JPH0695990A - Method for testing network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the necessity of being conscious of terminal addresses and to improve the efficiency of a test by changing a terminal address if joining with a ring is impossible and executing operation for joining with the ring again until a terminal can join with the ring. CONSTITUTION:When joining with the ring abnormally ends due to the generation of an address overlap error or the like, a ring joining flag 480 is turned on. After executing a ring joining instruction, a ring joining part 412 checks the flag 480. When the flag 480 is turned on, the ring joining part 412 recognizes the failure of ring joining and turns off the flag 480. Then, whether ring joining succeeds or not, is judged, and in the case of success, a master terminal or a slave terminal is judged. When the joining fails, ring joining processing is executed again. Another terminal address is set up in a terminal address storing table 430 and the ring joining instruction is executed again. The operation is repeated until the terminal can join with the ring.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a test technique for a network system, and more particularly to a technique effectively applied to a counter load test between terminals in the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, when a terminal is connected to a network for system diagnosis as a conventional network system test method, a tester starts a terminal connected to the network and is managed by the tester. There is a technology for diagnosing the system by making a terminal join a ring with the address of the terminal and consciously communicating with the main terminal and the sub terminals.

[0003]

However, in the prior art as described above, no consideration was given to the test in which the tester communicates without being aware of the address of the terminal, the main terminal and the slave terminal.

Therefore, in the test of the small-scale network system, the number of connected terminals is small, and the information of the main terminal, the slave terminal address, etc. managed by the tester is also small, which is not a problem, but it is large-scale. In the network system test, the number of connected terminals, the information managed by the tester, and the number of operations when starting up the terminal increased,
As a result, input errors, duplicate address errors, etc. occurred, and there was a drawback that a lot of man-hours were spent before starting the terminal and starting the test.

Therefore, there is a problem that the network system cannot be efficiently tested.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a test method for a network system which enables a communication test between terminals without requiring a complicated joining procedure by an operator.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0008]

Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, a brief description will be given to the outline of typical ones.
It is as follows.

That is, in a network system configured by connecting a plurality of terminals to a transmission line on a ring,
When a terminal joins with an arbitrary address, if the terminal cannot join the ring, the first means for changing the address of the terminal and repeating the operation of joining the ring again until joining the ring, and the address of the terminal Is the main terminal, if it can join the ring at the determined address, the second means for giving the function of the main terminal, and if it is any other address, the function as the slave terminal, and when it becomes the main terminal, it joins the ring. A third means for registering the address of the terminal, a fourth means for recognizing whether the terminal is a new terminal or a conventional terminal when the terminal becomes the main terminal, and a case where the terminal becomes the new terminal when the terminal becomes the main terminal Is a fifth means for returning the address information from the own terminal, a sixth means for transmitting the own address to the main terminal at the time of joining the ring when the slave terminal is registered, and registering the address information of the slave terminal held by the main terminal, and the slave terminal. When The recording and the address information is obtained by a seventh means for communicating with another terminal.

[0010]

According to the above-described network system test method of the present invention, the terminal joins the ring at an arbitrary address, and if an address duplication error or the like occurs and the terminal cannot join the ring, the address of the terminal is changed. By performing the operation of joining the ring again until the ring can be joined, it becomes unnecessary to consider the address of the terminal.

Further, since the main terminal and the slave terminal are automatically distinguished by the address when the terminal joins the ring,
The tester does not have to be aware of the primary terminal and the secondary terminal.

Further, the address information of the terminal can be exchanged between the main terminal and the slave terminal, and the communication between the terminals can be performed based on the address information.

As a result, the tester can perform the joining procedure and the test of the terminal without complicated operations such as key operation, so that the test efficiency can be improved.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the processing of a test method of a network system, FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the network system, and FIG. 3 is a concept showing an example of the software configuration in the terminal. Figure, Figure 4,
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of transmission data from a slave terminal to a main terminal when registering a new terminal, and FIG. 5 is a concept showing an example of contents of an address registration table before registering the new terminal in the address registration table. FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the address registration table after the new terminal is newly registered in the address registration table, and FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the transfer from the main terminal to the slave terminal when the new terminal is newly registered. It is a conceptual diagram which showed an example of transmission data.

