210 transmits the frame A as a frame transmission. The unit 220 is commanded (S114). The frame transmission unit 220 constructs a frame A based on the parameters given from the verification agent control unit 210, and transmits the frame A to the verification target device 300 via the network medium ISA100.11a410 (S115).

  The verification agent 200 stores the frame received through the frame receiving unit 240 in the frame storage unit 250 as needed, as in the conventional verification device. Therefore, the frame B returned from the device under verification 300 is received by the frame receiving unit 240 via the ISA100.11a410 (S116) and stored in the frame storing unit 250 (S117).

  The verification agent control unit 210 instructs the frame comparison unit 260 to diagnose the frame B in order to confirm whether or not the received frame B is an expected parameter (S118).

  The frame comparison unit 260 reads the frame B returned from the verification target device 300 from the frame storage unit 250 (S119) and compares it with the frame B recorded in the verification object to determine whether the parameters are the same. judge. Then, the verification agent control unit 210 instructs the verification system communication server 270 to transmit the verification result to the verification manager 100 (S120). The verification system communication server 270 transmits the verification result to the verification manager 100 through the Ethernet 400 (S121).

  Referring to FIG. 6 again, the format used when the verification agent 200 transmits the verification result to the verification manager 100 will be described. The data type at this time is “result notification”. When the “command” field is “result notification”, the format of “command specific data” includes an “object ID” field for identifying a verification object and a “status” field indicating the verification result. Further, in order to describe the verification result in more detail, a “message” field may be arbitrarily used. As the “object ID”, a value attached to the verification object executed by the verification agent 200 is used.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 7, when the verification result is received from the verification agent 200 through the verification system communication client 140 (S121), the verification manager 100 commands the verification manager control unit 110 to output the verification result (S122). Then, the verification manager control unit 110 outputs the verification result through the verification result output unit 150 (S123). The output of the verification result can be displayed on a display device, written to a file, or the like.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a flow of messages generated between the verification manager 100, the verification agent 200, and the device to be verified 300 from the start of the verification program to the output of the verification result.

  As shown in the figure, when the verification program is started in the verification manager 100, a message in which the “command” field is “registered” is sent to the verification agent 200. When the verification manager 100 receives an execution instruction from the user, the verification manager 100 sends a message with the “command” field set to “execute” to the verification agent 200.

  In response to this, the verification agent 200 transmits a frame A to the verification target device 300, and the verification target device 300 returns a frame B to the verification agent 200. When the verification agent 200 diagnoses frame B, the verification agent 200 sends a message with the “command” field set to “result notification” to the verification manager 100, and the verification manager 100 outputs the result.

  As described above, according to the verification system 10 of this embodiment, the program operating on the verification manager 100 only performs communication via the Ethernet 400, which is a general-purpose network medium, in both cases of transmission and reception. Therefore, conformity verification of the ISA100.11a protocol specification can be performed without depending on a special network medium such as ISA100.11a. This is particularly effective when the verification manager 100 is composed of a general-purpose information processing apparatus such as a PC, since it is not necessary to prepare a special network interface.

  The communication protocol between the verification manager 100 and the verification agent 200 is not limited to the data link layer, and any protocol can be used. For this reason, for example, if a network layer protocol such as IP is used, as shown in FIG. 9, the verification is physically installed in a remote place by connecting the Ethernet 400a and the Ethernet 400b via the router 320. The agent 200 can also be operated.

  In the above example, the verification agent 200 determines whether the received frame parameter has an expected value. However, the verification manager 100 may perform this determination.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of verification agents are arranged such as a verification agent 200a and a verification agent 200b, and each verification agent 200a and 200b is controlled from one verification manager 100 to be verified. The device 300a and the device to be verified 300b may be verified.

  Moreover, according to the verification system 10 of this embodiment, the physical restriction | limiting accompanying the distance between the verification system 10 and the to-be-verified apparatus 300 and a space characteristic can be eliminated.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 20, if the device to be verified is an intermediate node of a wireless mesh network based on IEEE 802.11, the network topology as shown in FIG. It was not possible to verify the signal quality.

