KR100544676B1 - Network Processor based Packet Forwarding Apparatus and Method applicable to Multiple Physical Interface - Google Patents

Abstract

1. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a network processor-based packet forwarding apparatus and method thereof for accessing multiple physical devices.

2. The technical problem to be solved by the invention

The present invention comprises a daughter board by configuring a packet forwarding device part including a network processor as a mother board and a physical device part as a daughter board in a line card including a packet forwarding device based on a network processor. The present invention provides a network processor-based packet forwarding device and a method thereof to operate as a packet forwarding device line card of a new interface by changing only the physical device.

3. Summary of Solution to Invention

According to the present invention, in the packet forwarding apparatus, the packet forwarding apparatus is configured in the form of a mother board, and is detachable / mounted on the motherboard, so that the physical layer identification value (physical device-specific identification value) is matched. And multiple physical devices configured in the form of daughter boards to provide a physical device clock; Transmission clock supply means for selecting a transmission clock to be supported by a currently matched physical device among the multiple physical devices based on a physical layer identification value from the multiple physical devices and supplying the same to a corresponding physical device; Reception clock supply means for selecting a reception clock used for an interface with the corresponding physical device based on a physical layer identification value and a physical device clock from the multiple physical devices and supplying the received clock to the packet forwarding means; Selecting a program module that controls each component of the packet forwarding device and identifies a type of the currently matched physical device based on a physical layer identification value from the multiple physical devices to perform a function corresponding to the corresponding physical device. Control means for; And the packet forwarding means for performing a packet forwarding function with the corresponding physical device in accordance with an interface with the corresponding physical device based on the program module selected by the control means.

4. Important uses of the invention

The present invention is used in a packet forwarding apparatus.

Multiple Physical Interfaces, Network Processors, Line Cards, Packet Forwarding Devices

Description

Network Processor based Packet Forwarding Apparatus and Method applicable to Multiple Physical Interface for Accessing Multiple Physical Devices             

1 is an exemplary diagram showing a type of line card that can be constructed by the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a network processor-based packet forwarding apparatus for accessing multiple physical devices according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of mounting a driver for each physical device in a network processor-based packet forwarding device according to the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a network processor-based packet forwarding method according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

100: POS physical device (SPI-3) 110: GbE physical device (optical) (TBI)

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120: GbE physical device (RJ45) (GMII) 130: EPON physical device (GMII)

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140: SMII physical device (SMII) 150: NP-based packet forwarding engine

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151: local processor 152: network processor

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The present invention relates to a packet forwarding device and a method based on a network processor (NP: GS4GS3) for accessing multiple physical devices, and more particularly, to configure a network processor-based packet forwarding engine using a mother board. The present invention relates to a network processor-based packet forwarding device and a method for providing a new type of interface matching function by changing only a physical device by configuring and connecting physical devices having various interfaces in the form of a daughter board. .

The line cards including the existing packet forwarding device had to be separately configured and connected to the main board according to the interface type provided, in particular, the transmission and reception clock configurations required for the matching method of physical elements to be connected. Therefore, if the physical interface provided is different, the main board also has a problem that must be changed.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a packet forwarding device part including a network processor in a line card including a packet forwarding device based on a network processor comprises a motherboard and a physical device part. The present invention provides a network processor-based packet forwarding device and a method for operating as a packet forwarding device line card of a new interface by changing and mounting a physical device consisting of a daughter board by configuring a daughter board. There is a purpose.

The apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object, in the packet forwarding device, the packet forwarding device is configured in the form of a motherboard (mother board), it is possible to remove / mounted on the motherboard, physical layer identification value when matching Multiple physical devices configured in the form of a daughter board, for providing a physical device unique identification value and a physical device clock; Transmission clock supply means for selecting a transmission clock to be supported by a currently matched physical device among the multiple physical devices based on a physical layer identification value from the multiple physical devices and supplying the same to a corresponding physical device; Reception clock supply means for selecting a reception clock used for an interface with the corresponding physical device based on a physical layer identification value and a physical device clock from the multiple physical devices and supplying the received clock to the packet forwarding means; Selecting a program module that controls each component of the packet forwarding device and identifies a type of the currently matched physical device based on a physical layer identification value from the multiple physical devices to perform a function corresponding to the corresponding physical device. Control means for; And the packet forwarding means for performing a packet forwarding function with the corresponding physical device according to an interface with the corresponding physical device based on the program module selected by the control means.