First, the system configuration of the network system of this embodiment is as shown in FIG.
0 and slave terminals 300, 310, ..., 3n0, which are connected to each other via a ring-shaped LAN cable 200.

Further, a LAN adapter (not shown) for controlling a communication protocol is provided between each terminal and the LAN cable 200.

Next, the software configuration in the terminal of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Each terminal includes a terminal control unit 410 that controls the entire terminal and sub terminals 300, 310, ...
.., 3n0 address registration table 420, terminal address storage table 430 for registering the address of the terminal itself, and communication table for storing address information in the ring received from the main terminal 100. 440 and the token reception request flag 4 which is controlled when the terminal address information and the communication test data are transferred.
50, an address information request flag 460 that controls when requesting terminal address information in the LAN to the main terminal 100 at the time of ring joining, a test execution instruction flag 470 that issues a test execution instruction, and the terminal normally rings. A ring joining flag 480 indicating whether the terminal can be joined and a terminal operation instruction flag 490 indicating whether the terminal operates as a main terminal or a slave terminal.

The terminal control unit 410 also has a terminal monitor unit 411 for monitoring and controlling the inside of the terminal control unit 410, a ring joining unit 412 for joining the terminal to a ring, and a test when the terminal operates as the main terminal 100. Main terminal monitor unit 413 that monitors and controls the main terminal, and main terminal test execution unit 414 that performs a test according to an instruction from main terminal monitor unit 413.
And sub-terminals 300, 310, ..., 3n0 in the ring
, And a sub-terminal monitor unit 416 that monitors and controls a test when the terminal operates as the sub-terminals 300, 310, ..., 3n0.
The slave terminal test execution unit 417 performs a test according to an instruction from the slave terminal monitor unit 416, and the slave terminal address information control unit 418 controls the address information request flag 460 and stores the address information.

Next, the format of data transmitted and received between the main terminal and the slave terminals (hereinafter referred to as frame 500) is as shown in FIG. 4, and the inside of frame 500 is a ring of a network system called a token. It is divided into a control section that circulates inside and a data section. Further, in the data part, a destination ID 501 indicating a destination and a source I indicating a source I
There is a D502 and an information section 503, and the information section 503 is composed of an address registration table 504 and the like.

Further, the address registration table 503 is a table in which the addresses of slave terminals that have joined the ring are registered as shown in FIG. 5, and the communication table in the slave terminal is also a slave terminal. The address of is held.

Further, the various flags will be described.
The ring joining flag 480 is turned off when the terminal succeeds in ring joining in the network system, and is turned on when the terminal ends in failure.

The terminal operation instruction flag 490 is turned on when the terminal joins the ring at the predetermined address of the main terminal and operates as the main terminal, otherwise it is turned off and operates as the slave terminal. Indicates that

Further, the token reception request flag 450 is
The main terminal turns on when it receives a token from a new slave terminal, and turns off when transmitting the frame 500.

The slave terminal is turned on when it joins the ring in the network system.

Next, the address information request flag 460
It is turned on when the terminal joins the ring of the network system as the slave terminal, and turned off when the slave terminal acquires the address registration table from the master terminal.

The test execution instruction flag 470 is
The slave terminal communicates the address information from the main terminal with the communication table 44.
ON when stored in 0, that is, when communication becomes possible
Becomes

Next, an example of the operation of the test method for the network system of this embodiment will be described with reference to the operation flow of FIG.

First, in step 101, the tester
Start the test program in the terminal. Next, the terminal monitor unit 411 in the terminal control unit 410 passes control to the ring joining unit 412 in order to join the terminal to the ring (LAN cable 200). Then, the ring joining unit 412
Sets the address of an arbitrary terminal in the terminal address storage table 430.

Then, in step 102, a ring joining instruction is given to a LAN adapter (not shown). LA
The N adapter turns off the ring join flag 480 when the ring join ends normally, and the ring join flag 4 when the ring join ends abnormally due to an address duplication error or the like.
Turn on 80. The ring joining unit 412 checks the ring joining flag 480 after issuing the ring joining instruction. If the ring joining flag 480 is ON, the ring joining unit 412 recognizes that the ring joining has failed, and turns off the ring joining flag 480.

Next, in step 103, it is judged whether or not the ring joining is successful, and if it is successful, step 1
In step 05, it is discriminated whether the terminal is a main terminal or a slave terminal, and if it fails, the ring joining process in step 104 is executed again.