  On the other hand, in the verification system 10 of the present embodiment, a network topology as shown in FIG. 11 can be configured. That is, the verification agent 200a, the verification agent 200b, and the verification agent 200c are arranged at positions corresponding to the intermediate nodes, and are connected to the verification manager 100 via the Ethernet 400, respectively.

  In this case, since the positional restriction of the verification agent 200 is eliminated, the positional relationship between the verification agent 200 and the device to be verified 300 can be arbitrarily set. Therefore, it is possible to perform verification by changing the signal strength and signal quality between the verification agent 200 and the device to be verified 300. For example, the verification agent 200c is connected via the router 320 as shown in FIG. The wireless mesh network as shown in FIG. 13A is arranged at a position away from the device to be verified 300, and the routing table and the like held by the device 300 to be verified can be verified.

  For example, in the wireless mesh network shown in FIG. 13A, when verifying that communication from the wireless node A 340a to the wireless node C 340c passes the route shown in FIG. 13B, the verification manager 100 in FIG. The routing table of the device under test 300 can be verified by instructing the verification agent 200a to transmit a frame addressed to the wireless node C 340c and confirming the reception of the frame by the verification agent 200b.

  In the above example, as shown in FIG. 1, the network medium (Ethernet 400) between the verification manager 100 and the verification agent 200 and the network medium (ISA 100) between the verification agent 200 and the device to be verified 300 are used. .11a410) is different from the communication protocol of the present invention even when both network media are configured as the same network media, such as Ethernet. A specification conformity verification system can be applied.

  Furthermore, in the configuration shown in FIG. 10, when the network between the verification manager 100 and the verification agents 200a and 200b supports multicast, the verification manager 100 sends a command for controlling the verification agent 200 by multicast. By transmitting, a plurality of verification agents 200 can be handled simultaneously.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Communication protocol specification conformity verification system 100 ... Verification manager 110 ... Verification manager control part 120 ... Operation reception part 130 ... Verification object generation part 140 ... Verification system communication client 150 ... Verification result output part 160 ... Sequence definition unit, 170 ... frame definition unit, 200 ... verification agent, 210 ... verification agent control unit, 220 ... frame transmission unit, 230 ... verification object storage unit, 240 ... frame reception unit, 250 ... frame storage unit, 260 ... frame Comparison unit, 270 ... Verification system communication server, 300 ... Device to be verified, 320 ... Router, 400 ... Ethernet, 410 ... ISA100.11a, 500 ... Verification device, 510 ... Verification sequence control unit, 520 ... Operation reception unit, 530 ... Verification result output unit, 540... Frame transmission unit, 550 ... Frame reception unit, 560 ... Frame storage unit, 570 ... Frame comparison unit, 580 ... Sequence definition unit, 590 ... Frame definition unit, 600 ... Device to be verified, 700 ... Network media, 800 ... Media converter, 900 ... Wireless node

Claims (5)

A communication protocol specification conformity verification system for verifying whether a device to be verified conforms to a communication protocol specification,
A verification agent that communicates with the device to be verified using the communication protocol;
A communication protocol specification conformity verification, comprising: a verification manager that communicates with the verification agent using a general-purpose communication protocol, and that controls a verification process for the device to be verified in accordance with a predetermined verification sequence. system. The verification manager transmits, to the verification agent, a first frame to be transmitted to the device to be verified and a second frame to be returned.
The verification agent compares the frame returned from the device to be verified with the second frame with respect to the first frame, thereby verifying the device to be verified, and returns a verification result to the verification manager. The communication protocol specification conformity verification system according to claim 1, wherein:   The communication protocol specification conformity verification system according to claim 1 or 2, comprising one verification manager and a plurality of verification agents.   The communication protocol specification conformity verification system according to claim 1, wherein the verification agent performs wireless or wired communication with the device to be verified.   The communication protocol specification conformity according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the verification of whether the device to be verified conforms to a communication protocol specification targets a communication protocol of a data link layer or higher. Verification system.