JP4040482B2 - Load balancing parallel processor - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a communication device that is arranged on a network that transmits and receives multiplexed frames and that has a multiprocessor configuration for processing received frames in parallel. In particular, each frame is adjusted by adjusting the allocation of frames to a plurality of frame processing devices. The present invention relates to a load balancing parallel processing device for leveling a load on a processing device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A communication device that processes a large amount of communication information packets at high speed employs a multiprocessor in order to increase the processing capability. As such a communication apparatus, there is a load distribution type packet parallel processing apparatus that distributes the load evenly so that the load is not biased to a specific packet processor, and does not greatly vary the processing time of the control packet (for example, Patent Document 1).
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this conventional load distribution type packet parallel processing device, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the packet processor therein. In the figure, the load balancing type packet parallel processing device includes one or more communication channels 1001 to 100N and a plurality of packet processors 310, 320, 330, 340, 350 for processing control packets received from these communication channels. The packet distribution control unit 21 distributes control packets received from the communication channel to a plurality of packet processors 310, 320, 330, 340, and 350.
[0003]
When a new control packet arrives at the communication channels 1001 to 100N, the packet distribution control unit 21 outputs a packet processing request to the plurality of packet processors 310, 320, 330, 340, and 350. Processing permission is given to the packet processor which responded early. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the processor card determines the load level of its own packet processor 310, and responds to the packet processing request according to the load level determined by the load level determination unit 315. A transmission / reception control unit 311 for controlling time and response availability.
[0004]
In this case, the load level is determined by determining the amount of control packets held in the reception buffer 312, the amount of control packets held in the transmission buffer 313, the number of control packets being suspended due to access conflicts in the shared memory 6, It is determined according to the type of processing in the packet processor 310.
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-222374
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the conventional load distribution type packet parallel processing device as described above, the load level is determined by the amount of packets in the buffer, the processing type, the number of suspended packets, etc., all of which are currently being processed. The load level is determined based on the packet. On the other hand, in order to protect the order of packets as in packet processing in multiplexed frames, the same packet is sent to a packet processing unit to which a frame having a specific frame identifier (resulting packet identifier) is transferred once. Packets with identifiers need to be transferred continuously. In such a case, in the near future, a packet having the same packet identifier will be compared to a packet processing unit that has processed a large number of packets with packet identifiers whose packet assembly position information included in the frame is not “final packet”. A large amount of data will be input. Therefore, when a packet is allocated based on only a packet currently being processed as in the load distribution type packet parallel processing device, there is a problem that the load on the packet processing unit is likely to be biased.
[0007]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. By using the packet assembly position information of a processed packet, the prediction of a packet to be input in the near future and the amount of packets currently being processed (queue) Load distribution parallel processing device that determines the distribution destination of a new packet by using together the number of packets contained in the packet processing unit, and enables leveling of the load with higher accuracy for the paralleled packet processing units The purpose is to obtain.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A load balancing parallel processing device according to the present invention includes a frame transfer destination determination unit that receives a multiplexed frame obtained by multiplexing a plurality of packets of different communication information and determines a transfer destination for each frame, and a frame transfer arranged in parallel A plurality of frame processing units that separate and process packets from the frame transferred from the destination determination unit, and a packet processing status management unit that acquires and manages the packet processing status of each frame processing unit, The management unit obtains the identifier of the packet processed by each frame processing unit, the packet assembly position information, and the information on the number of pending packets in the reception queue, and is predicted to receive the packet processed by the frame processing unit from the packet assembly position information. The number of packet identifiers to be calculated, the identifier of the frame processing unit, the number of pending packets in the reception queue, and the calculated reception The predicted number of packet identifiers is stored as packet processing status information, and the frame transfer destination determination unit stores the identifier of the frame processed in the past and the identifier of the frame processing unit of the transfer destination as a frame transfer history. The upper and lower thresholds of the number of received packets held in the queue for each copy are stored in advance as reception queue hold number thresholds, and the frame transfer history is referenced based on the received frame identifier, and the transfer history already exists. For frames, the same frame processing unit as the history is determined as the transfer destination, and for new frames without transfer history, the number of pending packets in the reception queue is set to the lower threshold by using the reception queue hold count threshold and the packet processing status information. Of the frame processing units less than or less than the upper threshold, the frame with the smallest number of packet identifiers expected to be received It is obtained so as to determine the transfer destination over untreated section.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
The load balancing parallel processing apparatus according to the present invention presupposes that one unit of communication information is divided into small packets, a plurality of independent communication information packets are stored in one communication frame, and communication is performed in units of frames. Thus, it is intended for a communication device having a multiprocessor configuration arranged on a communication network of multiplexed frames for multiplexing and transmitting a plurality of different pieces of communication information.
