JPH0818595A - Hub configuration recognition method and hub configuration recognition system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily recognize the actual network configuration accurately by deleting its own address preserved in a check packet and sending the check packet to other optional hub having the preserved address. CONSTITUTION:A hub Hc receiving a check packet SUP deletes its own address C to send the check packet SUP to a succeeding hub Hd. The similar operation is repeated and each address in data DT of the check packet SUP is deleted and only when a sender address 'HA' is in existence, the check packet SUP is sent to a network management equipment M. Then the management equipment M receiving the check packet SUP by a check packet transmission reception section 23 discriminates it that the check by the hub configuration recognition is finished. A hub configuration recognition section 25 recognize the connection state of a hub based on the port information of the configuration packet sent from the hub received by the configuration packet reception section 24 and the address information of the hub.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hub configuration recognizing method and a hub configuration recognizing system in a network using a hub (concentrator) for connecting a communication device such as a LAN.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the progress of personal computers and workstations, communication systems such as LAN for high-speed communication between computers have become widespread. Some of these communication methods require not only a communication board installed in a computer but also a communication control device that controls communication between these communication boards. For example,
The 10BASE-T system requires a concentrator called a hub in addition to the communication board.

An example of a LAN system using a hub is shown in FIG.
It is shown in FIG. In the configuration of FIG. 12, the communication board is installed in the terminal T. The communication control device between these terminals T is the hub H, and all twisted pair lines TP from the terminal T are concentrated on the hub H.

However, once a communication device such as a LAN is installed, the number of connected terminals T tends to increase. As the number of terminals T increases, the number of devices such as the hub H inevitably increases. In terms of communication, it is meaningless if they are not connected to each other. Therefore, it is necessary to connect the hubs H to each other.
Here, if it is attempted to recognize the connection state of each hub H connected to a plurality of units, communication is performed between the network management device M connected to the 10BASE-5 cable B as a trunk line and each hub H to perform management information. It is necessary to recognize the connection state of each hub H by exchanging the above.

With the spread of network devices, the need for network management functions is increasing. In particular, recently, as a network management function, one using a graphic interface on the network management apparatus M side has become widespread. Such a network management device M
When managing the network, a function of drawing a network configuration diagram on the screen of the network management apparatus M is required.

As a method of drawing a network configuration diagram,
There are two ways. One is a method in which an administrator inputs network connection information, and the other is a method in which the network management device M collects connection information of each hub T by itself. However, the former method has a drawback in that the administrator is burdened with it, and if the input is incorrect, the configuration of the actual network may be different, and the latter method requires the network from each hub T side. A means for teaching information to the management device M side is required.

In LAN-to-LAN connecting devices such as bridges and routers, it is possible to exchange information about the connection state between devices by using a dedicated packet. However, for example, 10BASE-T
In a network composed of repeater devices such as hubs, packets for information exchange from hubs are transmitted to the entire network, so from the viewpoint of packet transmission, there is no adjacent hub. .

[0008]

In such conventional network management, the hub H and the network management device M have a one-to-one correspondence with each other, so that the network management device M establishes a network. Only the bus type configuration can be recognized, and when the network is configured in the tree type, there is a problem that the management is far from the actual one. For this reason, when a failure occurs in the tree-structured network, it is difficult and time-consuming to find the failure location, and there is a problem that the response to the failure is delayed. Further, when the hub H is added later, even if the number of connection stages is increased beyond the limit, it is not possible to recognize that the limit is exceeded.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a hub structure recognition method and a hub structure that can accurately and easily recognize an actual network structure. To provide a recognition system.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hub configuration recognition method, wherein a plurality of hubs each having a repeater unit are connected to each other, and the plurality of hubs and a network management device for managing the hubs. In a network to which a network management device is connected, a method for recognizing a hub configuration by capturing information from each hub by the network management device, wherein the network management device is configured to recognize each of the plurality of hubs. An inquiry packet for taking in an address and investigating other hubs connected to a port of the hub is generated, and the taken-in hub address is retained as data in the inquiry packet, and the retained address is stored. Any hub connected to its own port sends a probe packet to any hub it has, and the hub that receives the probe packet By sending an address request packet for requesting an address to the hub and receiving a reply packet containing the address, it recognizes the connection relation for each port of all hubs connected to its own port, and manages the network. The device sends the recognized connection relation for each port to the device, deletes its own address held in the check packet, and sends a check packet to any other hub having the held address. Is characterized in that

