TWI717778B - Network switch and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

Proposed network switch is composed of 2 switch devices. According to the customer’s request, this network switch can be configured as 2 individual switches, i.e. the traffic of the first switch will be transmitted and received through first path, the traffic of the second switch will be transmitted and received through the second path. Once one of 2 switch is failed, for example, the first switch is failed, the associated low speed downlink port(s) will be switched to another switch. Vice versa. Another example, one or more low speed port(s) are failed, then it will be switched to other switch.

Description

Network switch and its operation method

This disclosure relates to a network switch and its operation method, especially a network switch with dual backup function and its operation method.

At present, most of the network switches used in software defined networks (SDN) are industrial grade (industrial grade) hardware designs, which are basically based on a single circuit board and do not have the design of switching core protection switching. Does not meet the requirements of traditional telecom operators.

In traditional telecommunications service companies, all telecommunications equipment needs to be designed with the highest reliability. In the data center of a data service provider, it is composed of multiple network switches. When one of the switches occurs In the event of a problem or failure, the data stream will automatically switch to another switch to continue providing services. The switching time is due to different transmission paths, and the time required for switching cannot be predicted. Therefore, ultra-reliable low latency communication (ultra-reliable low latency communication, URLLC) requirements, such as the requirement that the delay time is less than 1 millisecond (1mS).

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network switch is composed of two network switch devices. According to customer needs, through system management settings, two network switching devices can be configured as two independent switches, that is, the first network switching device is used to send and receive traffic through the first path, and the second network switching device is The second path is used to send and receive traffic; when one of the two switching devices fails, the network switch will perform switching. For example, when the first network switching device fails, its relatively low-speed interface card will be switched To the second network switching equipment, continue to send and receive communications; vice versa.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, two network switching devices are set as two network switching devices for mutual protection switching. When a certain interface in a certain low-speed interface card board in the first network switching device fails, this interface will be switched to the second network switching device to continue to send and receive traffic. If several interfaces in the low-speed interface card board installed in the first network switch fail, they will also be switched to the second network switch device at the same time.

In summary, the two network switching devices monitor their working conditions at any time through their respective microprocessors, and perform the switching of the hardware lines of the network switching device when necessary, including the uplink high-speed uplink port/microprocessor/switch card board The switching of low-speed interface card board and the switching of low-speed interface card board can meet the requirement of 99.999% reliability of the telecommunication level.

10‧‧‧Network Exchange System

H1‧‧‧Height

20‧‧‧AC-DC power conversion circuit board

L1‧‧‧Length

30‧‧‧DC-DC power conversion circuit board

W1‧‧‧Width

40‧‧‧Management and satellite navigation clock signal interface circuit board

50‧‧‧Fan cooling module

100‧‧‧Network Switch

110a, 110b‧‧‧Network switching device

120a, 120b‧‧‧Low-speed interface circuit

130a, 130b‧‧‧High-speed interface circuit

121‧‧‧Low-speed interface transceiver

122‧‧‧Toggle switch

131‧‧‧Network Switch

132‧‧‧Processor

133‧‧‧High-speed interface transceiver

200‧‧‧Operation method

S210, S220, S230‧‧‧Step

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a network switching system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 2 shows a functional block diagram of a network switch according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 3 shows a detailed functional block diagram of the network switch according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the network switch according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the network switch according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the network switch according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an operation method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The terms "include", "have" and so on used in this article are all open terms, meaning "including but not limited to". In addition, the "and/or" used in this article includes any one of one or more of the related listed items and all combinations thereof.

In this text, when an element is referred to as "connection" or "coupling", it can refer to "electrical connection" or "electrical coupling". "Link" or "coupling" can also be used to indicate mutual operation or interaction between two or more components. In addition, although the terms "first", "second", ... and other terms are used in this article to describe different elements This term is only used to distinguish elements or operations described in the same technical terms. Unless the context clearly indicates, the terms do not specifically refer to or imply the order or sequence, nor are they used to limit this disclosure.

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network switching system 10 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The network switching system 10 is loaded by a frame of height H1, length L1, and width W1. The system frame includes an AC-DC (AC-DC) power conversion circuit board 20 and a DC-DC (DC-DC) power conversion circuit board 30. Low-speed interface circuit board 120a, low-speed interface circuit board 120b, high-speed network switch/microprocessor circuit board 130a, high-speed network switch/microprocessor circuit board 130b, network management and satellite navigation clock signal interface circuit The board 40, the fan cooling module 50 and the high-speed signal transfer circuit backplane.

