RU2605494C2 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETECTING Ethernet PORTS LOOPING - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: electronics.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to means of detecting Ethernet ports looping. Periodically transmitted by a network device are detection messages from each port of the network device. It is determined whether the received detection message is a message transmitted locally, and if the received detection message is a message transmitted locally, extracted from the received detection message is a number of the port, from which the received detection message is sent, and this port is disconnected; otherwise the received detection message is sent to the next network device. Herewith the port disconnection is carried out by switching off the MAC-address identification function for the said port.

EFFECT: technical result is reducing the probability of loosing the network serviceability caused by presence of looping in the network.

13 cl, 3 dwg

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communications and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for detecting port loopback Ethernet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In existing communication networks, configuration errors or network connection problems can cause loopback in communication networks; if there is looping in the network, then messages transmitted by the network device may again return to this network device after forwarding by other network devices; further, this network device can again transmit these messages cyclically until the network bandwidth is exhausted, which will lead to the failure of communication channels and even to a loss of network performance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method and apparatus for detecting loopback of Ethernet ports is provided to prevent loss of network performance caused by looping in the network.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for detecting loopback of Ethernet ports, comprising:

Periodic transmission by the network device of a discovery message from each port of the network device;

determining whether the received discovery message is a message transmitted locally, and if so, extracting from this received discovery message the port number from which this discovery message is transmitted and disconnecting the connection to this port; otherwise, forwarding the received discovery message to the next network device.

In a preferred embodiment, the method also includes:

performing a protocol type setting for the discovery message for the network device in advance and

formation by the network device of a detection message in accordance with the specified setting.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, after setting the protocol type for the discovery message, the method also includes:

setting the virtual local area network (VLAN) mode of the discovery message for the network device.

In a preferred embodiment, the discovery message comprises an Ethernet field, a source MAC address (MAC) field, a port number field and a key information field.

In a preferred embodiment, the network device generates and outputs a loopback warning signal when the connection to the port is disconnected.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, after disconnecting the port connection, the network device performs:

start the port connection timer and

determining whether the port connection timer has expired, and if so, then enabling the connection to the port and, at the same time, generating and outputting a warning message about the restoration of loopback.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, this method also includes disabling the port connection by disabling the MAC address recognition function for this port, as well as enabling the port connection by enabling the MAC address recognition function for this port.

In a preferred embodiment, the loopback warning signal and the loopback recovery warning signal include a network device number and a port number.

In a preferred embodiment, the discovery message is a broadcast packet.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the network device determines whether the received discovery message is a message transmitted locally in accordance with the source MAC address field in the received discovery message.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an Ethernet port loopback detection device comprising: a detection message transmitting module and a detection message receiving module,

wherein the detection message transmission module is configured to periodically generate the detection message and transmit this detection message from each port of the network device,

and the detection message receiving unit is configured to determine whether the detection message received by the network device is a message transmitted locally; extracting from the received discovery message a port number from which the discovery message is transmitted; in case the received discovery message is a message transmitted locally, disconnecting the port connection; and if the received discovery message is not a message transmitted locally, forwarding the received discovery message to the next network device.

In a preferred embodiment, the device also includes a port connection timer and a tuner,

wherein the port connection timer is configured to count down the period of time during which the connection to the port is in the off state,

and the configuration module is configured to provide the user with an interface for setting the protocol type, VLAN mode, the transmission period of the discovery message and the port connection timer, and also for saving the specified user settings.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the detection message receiving module is configured to generate and output a loopback warning signal; start the port connection timer after disconnecting the port connection; turn on the port connection after the port connection timer expires and, at the same time, generate and output a loop recovery alert.

In the present invention, the occurrence of a loopback in a network device is determined using a detection message. Such a solution is simple to operate and easily feasible, while effectively solving the problem of loss of network performance caused by the presence of looping in the network.

Brief Description of the Drawings

To provide a better understanding of the present invention, the accompanying drawings are presented, which are described below and are part of the present application. Schematic embodiments of the present invention and their description are used only to illustrate the present invention and do not limit the invention.

In FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a detection message transmission in an Ethernet port loopback detection method in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2 is a flowchart of receiving a detection message in an Ethernet port loopback detection method in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an Ethernet port loopback detection apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To provide a better understanding of the technical problem, technical solution and advantages of the present invention, a detailed description of the present invention is presented in connection with the drawings and embodiments of the invention. It should be understood that the specific embodiments of the invention discussed below serve only to illustrate the present invention and do not limit the invention.

The Ethernet port loopback detection method in an embodiment of the present invention includes two parts. One part is to transmit a discovery message, and the other part is to receive a discovery message. The following is a detailed description of an embodiment of the present invention in connection with specific examples of the invention.

In FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a detection message transmission in an Ethernet port loopback detection method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this method includes the following steps:

S001: The protocol type and VLAN mode of the discovery message for the network device are predetermined.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the VLAN mode of the discovery message is optional, that is, the VLAN mode of the discovery message can be understood as the absence of VLAN, continuous VLAN mode or discrete VLAN mode. Assume that in this embodiment of the present invention, the discovery message VLAN mode should be set.

S002: the network device generates a discovery message in accordance with the specified setting.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the discovery message comprises an Ethernet type, a source MAC address, a port number, key information and other fields, the source MAC address being a MAC address of a central processing unit of the network device, and the discovery message is a broadcast packet.

S003: after turning on the loopback detection function, the network device sends a discovery message from each port during the transmission period.

A transmission period in which a network device transmits a discovery message can be set in advance and implemented by a timer, for example, a two-second timer can be used to set the period of time during which the network device sends a discovery message.