[0010]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a load balancing parallel processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an algorithm for determining a new frame transfer destination of the frame transfer destination determination unit 104.
In FIG. 1, this system includes a frame transfer destination control unit 100, a packet processing status management unit 200, and a plurality of frame processing units 300, 400, 500, 600. The frame processing units 300, 400, 500, and 600 are configured by multiprocessors for performing parallel processing of frames, and each includes packet separation units 301, 401, 501, 601 Processing packet information notification units 303, 403, 503, and 603 are included. The frame transfer destination control unit 100 includes a frame reception unit 101, a frame identification unit 102, a frame transfer destination determination unit 104, a frame transfer unit 106, a transfer destination determination reception queue hold count threshold storage unit 107, and a frame transfer history storage unit 103. Composed. The packet processing status management unit 200 includes a packet processing status storage unit 201 and a packet processing status reception unit 202.
[0011]
In the plurality of frame processing units 300, 400, 500, 600, the packet separation units 301, 401, 501, 601 transfer multiplexed frames including one or more packets according to instructions from the frame transfer destination control unit 100. And means for separating the packet from the frame, extracting the identifier of the separated packet and the packet assembly position information and placing them in the reception queue. The processing packet information notification units 303, 403, 503, and 603 are means for notifying the packet processing status reception unit 202 of the identifiers of the separated packets, the packet assembly position information, and the number of packets in the reception queue together with the identifiers of the frame processing units. is there. Here, the packet assembly position information is information stored in a packet for reassembling a plurality of packets created by dividing one unit of communication information into communication units, and the packet is a “final packet”. Or other information. The packet processing units 302, 402, 502, and 602 are units that perform predetermined application processing on the packets separated by the packet separation units 301, 401, 501, and 601.
[0012]
In the packet processing status management unit 200, the packet processing status receiving unit 202 receives information on processing packets from the processing packet information notification units 303, 403, 503, and 603, that is, packet identifiers, packet assembly position information, and packets in the reception queue. When the number is notified, it is means for receiving and storing the information. The packet processing status storage unit 201 uses the information stored in the packet processing status receiving unit 202 to determine the number of packets in the reception queue of the frame processing units 300, 400, 500, and 600, and the packet assembly position information of the processed packets is “final” This is means for calculating the number of packet identifiers that are not “packets” (this is the number of packet identifiers expected to be received) and storing them as packet processing status information. An example of data of the stored packet processing status information is shown in FIG.
[0013]
In the frame transfer destination control unit 100, the frame receiving unit 101 is a means for receiving an input multiplexed frame. The frame identification unit 102 is a means for extracting a frame identifier from the received frame. The frame transfer history storage unit 103 is means for storing pair information including a frame identifier processed in the past and an identifier of a frame processing unit as a transfer destination as a frame transfer history. An example of data of this frame transfer history is shown in FIG. The forwarding destination determination reception queue hold count threshold storage unit 107 is a means for presetting the upper and lower thresholds of the number of received packets in the queue for each frame processing unit and storing them as reception queue hold count threshold values. . FIG. 5 shows an example of data of the set reception queue hold count threshold.
[0014]
The frame transfer destination determination unit 104 compares the frame transfer history (FIG. 3) in the frame transfer history storage unit 103 with the identifier of the received frame, and ensures the frame (packet) transmission order for frames that already have a transfer history. Therefore, it is a means for determining the frame processing unit of the transfer destination as the same frame processing unit as the history. For a new frame having no transfer history, the frame transfer destination determination unit 104 receives the reception queue hold count threshold value data (FIG. 5) of the transfer destination determination reception queue hold count threshold storage unit 107 and the packet processing status storage unit 201. Based on the packet processing status information (FIG. 4), the destination frame processing unit is determined by the algorithm shown in FIG. Also, when the transfer destination is determined, the frame transfer destination determination unit 104 records the received frame identifier and the identifier of the frame processing unit that performs the transfer in the frame transfer history storage unit 103. The frame transfer unit 106 transfers the received frame to the frame processing unit (any of 300, 400, 500, 600) actually determined by the frame transfer destination determination unit 104.
