JPH07154391A - System switching system for switch control part - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the reliability of switching by guaranteeing operations after the switching of a switch control part under on-line by switching the switch control part based on the fault detection of the switch control part depending on the dispatch confirmation of test data. CONSTITUTION:When the fault of an active system switch control part 20 is detected, a test data generation/verify control part inside a line interface control part 30 reports the fault of the control part 20 through an interface 100 to a common control part 10. The control part 10 instructs the use of output interfaces 300-3 and 300-4 from an auxiliary system switch control part 21 composed of the next data to the switching control parts of control parts 30 and 31. Thus, input selection information A and B at the control filed of a data format is made invalid. On the other hand, when the fault of the control part 21 is detected, the input selection information A and B is made invalid by the similar operation as well.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) switch or frame switch redundancy switching system.

Generally, in a data exchange system, duplication may be performed as a means for maintaining reliability. In this case, the duplicated switch control units both perform exactly the same operation, one outputs the data transmitted as the active system, and the other is the standby system, so its output is not used.
However, if a malfunction occurs in the active system, the standby system can be switched to the standby system at any time because the standby system operates in the same manner as the active system.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 shows a conventional example. This is JP-A-4-
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 86043, the switch control unit is provided with a switch having a buffer for the active system and a buffer for the standby system to form a redundant configuration. Regarding the switching means, first, the switching information insertion unit writes the switching information from the higher-order control unit, and the monitoring control unit 3 monitors the appearance of the switching control dedicated cell in which the switching information is written. When the cell including the switching information is received, the branch circuit 4 is controlled to switch from the active system switch 5 to the standby system switch 6. As a result, the switching control cell is stored at the end of the buffer 51 in the active system switch 5, and the cell immediately following the switching control cell is stored in the buffer 61 of the standby system switch 6. The supervisory control unit 7 switches to the selection of the output signal s8 from the standby system switch 6 when the switching control cell is received while the output signal s7 from the active system switch 5 is being selected.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The conventional ATM described above.
In the switch redundancy switching method, when a malfunction occurs in the active system switch, the system is switched to the standby system. However, the supervisory control unit 3 and the selection circuit 8 expect normal output of the switching control cell from the active system switch. There is. Therefore, when the switching control cell is not normally output, there is a problem that the active system cannot be switched to the standby system. In addition, a large number of hard core units such as a higher-order control unit, a switching information insertion unit, a branch circuit, a selection circuit, and a monitoring control unit are required to perform switching, which is a problem in that it becomes an obstacle to improving reliability.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the switch control system switching system of the present invention uses means for generating test data for the switch control unit at every certain cycle and confirmation of delivery of the test data. Means for detecting a malfunction of the switch control unit, and means for switching the redundant switch control unit based on the malfunction detection.

Further, the means for inputting the transmission data from the line interface control unit to the switch control units of both the active system and the standby system, and the reception data at the line interface control unit by the switching control from the common control unit A means for selecting from either one of the switch control units of the outputs from the standby system is provided.

[0007]

According to the above means, the operation after the switching of the switch controller which is online can be guaranteed. Further, by making the switch control units of the active system and the standby system completely independent and suppressing the hard core unit required for the switching control as much as possible, the reliability at the time of switching can be improved.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a 2 × 2 switching device that accommodates various interfaces and exchanges data between them. A common control unit 10 that controls the entire control, an active system switch control unit 20 that performs switching, and a standby system switch control unit 2 are shown.
1 and line interface control units 30 and 31 for accommodating various media interfaces.

As interfaces in this apparatus, the common control unit 10 and the active and standby system switch control units 20 and 21 are used.
In addition, the interface 100 with the line interface control units 30 and 31, the active system switch control unit 20, the standby system switch control unit 21, and the line interface control unit 3
Input interface 200-1, 200- with 0, 31-
2, output interfaces 300-1, 300-2, 30
0-3 and 300-4, interfaces 400-1 between various media and the line interface control units 30 and 31,
400-2, 400-3, 400-4. FIG. 2 shows a format of data passing between the line interface control units, and control information is added to the beginning and end of the data. The top control information is data identification information indicating whether it is test data or normal data, the destination line interface control unit NO, and the data following the control information when received by the line interface control unit. There is input selection information A that indicates from which of the switch control units the output data should be adopted. The control information at the end includes the transmission source line interface control unit NO, and the input selection information B indicating whether the output data from the working system control unit or the protection system switch control unit should be used for the data arriving next.