In addition, the method of the present invention, in the packet forwarding method, a mother board-type packet forwarding device, a step of mounting a physical device in the form of a daughter board (daughter board) that can be mounted / mounted on the motherboard ; Receiving a physical layer identification value (physical device-specific identification value) and a physical device clock from the physical device currently installed among multiple physical devices; Selecting a transmission clock to be supported by the currently mounted physical device based on the physical layer identification value and supplying the transmitted clock to the currently mounted physical device; Selecting a reception clock used for an interface with the currently mounted physical device based on the physical layer identification value and the physical device clock, and supplying the received clock to a network processor; Selecting a program module that performs a function corresponding to the physical device that is currently mounted by identifying a type of the physical device that is currently mounted, based on the physical layer identification value; And performing a packet forwarding function with the physical device that is currently mounted according to the interface of the physical device that is currently mounted, based on the program module.

Therefore, the line card including the packet forwarding device configured using the network processor (NP4GS3) according to the present invention comprises a main board that can commonly use the packet forwarding device based on the network processor for all physical interfaces, By configuring the device in the form of a daughter board, it recognizes the device identification of the physical device and uses the flexibility of the network processor to provide the matching function for the physical device. To provide.

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is an exemplary diagram showing a type of line card that can be constructed by the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention comprises a packet forwarding device based on a network processor as a motherboard 150, and the same connector for connecting a multiple physical device configured as a daughter board to a motherboard. Use the same pins.

In addition, the packet forwarding device configured as a motherboard includes a local processor 151 for operating all hardware and components including a network processor and a physical device, and a network processor 152 performing core functions of a packet forwarding function.

As shown in FIG. 1, the multiple physical devices are connected using a packet over sonet (POS) physical device 100 and a TBI (ten bit interface), which are connected by using a system packet interface level-3 (SPI-3). Gbbit (Gigabit Ethernet) physical device 110 using optical signals, RJ45 type GbE physical device 120 connected using Gigabit Media Independent Interface (GMII), and Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) physical connected using GMII The device 130 and the SMII physical device 140 connected using the Serial Media Independent Interface (SMII) may optionally be mounted and mounted on the motherboard. Therefore, by simply changing a physical device consisting of a daughter board to be mounted on the motherboard, it can be operated as a line card including the corresponding packet forwarding device.

2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a network processor-based packet forwarding apparatus for accessing multiple physical devices according to the present invention.

As shown in Figure 2, the packet forwarding device based on the network processor according to the present invention, the packet forwarding device 150 is configured in the form of a motherboard (mother board), it is possible to remove / mounted on the motherboard, From the multi-physical device 200 configured in the form of a daughter board for providing a physical device-specific identification value (physical layer identification value) and a clock (physical device clock) in matching, and from the multiple physical device 200 A transmission clock multiplexer 210 for selecting a transmission clock that a currently matched physical device needs to support and supplying it to the corresponding physical device based on the physical layer identification value of the multiple physical device 200; Based on the physical layer identification value and the physical device clock from 200, selecting the received clock used for the interface (physical interface) with the corresponding physical device to supply to the network processor 230 The reception clock multiplexer 220 and each component of the device are controlled, and the type of the currently matched physical device is identified based on a physical layer identification value from the multiple physical device 200. Based on a local processor 240 for selecting a program module that performs a function suitable for a device, and a program module selected by the local processor 240, a packet forwarding function with the corresponding physical device is performed according to the physical interface. It has a network processor 230 for the.
As an example, when the POS physical device 100 matched with SPI-3 is mounted, the transmit clock multiplexer 210 and the receive clock multiplexer 220 of FIG. 2 read an identification value of the POS physical layer card. do. Based on this identification value, the transmit clock multiplexer 210 and the receive clock multiplexer 220 recognize that the POS physical layer card is mounted, and the transmit clock multiplexer 210 transmits multiplexed transmit clocks to the mounted physical device 200. The 100 MHz clock is supplied from the 125 MHz clock, the 100 MHz clock, and the clock from NP supplied to the firearm 210. In addition, the reception clock multiplexer 220 supplies the network processor 230 with a 100 MHz clock among the 125 MHz clock, the 100 MHz clock, and the clock from the physical device, which are supplied to the reception clock multiplexer 220. Also, in the firmware block (local processor), the POS-related program module 311 mounted through the POS physical device identification value of the mounted physical device among the program modules for each interface pre-loaded in the memory of the firmware block is the network processor 230. Is passed on. Then, the network processor 230 recognizes the input packet as a POS packet, and performs packet field parsing, packet classification, packet lookup, and routing functions corresponding to the POS packet.
In order to explain the overall system operation thereof, the detailed configuration and operation thereof will be described later in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of mounting a driver for each physical device in a network processor-based packet forwarding device according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the local processor 151 of FIG. 1 may perform firmware for each physical device to operate as a line card including a packet forwarding device suitable for the selected physical device 300. Block 310 is mounted. In this case, the firmware block 310 includes a POS-related program module 311 used for the POS physical device, a GbE-related program module 312 used for the GbE physical device, and an EPON program module used for the EPON physical device ( 313, and SMII device program modules 314 used for the physical device using SMII are preloaded.