[0015]
Next, the operation of the load balancing parallel processing apparatus will be described by taking as an example the case where the frame receiving unit 101 receives a new frame having the frame identifier “K”.
Assume that the frame identifier “K” is extracted from the received frame by the frame identification unit 102. The frame transfer destination determination unit 104 first searches the frame transfer history storage unit 103 based on the extracted frame identifier “K”. In this case, since the frame identifier “K” does not exist in the frame transfer history data illustrated in FIG. 3, the frame transfer destination determination unit 104 recognizes this frame as a new frame.
[0016]
Next, the frame transfer destination determination unit 104 uses the frame transfer destination determination algorithm shown in FIG. First, from the packet processing status information shown in FIG. 4, a frame processing unit in which the number of pending packets in the reception queue is less than the lower limit threshold set as the reception queue pending number threshold shown in FIG. 5 is searched (step ST1). . In this case, since there is no frame processing unit less than the lower limit threshold value, it is next searched whether there is a frame processing unit whose number of pending packets in the reception queue is less than the upper limit threshold value shown in FIG. 5 (step ST2). In this case, three frame processing units 300, 500, and 600 are searched. Next, among the three frame processing units 300, 500, and 600, the frame having the smallest “number of packet identifiers expected to be received” is selected from the data in the packet processing status storage unit 201 shown in FIG. Step ST3). Thereby, the frame processing unit 600 is determined as the transfer destination frame processing unit. The determination result is stored by updating the frame transfer history in the frame transfer history storage unit 103.
[0017]
Subsequently, the frame transfer unit 106 transfers the new frame “K” to the frame processing unit 600 based on the determination result of the frame transfer destination determination unit 104. The packet separation unit 601 in the frame processing unit 600 separates the packet from the frame “K”. The processing packet information notification unit 603 notifies the packet processing status reception unit 202 together with the identifier of the packet processing unit 600 together with the identifier of the packet, the packet assembly position information, and the current number of packets in the reception queue for each separated packet. The packet separated by the packet separation unit 601 is processed by the packet processing unit 602 according to the application. On the other hand, the packet processing status reception unit 202 that has received the packet information from the processing packet information notification unit 603 stores the information. The packet processing status storage unit 201 updates the data of the packet processing status information shown in FIG. 4 from the packet information history stored in the packet processing status receiving unit 202. The updated data is used when determining the distribution of the next new packet.
[0018]
If the load distribution parallel processing device of the present invention is not applied and the transfer destination packet processing unit is determined by the above-described conventional device, the transfer destination is determined based on the number of held packets in the reception queue. The frame processing unit 300 having the smallest number of pending packets is the transfer destination. In this case, the frame processing unit 300 is the frame processing unit with the least load at present, but since the number of packet types expected to be received is the largest, it is predicted that this frame processing unit will be overloaded in the near future. . In addition, allocating new frames further increases the possibility of inefficient load distribution.
[0019]
As described above, according to the first embodiment, by using the packet assembly position information stored in the packet, whether the packet with the same packet identifier is input to the packet processing unit in the near future. It is possible to make a decision and combine the packet assembly position information and information such as the amount of packets currently being processed to allocate a new frame to the frame processing unit that is expected to have the lowest load. Thus, the effect of leveling the load on the packet processing unit with higher probability can be obtained.