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hub configuration recognition system in which a plurality of hubs each having a repeater unit are connected to each other, and a plurality of hubs and a network management device for managing the hubs are connected to each other. A hub configuration recognition system for recognizing the configuration of a hub by fetching information from each of the hubs by the network management apparatus. The network management apparatus allows the hub to start a survey for network management. A survey start packet transmitting unit for notifying the address, an address packet receiving unit for receiving an address packet from the hub, and a survey packet for surveying, which holds the address of the hub as data, are generated to the hub having the held address. Configuration for sending a survey packet sending part to the server and notifying the survey result from the hub A configuration packet reception unit for receiving a packet, comprising a recognizing hub configuration recognition unit a hub configuration based on the contents of the configuration packet, the each hub,
A survey start packet receiving unit that receives the survey start packet, a self-address packet reply unit that returns the self address to the network management device when the survey start packet is received, and a survey packet that receives the survey packet A receiving unit, an address request packet transmitting unit that makes an address request to a hub connected to each port of its own when receiving a survey packet, and a reply notifying an address from the hub connected to each port of its own A reply packet receiving unit that receives a packet, a configuration storage unit that stores the address of a hub connected to each port of the self from the contents of the reply packet, and a configuration that sends the contents of the configuration storage unit to a network management device A packet transmitter,
When the investigation of the address of the hub connected to each port of its own is completed, an inquiry packet transmitter that sends an inquiry packet in which the own address is deleted from the held address data to any hub having the address, It is characterized by comprising a self-address storage section for storing its own address and a transmission port control section for controlling the transmission port of the repeater section.

[0012]

In the hub configuration recognizing method and the hub configuration recognizing system according to claims 1 and 2, in the network management device, each address of the plurality of hubs is fetched and connected to the hub port. An inquiry packet for investigating other hubs is generated, and the inquiry packet is made to hold the address of the fetched hub as data, and the inquiry packet is sent to any hub having the held address. The hub that received the check packet sends out an address request packet for requesting an address to all hubs connected to its own port,
By receiving the reply packet containing the address, it recognizes the connection relationship for each port of all hubs connected to its own port, and sends a configuration packet indicating the recognized connection relationship for each port to the network management device. At the same time as transmitting, the own address held in the probe packet is deleted, and the probe packet is sent to any other hub having the held address. Then, the hub that receives this investigation packet performs the same operations as those of the hub, and these operations are performed until the addresses of the hubs held in the investigation packet are exhausted, and the network management device sends them from each hub. The configuration of the hub can be recognized from the content of the configuration packet.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a hub according to an embodiment of the present invention. A repeater unit 1 transfers data, which is an original function of the hub, and has ports P1 to Pn and a cascade port CP. An investigation start packet receiving unit 2 receives an investigation start packet transmitted from the network management device, as will be described later. Reference numeral 3 denotes an address packet return unit, which returns the own address stored in the self-address storage unit 4 to the network management device when the investigation start packet receiving unit 2 receives the investigation start packet. An investigation packet receiver 5 receives an investigation packet transmitted from the network management device or another hub. Reference numeral 6 denotes an address request packet transmitter, which generates and transmits an address request packet requesting an address to a hub connected to its port when the inquiry packet receiver 5 receives the inquiry packet. . Reference numeral 7 denotes a reply packet receiving unit, which receives a reply packet returned from the hub which has received the address request packet. Reference numeral 8 denotes a configuration storage unit that stores the connection state of which port is connected to which hub, based on the contents of the reply packet returned from each hub connected to its own port. A configuration packet transmitter 9 transmits a configuration packet, which is stored in the configuration storage 8 and indicates a connection state, to the network management apparatus. Reference numeral 10 denotes an investigation packet transmitter, which deletes its own address from the addresses of the hubs held in the investigation packet when the constituent packet is transmitted from the constituent packet transmitter 9 and then sends the hub of the next address. A survey packet is transmitted to the. Reference numeral 11 denotes a transmission port control unit, which controls the transmission port of the packet transmitted from the repeater unit 1. An address request packet receiving unit 12 sends a signal to the address packet replying unit 3 to return its own address when receiving the address request packet transmitted from the hub which received the check packet.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining each port of the hub. The hub includes ports P1 to Pn as 10BASE-T ports, cascade ports CP and AUs.
An I port AP is provided. Cascade ports CP of other hubs, terminals, etc. are connected to the ports P1 to Pn by twisted pair lines. AUI port AP is 10
It is used when connecting to a trunk line such as a BASE-5 cable.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a network management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 21 is for generating and transmitting a survey start packet for notifying the hub of the start of the survey for recognizing the configuration of the hub. An address packet receiving unit 22 receives an address packet for notifying the address of the hub sent back from the hub that received the investigation start packet. Reference numeral 23 is a survey packet transmitter / receiver which, when receiving the address of each hub connected to the network, transmits a survey packet for surveying the hub configuration and receives a survey packet transmitted to itself. , Acknowledge that the investigation has been completed. Reference numeral 24 denotes a configuration packet receiving unit, which receives a configuration packet having information indicating the relationship between the connection port and the address of the hub connected to its own port examined by each hub that received the examination packet. Reference numeral 25 denotes a hub configuration recognition unit, which recognizes the connection state from the configuration packet received from each hub. Two
A display unit 6 graphically displays the configuration of the hub recognized by the hub configuration recognition unit 25.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. Now, consider a network as shown in FIG. In other words, the main line (10BASE-5 cable) K1 to the AUI cable K
Two hubs Hd and Hg are connected via 2, hubs Hb and Hc are connected to hub Hd via 10BASE-T cable K3, hub Ha is connected to hub Hb, and hub Hc is connected to hub Hc. Is connected to the network management device M. Furthermore, it is assumed that the hubs He and Hf are connected to the hub Hg via the 10BASE-T cable K3.
Here, the network management device M is connected to the hub Hc, but may be directly connected to the trunk line (10BASE-5 cable) K1. Also, the hubs Ha to Hg
, Respectively, and the addresses of the network management device M are “MA”.