Then, in step 104, another terminal address is set in the terminal address storage table 430, and the ring joining instruction of step 102 is issued again. This operation is repeated until the terminal can join the ring. Ring joining unit 412
Recognizes that ring joining has succeeded if the ring joining flag 480 is OFF after executing ring joining.

In step 105, the ring joining unit 412
Compares the content of the terminal address storage table 430 after joining the ring with a predetermined main terminal address,
If they are equal, the terminal operation instruction flag 490 is turned on, and if they are not equal, the terminal operation instruction flag 490 is turned off and control is returned to the terminal monitor unit 411. If the terminal operation instruction flag 490 is ON, the terminal monitor unit 411 determines that the terminal is the main terminal 1.
Control is passed to the main terminal monitor unit 413 to operate as the slave terminal 00, and if the terminal operation instruction flag 490 is OFF, control is given to the slave terminal monitor unit 416 to operate the terminal as the slave terminals 300, 310, ..., 3n0. hand over.

Hereinafter, the terminals are the primary terminal 100 and the secondary terminal 30.
0,310, ..., 3n0 are decided to join the ring, and the corresponding addresses are A100, A3.
00, A310, ..., A3n0.

Incidentally, from step 106 to step 108
Shows the operation of the slave terminal, and steps 109 to 115 show the operation of the main terminal.

First, in step 106, the slave terminal 30
0n 310, ..., 3n0 receive the token circulating in the ring, and when control is passed from the terminal monitor unit 411 to the slave terminal monitor unit 416, the slave terminal monitor unit 416 causes the slave terminal address information control unit. Pass control to 418.

Next, in step 107, the slave terminal address information control unit 418 sets the destination ID 501 and the source ID 502 in the frame, and then the address information request flag 46.
0 is turned ON, the token reception request flag 450 is turned ON, and control is returned to the slave terminal monitor unit 416. For example, in the case of the slave terminal 300, since the terminal address is A300, the destination ID 501 is A100, which is predetermined, and the source ID 502 is A300. Hereinafter, the slave terminal 300 will be described as an example.

Next, in step 108, when the sub-terminal monitor section 416 confirms that the token reception request flag 450 is ON, the destination ID 501 (A10 of the main terminal).
0) and the frame information in which the sender ID 502 (A300) is set is placed on the token and sent to the main terminal 100.
That is, the transmitted frame 500 has the contents of data as shown in FIG. 4, and is set like a destination ID 501 (A100) and a source ID 502 (A300). At this point, the areas of the information section 503 and the address registration table 504 have not been set.

Further, in step 109, the main terminal 100
When receiving the token, the main terminal monitor unit 413 of the main terminal ring state management unit 415 extracts the frame and controls the frame.
Pass to.

Therefore, in step 110, the main terminal ring state management unit 415 determines that the source ID 5 in the frame 500 is
02 (A300) is taken out and compared with the contents of the address registration table 420 shown in FIG.

Then, in step 111, it is determined whether or not there is an address matching the sender ID 502 (A300) among the addresses in the address registration table 420 of the main terminal. If they do not match, the process is distributed to the registration process of step 113, and if they do match, the process is distributed to the communication test process of step 112. In this case, the sender ID 50 is stored in the address registration table 420 before registration in FIG.
Since there is no 2 (A300), the address registration process of step 113 is performed.

Further, in step 112, if the received address of the slave terminal is in the address registration table 420 of the main terminal, the communication test is possible thereafter. In the present embodiment, the state of the address registration table 420 before registration in FIG. 5 is set, and thus the communication test is not possible.

Next, step 113 to step 115
Until the operation of the main terminal is shown, the sender ID 502 (A300) is registered in the address registration table 420 of the main terminal, and the frame information in which the information of the address registration table 420a shown in FIG. 6 is set is transmitted to the slave terminal. State.

First, in step 113, the sender ID 5
02 (A300) is added to the address registration table 420. The added address registration table 420a
The data information of the above is shown in FIG.

Then, in step 114, as shown in FIG. 7, the source ID 802 of the frame 800 is set to the address (A100) of the main terminal, and the destination ID 801 is set to
The address (A300) of the slave terminal, which is the last data in the address registration table 700, is set.
In 03, after setting the information of the address registration table 700, the token reception request flag 450 is turned ON, and the control is passed to the main terminal monitor unit 413.