Note that the frame transfer destination determination unit 104 may further incorporate the number of packet types that will be input in the future into the frame processing unit as a determination criterion. By doing so, a frame processing unit whose processing load is estimated to be low in the future can be determined as a transfer destination of a new frame, and an effect of leveling the load of the packet processing unit with higher probability can be obtained.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a frame transfer destination determination unit that receives a multiplexed frame obtained by multiplexing a plurality of packets of different communication information and determines a transfer destination for each frame, and a frame transfer arranged in parallel A plurality of frame processing units that separate and process packets from the frame transferred from the destination determination unit, and a packet processing status management unit that acquires and manages the packet processing status of each frame processing unit, The management unit obtains the identifier of the packet processed by each frame processing unit, the packet assembly position information, and the information on the number of pending packets in the reception queue, and is predicted to receive the packet processed by the frame processing unit from the packet assembly position information. The number of packet identifiers to be calculated, the identifier of the frame processing unit, the number of pending packets in the reception queue, and the calculated reception prediction The number of packet identifiers to be stored is stored as packet processing status information, and the frame transfer destination determination unit stores the pair information of the identifier of the frame processed in the past and the identifier of the frame processing unit of the transfer destination as a frame transfer history. The upper and lower thresholds of the number of received packets held in the queue for each processing unit are stored in advance as reception queue hold number thresholds, and the frame transfer history is referred to for the identifier of the received frame. For a new frame with no transfer history, the number of held packets in the receive queue is less than the lower threshold using the receive queue hold count threshold and packet processing status information. The smallest number of packet identifiers predicted to be received among the frame processing units less than the upper threshold Since the frame processing unit is determined to be a transfer destination and transferred, a packet having the same packet identifier as that of the previously processed packet is close by using the packet assembly position information stored in the packet. It is possible to determine whether it will be input to the same packet processing unit in the future, and it is expected that the load will be the lowest in combination with this information and information such as the amount of packets currently being processed. It is possible to distribute new frames to the frame processing units to be leveled, and it is possible to equalize the load of the packet processing unit with higher probability.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a load balancing parallel processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a determination algorithm of a frame transfer destination determination unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of frame transfer history storage data according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of stored data of packet processing status information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of setting data for a reception queue hold count threshold according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional load distribution type packet parallel processing device.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional packet processor.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 frame transfer destination control unit, 101 frame reception unit, 102 frame identification unit, 103 frame transfer history storage unit, 104 frame transfer destination determination unit, 106 frame transfer unit, 107 transfer destination determination reception queue hold count threshold storage unit, 200 Packet processing status management unit, 201 Packet processing status storage unit, 202 Packet processing status receiving unit, 300, 400, 500, 600 Multiple frame processing units, 301, 401, 501, 601 Packet separating unit, 302, 402, 502, 602 Packet processing unit, 303, 403, 503, 603 Processing packet information notification unit.

Claims (2)

A frame transfer destination determination unit that receives a multiplexed frame obtained by multiplexing a plurality of packets of different communication information and determines a transfer destination for each frame, and a packet from a frame that is arranged in parallel and transferred from the frame transfer destination determination unit A plurality of frame processing units for separately processing, and a packet processing status management unit for obtaining and managing the packet processing status of each frame processing unit,
The packet processing status management unit obtains an identifier of the packet processed by each frame processing unit, packet assembly position information, and information on the number of pending packets in the reception queue, and processes the packet processed by the frame processing unit from the packet assembly position information. Calculating the number of packet identifiers predicted to be received, storing the identifier of the frame processing unit, the number of pending packets in the reception queue, and the calculated number of packet identifiers predicted to be received as packet processing status information,
The frame transfer destination determination unit stores the identifier of the frame processed in the past and the identifier of the frame processor of the transfer destination as a frame transfer history, and sets the upper limit and lower limit of the number of holds in the queue of received packets for each frame processor. The threshold is stored in advance as a reception queue hold count threshold, the frame transfer history is referred to based on the received frame identifier, and the same frame processing unit as the history is determined as the transfer destination for frames that already have a transfer history. In addition, for a new frame having no transfer history, reception is predicted among frame processing units in which the number of pending packets in the reception queue is less than the lower threshold or less than the upper threshold using the reception queue hold threshold and the packet processing status information. A load balancing parallel processing apparatus that determines a frame processing unit having the smallest number of packet identifiers as a transfer destination. The frame transfer destination control unit determines the frame processing unit whose processing load is estimated to be low in the future as the transfer destination of the new frame by incorporating the number of packet types that will be input to the frame processing unit in the future into the criterion. The load balancing parallel processing device according to claim 1.

Images