In such a network, in order for the network management device M to recognize the configuration of the hub,
First, as shown in FIG. 5, the investigation start packet transmitter 21 of the network management apparatus M sends the investigation start packet STP.
All hubs H connected to the network in broadcast mode
a to Hg. Here, in the packet having the format as shown in FIG. 6, the investigation start packet has the destination address DA as the broadcast address, the source address SA as the address “MA” of the network management device M itself, and the configuration recognition identifier MD. Indicates that the packet is a survey start packet, and the data DT is blank. Note that EC is an error check bit. The hubs Ha to Hg that have received the investigation start packet STP return address packets AD (A) to AD (G) for notifying their own addresses from the address packet return unit 3. Upon receiving the address packets AD (A) to AD (G), the network management apparatus M sends out a check packet SUP to a predetermined hub, as shown in FIG. Now, the order in which the inspection packet SUP is passed is the hubs Hb, Hc, Hd,
Assuming Ha, Hf, Hg, and He, the address of each hub is known from the received address packets AD (A) to AD (G). Therefore, the data DA is arranged in that order as shown in FIG. It is assumed that the addresses are arranged, and the address “MA” of the software management device M is placed at the end. The destination address DA is the address “B” and the source address SA is the address “MA”. Therefore, in this embodiment, the inquiry packet SUP is first sent to the hub Hb. The hub Hb that has received the check packet SUP sends the address request packet ARP to another hub (in this embodiment, the hub Ha) connected to its own ports P1 to Pn, as shown in FIG. . In the address request packet ARP, as shown in FIG. 10A, the destination address DA is the broadcast address, the source address SA is the address “B”, and the configuration recognition identifier MD indicates that it is in the investigation mode. The data DT is the address request identification data. In the case of the present embodiment, since only the hub Ha is connected to the ports P1 to Pn of the hub Hb, the address request packet ARP is sent to the hub Ha and the hub Ha that receives the address request packet ARP receives the address request packet ARP shown in FIG. ) A reply packet AD (A) for notifying the address “A” is returned to the hub Hb. The hub Hb that has received the reply packet AD (A) transmits a configuration packet HSP indicating the connection state of the hub as shown in FIG. The hub configuration data of the configuration packet HSP is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the correspondence between the port number and the address of the hub that has returned via the port is shown. Here, the hub Hb deletes its own address “B” from the data DT of the inquiry packet SUP, and then transmits the inquiry packet SUP to the hub Hc having the leading address “C”. The hub Hc that has received the inquiry packet SUP performs the same operation as the hub Hb described above, deletes its own address “C”, and transmits the inquiry packet SUP to the next hub Hd. After that, the same operation is repeated, and when each address in the data DT of the investigation packet SUP is deleted and only “MA” is left, the investigation packet S
UP is transmitted to the network management device M.

The network management device M, which has received the investigation packet SUP by the investigation packet transmitting / receiving unit 23, judges that the investigation for hub configuration recognition is completed. The hub configuration recognition section 25 recognizes the connection state of the hub based on the port information and the hub address information of the configuration packet transmitted from each hub, which is received by the configuration packet reception section 24. Then, the recognized configuration of the hub is graphically displayed on the display unit 26.