Then, in step 115, when the main terminal monitor 413 confirms that the token reception request flag 450 is ON, it receives the token, and the frame 800
Token addition request flag 450 after adding the data of
Is turned off and the data is sent to the sub terminals 310, 320, ..., 3n0. In this example, it is sent to the slave terminal 300.

Next, steps 116 to 118 are operations from receiving address information of the slave terminal from the main terminal, storing it in the communication table of the slave terminal, and starting the communication test.

First, in step 116, the slave terminal 30
When 0, 310, ..., 3n0 receives the token,
Control is passed from the slave terminal monitor unit 416 to the slave terminal address information control unit 418.

Then, in step 117, the slave terminal address information control unit 418 causes the address information request flag 460.
When it is confirmed that is ON, the address information is fetched from the information section in the frame and the address information request flag 46
After 0 is turned off, the address information is sequentially stored in the communication table 440. After storing, the slave terminal address information control unit 418 turns on the test execution instruction flag 470 and passes control to the slave terminal monitor unit 416.

Next, at step 118, when the test execution instruction flag 470 is turned on, the slave terminal monitor unit 416 transfers control to the slave terminal test execution unit 417, and then the slave terminals registered in the communication table 440. 300, 31
Perform communication test with 0, ..., 3n0.

Finally, in step 119, when the communication test is completed, the processing is terminated, and in other cases, the communication test is continued.

As described above, according to the test method of the network system of this embodiment, the tester does not have to perform a complicated key input operation for joining the terminal, and the like.
It is possible to improve the test efficiency because the terminal joining procedure and the subsequent test between terminals can be performed.

The invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described above based on the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

[0053]

The effects obtained by the typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.
It is as follows.

That is, according to the test method of the network system of the present invention, only by activating the terminal, the tester can perform the procedure for joining the terminal to the ring in the network system without being aware of the address of the terminal. At the same time, each terminal can automatically recognize the distinction between the main terminal and the sub-terminal and perform the inter-terminal communication.

As a result, the tester can carry out the test without any complicated operation without paying attention to the address of the terminal, the main terminal and the slave terminal, and can efficiently carry out the test work of the network system. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an operation flow in a test of a network system which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of a network system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a software configuration in a terminal of the network system which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of frame information (sending data) from a slave terminal to a main terminal in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a transmission source I of a slave terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the address registration table before registering D.

FIG. 6 is a transmission source I of a slave terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the address registration table after registering D.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of frame information (transmitted data) from a main terminal to a sub terminal in an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 main terminal 200 LAN cable 300 slave terminal 310 slave terminal 3n0 slave terminal 410 terminal control unit 411 terminal monitor unit 412 ring joining unit 413 main terminal monitor unit 414 main terminal test execution unit 415 main terminal ring state management unit 416 slave terminal monitor unit 417 Slave terminal test execution section 418 Slave terminal address information control section 420 Address registration table 420a Address registration table 430 Terminal address storage table 440 Communication table 450 Token reception request flag 460 Address information request flag 470 Test execution instruction flag 480 Ring joining flag 490 terminal Operation instruction flag 500 frame 501 destination ID 502 sender ID 800 frame 801 destination ID 802 sender ID 803 information section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Katsu Tashiro 1 Horiyamashita, Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture Hiritsu Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Kanagawa Plant

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A test method for a network system in which a plurality of terminals are connected to a transmission path on a ring to perform communication between the terminals joined to the ring, wherein When attempting to join the terminal, if the terminal cannot join the ring, the first means for changing the address of the terminal and joining the ring again until joining the ring, and the address of the terminal as the main terminal Second means for giving the function of the main terminal if it can join the ring at the determined address, and the function of the slave terminal for other addresses, and the address of the terminal that has joined the ring when it becomes the main terminal And a fourth means for recognizing whether it is a new terminal or a conventional terminal when becoming a main terminal, and a new terminal when becoming a main terminal. In the case of the end, fifth means for returning the address information from the own terminal, and sixth means for transmitting the own address to the main terminal and registering the address information of the slave terminal possessed by the main terminal when the slave terminal is a ring subscriber. A test method for a network system, comprising: a seventh means for communicating with another terminal according to the address information registered when the slave terminal.