As shown in Figure 1, the chassis of the network switching system 10 is designed as a front-access design, including hot-swappable power conversion modules, hot-swappable low-speed interface circuit boards, network switches, and Processor circuit board hot swap, network management and satellite navigation clock signal interface circuit board hot swap and fan module hot swap.

In one embodiment, the height H1, the length L1, and the width W1 may be 2U height (1U=1 rack unit=1.75 inches), 10 inches length and 19 inches width, respectively, the height of the network switching system 10, The length and width are not limited to the above, and can be adjusted according to the actual situation. The power conversion circuit board can be any combination of AC-DC conversion circuit (AC-DC) or DC-DC conversion circuit (DC-DC).

Please refer to Figure 2. Figure 2 shows one of the documents according to this disclosure The functional block diagram of the network switch 100 of the embodiment. The network switch 100 includes a network switch device 110a and a network switch device 110b, and the network switch device 110b is coupled to the network switch device 110a. The network switching device 110a is used for transmitting and receiving traffic through the first path, and the network switching device 110b is used for transmitting and receiving traffic through the second path. The network switching device 110a includes a low-speed interface circuit 120a and a high-speed interface/switch/microprocessor circuit 130a, and the network switching device 110b includes a low-speed interface circuit 120b and a high-speed interface/switch/microprocessor circuit 130b. When one of the network switching device 110a and the network switching device 110b fails, the network switch 100 controls the other one of the network switching device 110a and the network switching device 110b to receive the input traffic, detailed The operation will be described later.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a detailed functional block diagram of the network switch 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The low-speed interface circuit 120a and the low-speed interface circuit 120b each include a low-speed interface transceiver 121 and a switch 122. For the convenience of description, FIG. 3 only shows 6 sets of low-speed interface transceivers 121 and switch 122, but the number of low-speed interface transceivers 121 and switch 122 is not limited to this, and can be adjusted according to actual conditions.

The low-speed interface transceiver 121 is used to send and receive traffic, and the switch 122 is used to control the input traffic to be transmitted from the first path to the network switching device 110a and the high-speed interface circuit 130a or from the second path to the network switching device 110b In the high-speed interface circuit 130b, each switch 122 includes a first path (the left path in the switch 122 in the figure) and a second path (the one in the switch 122 in the figure) for the transmission of input traffic. Path on the right). The switch 122 is selected according to the system working status of the network switch 100 Select whether the traffic transmission path is the current path (the first path) or the backup path (the second path). In one embodiment, the switch 122 is further used to enable the incoming traffic to be transmitted through the first path and the second path. The high-speed interface circuit 130a in the network switching device 110a and the high-speed interface circuit 130b in the network switching device 110b.

In one embodiment, the low-speed interface transceiver 121 may be a 10Gbps/25Gbps physical layer interface transceiver, with IEEE 1588v2 precise clock synchronization function and supporting multi-layer network protocol operation mode.

The high-speed interface circuit 130a and the high-speed interface circuit 130b each include a network switch 131, a processor 132, and a high-speed interface transceiver 133. The network switch 131 is used to receive the input traffic through the first path or the second path, and transmit and exchange the packet data in the input traffic with the high-speed packet data in the high-speed traffic. The processor 132 is used to control the switch 122 to switch to the first path or the second path, and to control the switch 122 to switch to the first path and the second path at the same time according to the setting signal.

In one embodiment, the network switch 131 may be a 100G network switch for performing packet transmission and exchange between low-speed end (10Gbps/25Gbps) signals and high-speed end (100Gbps) signals, with the second layer of the network (Data Link Layer) switching function and network layer 3 (Network Layer) router function, and support virtual network architecture (network functions virtualization, NFV) function

In one embodiment, the network switches 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130a and the high-speed interface circuit 130b each have two high-speed stacking ports, such as 100Gbps stacking ports, for stacking the two network switches 131. Together, when the high-speed interface port of the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130a is blocked, a part of the packet will be sent to the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130b via the stack port of the high-speed interface circuit 130a, and then through the high-speed interface The high-speed interface port of the network switch 131 of the circuit 130b transmits to a higher-level network switching equipment.

In one embodiment, the processor 132 may be a central processing unit, a microprocessor, or other processors with system management, monitoring, setting, and maintenance functions, and has IEEE 1588v2 1-step PTP (precision time protocol) precise synchronization clock For the calculation function of the algorithm, the processor 132 is used for the identification and execution of the protection switching condition of the network switch 100.