[0019]

As described above, claim 1 or claim 2 is provided.
In the hub configuration recognition method and the hub configuration recognition system described above, a plurality of hubs having repeater units are connected to each other, and the plurality of hubs and a network management device that manages the hubs are connected. In the network, the method of recognizing the hub configuration is such that the network management device captures information from each hub to recognize the configuration of the hub.
Taking in each address of the plurality of hubs, generating an inquiry packet for investigating other hubs connected to the ports of the hub, the inquiry packet is made to retain the address of the acquired hub as data, Send a probe packet to any hub with a retained address,
The hub that received the survey packet sends an address request packet to request an address to all hubs connected to its own port, and receives a reply packet containing the address to connect to its own port. It recognizes the connection relationship for each port of all the hubs that are set, sends a configuration packet indicating the recognized connection relationship for each port to the network management device, and at the same time identifies the own address held in the investigation packet. In addition, the probe packet is sent to any other hub having the retained address after the deletion. Then, the hub that receives this investigation packet performs the same operations as the above hub, and these operations are performed until the addresses of the hub held in the investigation packet are exhausted.
Since the hub configuration is recognized from the content of the configuration packet sent from each hub, it is possible to provide a hub configuration recognition method and a hub configuration recognition system that can accurately and easily recognize the actual network configuration. It was

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a hub according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing ports of the hub of the above.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a network management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram according to the above.

FIG. 6 is a packet format diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a packet format diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory diagram according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a packet format diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of hub configuration data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a system configuration diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Repeater Unit 2 Survey Start Packet Reception Unit 3 Address Packet Return Unit 4 Self Address Storage Unit 5 Survey Packet Reception Unit 6 Address Request Packet Transmission Unit 7 Reply Packet Reception Unit 8 Configuration Storage Unit 9 Configuration Packet Transmission Unit 10 Survey Packet Transmission Unit 11 Transmission port control unit 12 Address request packet reception unit 21 Investigation start packet transmission unit 22 Address packet reception unit 23 Investigation packet transmission / reception unit 24 Configuration packet reception unit 25 Hub configuration recognition unit 26 Display unit Ha to Hg Hub M Network management device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a network in which a plurality of hubs having repeater units are connected to each other and the plurality of hubs and a network management device that manages the hubs are connected to each other, information from each hub is transmitted by the network management device. Is a method of recognizing a hub configuration by capturing a hub configuration, the network management device captures each address of the plurality of hubs, and investigates another hub connected to the port of the hub. To generate an inquiry packet, and the inquiry packet is made to hold the address of the fetched hub as data, and the inquiry packet is transmitted to an arbitrary hub having the held address. The hub that received the request sends an address request packet for requesting addresses to all hubs connected to its own port. By sending a packet and receiving a reply packet containing the address, it recognizes the connection relationship for each port of all hubs connected to its own port, and recognizes the connection relationship for each port to the network management device. The hub is characterized in that, while sending out the check packet, the self-address held in the check packet is deleted, and the check packet is sent to any other hub having the held address. Configuration recognition method. 2. In a network in which a plurality of hubs having repeater units are connected to each other and a plurality of hubs and a network management device that manages the hubs are connected to each other, information from each of the hubs is received by the network management device. Is a hub configuration recognition system configured to recognize the configuration of a hub, wherein the network management device notifies the hub of the start of a survey for network management, and a survey start packet transmission unit, An address packet receiving unit for receiving address packets from the hub,
An inquiry packet transmitting unit for generating an inquiry packet for holding the address of the hub as data and transmitting it to the hub having the held address, and receiving a configuration packet from the hub for notifying an investigation result A configuration packet receiving unit, and a hub configuration recognition unit that recognizes a hub configuration based on the content of the configuration packet, wherein each hub receives a survey start packet receiving unit that receives the survey start packet; A self-address packet replying unit that returns its own address to the network management device when a start packet is received, a survey packet receiving unit that receives the survey packet, and a self-address port when the survey packet is received. An address request packet transmission unit that makes an address request to the connected hub and each of its own ports A reply packet receiving unit for receiving a reply packet notifying the address from the subsequent hub, a configuration storage unit for storing the address of the hub connected to its own port from the contents of the reply packet, and the configuration storage unit When the investigation of the address of the configuration packet sending unit that sends the contents of the above to the network management device and the hub connected to each port of its own is completed, it holds the investigation packet in which its own address is deleted from the held address data An investigation packet transmission unit for transmitting to any hub having an address, and a self-address storage unit for storing its own address,
A hub configuration recognition system, comprising: a transmission port control unit that controls a transmission port of a repeater unit.