The local processor 240 identifies a type of physical device mounted as a daughter board among various program modules mounted in the memory, loads the corresponding program module, and then connects the physical interface of the network processor 320 or 230 to the local processor 240. In addition, the packet forwarding method processed by the network processor 320 or 230 may also be processed in a manner suitable for the corresponding interface.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a network processor-based packet forwarding method according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, when a physical device configured in the form of a daughter board is mounted on the motherboard (401), and the power is turned on and the board starts to operate, the local processor 240 transmits. The clock multiplexer 210 and the receive clock multiplexer 220 read an identification value of the physical device from the physical device 200 (402).
In this case, the transmission clock multiplexer 210 and the reception clock multiplexer 220 may know the type of the physical device on the basis of the identification value of the physical device. The physical device 200 mounted for this purpose has a unique identification value. For example, the physical device identification values include POS physical devices as “000”, optical GbE physical devices as “001”, RJ-45 type GbE physical devices as “010”, EPON physical devices as “011” and SMII. The physical device will have a value of "100".

Subsequently, the transmission clock multiplexer 220 receives the clock supplied by the network processor 230, the 100 MHz clock supplied by the oscillator, and the 125 MHz clock supplied by another oscillator based on the physical device identification value. The transmission clock that the device should support is selected and supplied to the physical device 200 (403).

For example, when an EPON physical device using GMII and an RJ45 type GbE physical device or a GbE physical device using TBI are mounted, the clock supplied by the network processor 230 is selected and supplied to the physical device for transmission. If the POS physical device is installed by using SPI-3, select the 100 MHz clock supplied by the oscillator to supply the physical device to use for transmission, and when the physical device using SMII is connected Select and supply the 125MHz clock supplied by the oscillator.
In addition, the reception clock multiplexer 220 receives a clock supplied from a corresponding physical device, a 100MHz clock supplied from an oscillator, and a 125MHz clock supplied from another oscillator based on the identification of the physical device, and the corresponding interface should be used by the corresponding interface. The clock is selected and supplied to the network processor 230 to be used when receiving data (403). For example, when a GbE physical device using a TBI, an EPON physical device using a GMII, and an RJ45 type GbE physical device are connected as a daughter board, a clock input from the physical device 200 is selected to select a network processor. And supply the data to the 230 to be used when receiving the data of the corresponding physical device, and when the POS physical device using the SPI-3 is installed, the 100 MHz clock supplied from the oscillator is selected and supplied to the network processor 230 to supply the corresponding physical device When the physical device using the SMII is mounted, the 125MHz clock supplied from the oscillator is selected and supplied to the network processor 230 to be used as the reception clock of the corresponding interface.

Subsequently, the local processor 240 reading the identification value of the mounted physical device sets the physical device interface of the network processor 230 to match the interface of the corresponding physical device, and performs packet processing suitable for the mounted physical device. The network module 230 is operated by mounting the corresponding program module (404).

Then, the line card including the packet forwarding apparatus operates normally (405).

