JP2746089B2 - Network interface selection system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for selecting a network interface based on a network address in a computer system having a plurality of network interfaces.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a computer system having a plurality of network interfaces, a system for selecting a network interface has route information to a communication partner network as in a UNIX system, and selects a network interface based on the information. There is a system to do. As an extension of the system, there is a method of exchanging path information to a target network in each computer system, dynamically changing path information, and selecting a network interface.

In the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 02-288637, the route of data flowing in the network system is dynamically selected by each communication node, so that even if a line failure occurs during communication, it is possible to easily make a detour. The route can be set.

According to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 01-190046, in response to a notified network connection probability request, a route to a corresponding destination is referred to by referring to a route search structure table held by the notified node. Or, by finding a route to a directly accommodating node toward a destination, sharing management of route information is facilitated.

[0005]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 02-2886
In the technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 37-194 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 01-190046, a route is determined based on information of an external system. There is a problem that security is greatly impaired.

The techniques described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 02-288637 and 01-190046 can solve the problem of the failure of the external system, but have a table for managing the state and load status of the own system. Since there is no such information, it does not solve the failure countermeasures and load distribution of the own system.

[0007] Both are problematic in large scale centralized processing systems.

In the present invention, in order to solve the above problems,
The purpose is to keep the information for selecting all network interfaces under the control of its own system.

[0009]

A network interface selection system according to the present invention is a computer system for connecting to any of a plurality of networks via any of the plurality of network interfaces. An interface management table including a plurality of entries corresponding to the respective entries, each entry storing a status indicating whether or not the corresponding network interface is active and the number of lines used, which is the number of connections connected to the network interface. And a plurality of entries corresponding to each of the plurality of networks, wherein each entry corresponds to an address of a corresponding network and each of a plurality of network interfaces connected to the network. And network address management table for storing the address to the entry of Esu management table, receiving a request to connect to the network address of the network is designated by the application program, of the network by referring to the network address management table Identifying an entry corresponding to the address, extracting addresses of the plurality of network interfaces stored in the entry, and identifying entries corresponding to the addresses of the plurality of network interfaces with reference to the interface management table Further, of the plurality of entries, an entry whose status indicates the active state and the number of used lines is the smallest is specified, and the network interface corresponding to the entry is connected to the network requested to be connected. Characterized by comprising a network interface selection unit for selecting a route.

[0010]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The system to which the present invention is applied is connected to M networks as shown in FIG.
This is a computer system having N network interfaces. The administrator of the computer system examines the reliability and load of the network and determines the network interface to be assigned to each network. Based on the information, the computer system creates a table as shown in FIG. The network address management table 11 shown in FIG. 2 includes entries from network address 0 to network address M−1 and a total of M + 1 entries of undefined addresses. Each entry in the network management table has a pointer to the network interface management table 12 from network interface 0 to network interface N-1. If a network interface is assigned to the network, it points to its address. Otherwise, it points to the NULL pointer. The network interface management table 12 manages the status and use frequency of the network interface. The status has three values: active, inactive, and failed. For the frequency of use, the number of connections is stored during connection with the interface.

The operation of the network interface selection system according to one embodiment of the present invention at the time of actual network connection will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Referring to FIG. 3, first, when a network address is input (step 1), the network address management table 1 is entered.
From 1, an entry corresponding to the network address is searched. If there is no corresponding network address, the entry of the undefined address is used (step 2). Next, the pointers to the interface addresses (0) to (N-1) of the entry are checked,
If it is NULL, SKIP is performed. If it indicates the interface management table 12, the interface whose status is active and whose frequency of use is the smallest is selected (step 3). Finally, the frequency of use of the interface is 1
Increased (step 4).

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of network interfaces can be defined for one network address, and when one network address is designated, the definition for that network address is made possible. By selecting the network interfaces that are active and not in the failed state equally from among the network interfaces that have been set, and performing the same selection method for undefined addresses,
The network interface selection processing can be performed by solving the problem of the failure countermeasure and the load distribution without impairing the security problem.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a computer system including an embodiment of the present invention targeted by the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a table used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A computer system connected to any of a plurality of networks via any of a plurality of network interfaces, comprising: a plurality of entries corresponding to each of the plurality of network interfaces; An interface management table storing a status indicating whether a corresponding network interface is in an active state and the number of lines used, which is the number of connections currently connected to the network interface; and a plurality of networks corresponding to the plurality of networks. A network including an entry, wherein each entry stores an address of a corresponding network and an address to an entry of the interface management table corresponding to each of a plurality of network interfaces connected to the network. Receiving an address management table, a request to connect to the network address of the network is designated by the application program,
An entry corresponding to the address of the network is specified by referring to the network address management table, addresses of the plurality of network interfaces stored in the entry are extracted, and the plurality of addresses are extracted by referring to the interface management table. An entry corresponding to each address of the network interface is specified, and among the plurality of entries, an entry whose status indicates an active state and the number of used lines is the smallest is specified, and a network interface corresponding to the entry is connected. A network interface selection unit for selecting a route as a route to a requested network.