In FIG. 2 is a flowchart of receiving a detection message in an Ethernet port loopback detection method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, this method includes the following steps:

S101: the network device receives the discovery message.

S102: determining whether the received discovery message is a message transmitted locally; and if so, go to step S103, otherwise go to step S107.

In step S102, it is determined whether the received discovery message is a message transmitted locally by determining the source MAC address in the received discovery message.

S103: extracting from the received detection message the port number from which the detection message is transmitted, disconnecting the connection to this port and, at the same time, generating and outputting a loopback warning signal.

The connection to the port can be disabled by disabling the MAC address recognition function of this port in an embodiment of the present invention.

S104: start the port connection timer.

The time for the port connection timer can be set in advance and can be, for example, 30 seconds.

S105: determining whether a port connection timer has expired; if so, go to step S106, otherwise go to step S105.

S106: turning on the connection to the port and, at the same time, generating and outputting a warning signal about the restoration of network loopback. The completion of the algorithm.

A port connection is enabled by enabling the MAC address recognition function of a given port in an embodiment of the present invention.

S107: forwarding the received discovery message to the next network device and completing the algorithm.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the loopback warning signal and the loopback recovery signal include a network device number and a port number; Thus, users can find out which port in which device is looped back.

In FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an Ethernet port loopback detection apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, an Ethernet port loopback detection device in an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a setting module 01, a detection message transmitting module 02, a detection message receiving module 03 and a port connection timer 04,

wherein, the configuration module 01 is configured to provide the user with an interface for setting the protocol type, VLAN mode, the transmission period of the detection message and the time of the port connection timer 04, as well as for saving said user settings,

the detection message transmission unit 02 is configured to generate a detection message in accordance with the protocol type and VLAN mode of the detection message set by the configuration module 01, and to transmit this detection message from each port of the network device during the transmission period; and

the detection message receiving unit 03 is configured to determine whether the detection message received by the network device is a message transmitted locally, and if the received detection message is a message transmitted locally, extracting from this detection message a port number from which this detection message is transmitted, disconnecting the port connection and, at the same time, generating and outputting a ringing warning signal; starting the port 04 timer 04 and, after the port 04 timer expires, activating the port connection and, at the same time, generating and outputting the loopback restoration warning signal; and if the received discovery message is not a message transmitted locally, then forwarding this discovery message to the next network device;

port connection timer 04 is configured to count a period of time during which the connection is in the disconnected state.

Only preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it being understood that, as indicated above, the present invention is not limited to the examples disclosed herein, does not exclude other embodiments of the invention, and can be applied to other combinations, modifications, and environmental conditions. The embodiments described above may be modified by technology or knowledge in related fields within the spirit of the present invention. Any changes and modifications made by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention are encompassed by the appended claims.

Claims (13)

1. A method for detecting loopback of Ethernet ports, characterized in that it includes:
Periodic transmission by the network device of a discovery message from each port of the network device;
determining whether the received discovery message is a message transmitted locally, and if the received discovery message is a message transmitted locally, extracting from the received discovery message the port number from which the received discovery message is transmitted, and disconnecting the connection to this port; otherwise, forwarding the received discovery message to the next network device;
in this case, disconnecting the connection to the port is carried out by disabling the recognition function of the MAC address for this port. 2. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that it also includes:
setting the type of protocol for the discovery message for the network device in advance and
formation by the network device of a detection message in accordance with the specified setting. 3. The method according to p. 2, characterized in that after setting the type of protocol for the detection message, the method also includes:
setting the virtual local area network (VLAN) mode of the discovery message for the network device. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the detection message includes an Ethernet type field, a source MAC address field, a port number field and a key information field. 5. The method according to p. 4, characterized in that the network device also generates and outputs a warning signal about the loopback when disconnecting the connection to the port. 6. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that after the network device disconnects the port, the method also includes:
start the port connection timer and
determining whether the port connection timer expired, and if the port connection timer expired, then enabling the connection to this port and, at the same time, generating and outputting the loopback recovery warning signal. 7. The method according to p. 6, characterized in that it also includes:
Enabling a port connection by enabling the MAC address recognition feature for this port. 8. The method according to p. 5 or 6, characterized in that the warning signal about the loopback and the warning signal about the restoration of looping contain the network device number and port number. 9. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the detection message is a broadcast packet. 10. The method according to p. 4, characterized in that the network device determines whether the received discovery message is a message transmitted locally in accordance with the source MAC address field in the received discovery message. 11. Device for detecting loopback of Ethernet ports, characterized in that it comprises a module for transmitting a detection message and a module for receiving a detection message,
wherein the detection message transmission module is configured to periodically generate the detection message and transmit this detection message from each port of the network device,
and the detection message receiving unit is configured to determine whether the detection message received by the network device is a message transmitted locally, and if the received detection message is a message transmitted locally, retrieving from the received discovery message a port number from which the received detection message is transmitted, and disconnecting the connection to this port; and if the received discovery message is not a message transmitted locally, forwarding the received discovery message to the next network device;
however, the detection message receiving module is configured to disconnect the connection to the port by disabling the MAC address recognition function for this port. 12. The device according to p. 11, characterized in that it also includes a port connection timer and a configuration module,
wherein the port connection timer is configured to count down the period of time during which the connection to the port is in the off state,
and the configuration module is configured to provide the user with an interface for setting a protocol type, a virtual local area network (VLAN) mode, a transmission period of a detection message and a port connection timer, and also for saving user settings. 13. The device according to p. 12, characterized in that the detection message receiving module is configured to generate and output a ringing warning signal; to start the port connection timer after disconnecting the port connection and to enable the port connection after the port connection timer expires; and, at the same time, the formation and output of a warning signal about the restoration of the loopback.

Images