As described above, according to the present invention, when a physical device is connected to a network processor-based forwarding engine, which is a motherboard, an interface supported by the connected physical device is read by a fixed physical device identification value for each physical device in a transmission clock multiplexer. The clock used in the system is selected to be supplied to the physical device, and the reception clock multiplexer selects the reception clock used in the corresponding interface to supply it to the network processor NP. The physical block identification value is also read from the firmware block to set an interface of the network processor NP as an interface to which the corresponding physical device is connected.

The method of the present invention as described above can be implemented and used as a hardware device. Since this process can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art will not be described in more detail.

The present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and various substitutions, modifications, and changes are possible in the art without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be clear to those of ordinary knowledge.

As described above, the present invention configures a packet forwarding device independently of a physical interface in a packet forwarding engine line card based on a network processor, and transmits a signal multiplexer and a received clock multiplexer according to a recognized physical device identification value. By supplying the correct clock for the corresponding physical interface and having the local processor load the driver connected to the interface to the network processor, it is possible to operate with multiple interfaces by changing the physical device in one forwarding engine device. There is.

Claims (5)

In the packet forwarding apparatus, The packet forwarding device is configured in the form of a motherboard, A multi-physical device configured to be detachable / mounted on the motherboard and configured to provide a physical layer identification value (physical device-specific identification value) and a physical device clock during matching; Transmission clock supply means for selecting a transmission clock to be supported by a currently matched physical device among the multiple physical devices based on a physical layer identification value from the multiple physical devices and supplying the same to a corresponding physical device; Reception clock supply means for selecting a reception clock used for an interface with the corresponding physical device based on a physical layer identification value and a physical device clock from the multiple physical devices and supplying the received clock to the packet forwarding means; Selecting a program module that controls each component of the packet forwarding device and identifies a type of the currently matched physical device based on a physical layer identification value from the multiple physical devices to perform a function corresponding to the corresponding physical device. Control means for; And The packet forwarding means for performing a packet forwarding function with the corresponding physical device according to an interface with the corresponding physical device based on the program module selected by the control means; Network processor-based packet forwarding device for accessing multiple physical devices, including. The method of claim 1, The transmission clock supply means, After receiving the clock supplied from the packet forwarding means, the 100 MHz clock supplied by the first oscillator, and the 125 MHz clock supplied by the second oscillator, the transmitter selects a transmission clock to be supported by the corresponding physical device and then transmits to the corresponding physical device. A network processor-based packet forwarding device for accessing multiple physical devices, characterized in that it is supplied and used for transmission. The method of claim 1, The receiving clock supply means, After receiving the physical device clock supplied from the corresponding physical device, the 100 MHz clock supplied by the first oscillator, and the 125 MHz clock supplied by the second oscillator, the reception clock to be used by the interface with the corresponding physical device is selected. And a packet forwarding device for supplying the packet forwarding means to use when receiving data. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The multiple physical device, A Packet over Sonet (POS) physical device connected using SPI-3 (System Packet Interface level-3); A Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) physical device using an optical signal connected using a Ten Bit Interface (TBI); RJ45 type GbE physical devices connected using Gigabit Media Independent Interface (GMII); An Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) physical device connected using GMII; And SMII physical devices that are connected by using the Serial Media Independent Interface (SMII) Network processor-based packet forwarding device for accessing multiple physical devices comprising a. In the packet forwarding method, Mounting a mother board-type packet forwarding device on the motherboard, the physical apparatus having a daughter board shape that can be mounted and detached from the mother board; Receiving a physical layer identification value (physical device-specific identification value) and a physical device clock from the physical device currently installed among multiple physical devices; Selecting a transmission clock to be supported by the currently mounted physical device based on the physical layer identification value and supplying the transmitted clock to the currently mounted physical device; Selecting a reception clock used for an interface with the currently mounted physical device based on the physical layer identification value and the physical device clock, and supplying the received clock to a network processor; Selecting a program module that performs a function corresponding to the physical device that is currently mounted by identifying a type of the physical device that is currently mounted, based on the physical layer identification value; And Performing a packet forwarding function with the physical device that is currently mounted according to an interface of the physical device that is currently mounted according to the program module Network processor-based packet forwarding method for accessing multiple physical devices comprising a.

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