As an example, the line interface controller 30
In step 1, the test data generation / verification control unit generates test data for the active system or standby system switch control units 20 and 21 at a constant cycle while monitoring the traffic of the media I / F control unit. The format of this test data is such that, when the active switch control unit 20 is tested, the active system is used as the input selection information A, the destination line interface control unit 31 is 31, the test information is used as the data identification information, and the source line interface is used. Control unit NO
To 30 and the input selection information B to the active system. When the test of the standby system switch controller 21 is performed, the standby system is set in the input selection information A, and the other settings are set in the same manner as the test of the active system.

This data is sent to the switch transmitter and sent to the active and standby switch controllers 20 and 21 via the interface 200-1. On the other hand, the active system and standby system switch control units 20 and 21 perform switching control according to the destination line interface control unit NO, and transmit data to the line interface control unit 31 via the interfaces 300-2 and 300-4. To do.

In the line interface control unit 31 which receives this data, the switch reception unit notifies the switching control unit of the input selection information A and B and the data identification information in the test data, and it is necessary to perform the switching. The switching control unit controls and switches the switch receiving unit. If the data identification information is test data, the media I / F
The data is sent to the test data generation / verification control unit without sending the data to the control unit. The test data generation / verification control unit sends back the data arriving at a different cycle to the transmission source line interface control unit 30 while monitoring the traffic of the media I / F control unit. The test data format at this time is the destination line interface control unit NO and the transmission source line interface control unit N.
Only O can be rewritten, and others cannot be rewritten. The data to be returned is the switch transmission unit, the interface 200-2, the active and standby system switch control units 20 and 21, and the interface 300-, as described above.
Line interface controller 3 via 1,300-3
Returned to 0. When the test data is returned to the line interface control unit 30, the data is sent to the test data generation / verification control unit in the same procedure as described above. The test data generation / verification control unit compares the data fields of the sent test data and the returned test data and confirms the normality of the active and standby switch control units 20 and 21.

The operation confirmation of the active system and standby system switch control units based on the test data described above is performed from all the line interface control units in a constant cycle.

Next, a description will be given of switching when a malfunction is detected in this test.

When a malfunction of the active system switch control unit 20 is detected, the test data generation / verification control unit is the common control unit 1
0 is notified via the interface 100 of the malfunction of the active switch control unit. Upon receiving this, the common control unit 10
From the next data to the switching control units of the line interface control units 30 and 31 via the interface 100, the output interface 300 from the standby system switch control unit 21
Instruct to use 3,300-4. Upon receiving this instruction, the switching control unit makes a setting to use only the standby system. This instruction invalidates the input selection information A and B in the data format.

When the malfunction of the standby system switch control unit 21 is detected, the test data generation / verification control unit similarly notifies the common control unit 10 of the malfunction of the standby system switch control unit via the interface 100. Upon receiving this, the common control unit 10 causes the switching control units of the line interface control units 30 and 31 to output the output interfaces 300-3 and 300-4 from the standby system switch control unit 21 from the next data via the interface 100. Give instructions not to use.
Upon receiving this instruction, the switching control unit makes settings so that the standby system is not used. This instruction invalidates the input selection information A and B in the data format.

As described above, the malfunction of the switch control section is detected and switching is performed. Although the present embodiment describes only 2 × 2 switching, the same control is possible for nXn.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to test the active system and standby system switch control units while online, and it is possible to easily isolate a malfunctioning part and to ensure reliable operation even after switching due to a malfunction. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a switching device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a format of data flowing between line interface control units in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Common control part, 20 ... Working system switch control part, 21 ... Standby system switch control part, 30 ... Line interface control part, 31 ... Line interface control part, 100 ... Interface between common control part and other control parts, 200 ... Switch control unit input interface, 300 ... Switch control unit output interface, 400 ... Media interface.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of line interface control units having a buffer for accommodating various media interfaces and temporarily storing input / output data, and a duplex switch for controlling data exchange between the line interface control units. In a data exchange system consisting of a control unit and a common control unit that controls the entire control, a unit for generating test data for the switch control unit at a certain cycle, and a malfunction of the switch control unit is detected by confirming delivery of the test data And a means for switching the duplexed switch control unit based on detection of a malfunction, a system switching system for the switch control unit. 2. A means for inputting the transmission data from the line interface control unit to the switch control units of both the active system and the standby system, and the reception data at the line interface control unit by the switching control from the common control unit. 2. The system switching system of the switch control unit according to claim 1, further comprising means for selecting from one of the switch control units of the outputs from the standby system. 3. A means for additionally inserting control information into the transmission data from the line interface control unit, and a switching control from the common control unit according to claim 2 in the receiving side line interface control unit, in the transmission data. Based on the control information, it is equipped with a means to select either the output from the active system or the standby system switch control unit, and it is possible to test not only the active system in the switch control unit but also the standby system while online. The system switching system of the switch controller according to claim 1.