In one embodiment, the high-speed interface transceiver 133 may be a 100Gbps physical layer interface transceiver, which consists of 4 sets of 25Gbps data streams to form 100Gbps traffic, has IEEE 1588v2 precise clock synchronization function and supports multi-layer network protocol operation mode.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which illustrates a schematic diagram of the operation of the network switch 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In normal operation, the network switch 100 receives input traffic via the low-speed interface transceiver 121 of the low-speed interface circuit 120a or the low-speed interface circuit 120b. By switching the switch 122 to the first path, the input traffic in the low-speed interface circuit 120a is transmitted to the high-speed interface circuit 130a through the first path, and the input traffic in the low-speed interface circuit 120b is transmitted to the high-speed interface circuit through the first path 130b.

After the network switch 131 in the high-speed interface circuit 130a receives the input traffic, it is processed and sent to the high-speed interface transceiver 133, and then transmitted to the higher-level network switching equipment through the high-speed interface transceiver 133. with Similarly, after the network switch 131 in the high-speed interface circuit 130b receives the input data, it is processed and sent to the high-speed interface transceiver 133, and then transmitted to the higher-level network switch equipment through the high-speed interface transceiver 133. In Figure 4, the first path uses a solid line to indicate the path of input traffic transmission, and the second path uses a dashed line to indicate the path of non-input traffic transmission.

Please refer to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the network switch 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. When the port of the network switch 100 fails, for example, the second port of the high-speed interface circuit 130a fails, the second channel of the low-speed interface circuit 120a will be switched from the first path to the second path through the second switch 122, and then The input traffic is transmitted to the second port of the high-speed interface circuit 130b through the second path, so that the input traffic that originally entered the second port of the high-speed interface circuit 130a is changed to the second port that is transmitted to the high-speed interface circuit 130b through the second path. After that, the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130b completes subsequent operations. The number of failed ports is not limited to one. When multiple ports fail, the switch 122 corresponding to the failed port can be switched to the second path to complete subsequent operations.

Conversely, when the port of the high-speed interface circuit 130b fails, the switch 122 of the low-speed interface circuit 120b will also have the same operation, so that the input traffic originally entering the port of the high-speed interface circuit 130b is changed to be transmitted to the high-speed via the second path. The port of the interface circuit 130a, and then the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130a completes subsequent operations.

Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the network switch 131 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. When the network switch 131 in the network switch 100 fails, for example, the network in the high-speed interface circuit 130a If the switch 131 fails, all the switches 122 in the low-speed interface circuit 120a will be switched to the second path, so that the input traffic entering the low-speed interface circuit 120a will be transmitted to the port of the high-speed interface circuit 130b through the second path, and then from the high-speed interface circuit 130b. The network switch 131 in the interface circuit 130b completes subsequent operations.

Conversely, when the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130b fails, all the switches 122 in the low-speed interface circuit 120b will be switched to the second path, so that the incoming traffic entering the low-speed interface circuit 120b will be sent through the second path. To the port of the high-speed interface circuit 130a, the network switch 131 in the high-speed interface circuit 130a completes subsequent operations.

In one embodiment, the processor 132 in the high-speed interface circuit 130a and the processor 132 in the high-speed interface circuit 130b are connected by a 10Gbps network channel, and the two processors 132 will back up all the parameters during their respective operations. When the protection switching action occurs, it can immediately take over the operation of the entire system. For example, when the network switch 131 in the high-speed interface circuit 130a fails, the network switch 131 in the high-speed interface circuit 130b can take over the operation of the entire system.

In one embodiment, the network switch 100 can provide users with a one-to-one usage mode. When the network switch 10 is set to a one-to-one usage mode, the input traffic is sent from the low-speed interface transceiver 121 to the network. When the switch 131 transmits, only one path is selected to the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130a or the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130b.

In one embodiment, the network switch 100 can provide users with a one-plus-one usage mode. When the network switch 100 is set by the user When the one plus one mode is set, the setting signal will be sent to the processor 132 of the network switch 100, and the processor 132 will control the incoming traffic from the low-speed interface transceiver 121 to the network switch 131 at the same time. It is sent to the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130a and the network switch 131 of the high-speed interface circuit 130b. The processor 132 will make a judgment based on various parameter conditions and determine which network switch 131 will receive, process and process packets. Transfer.

In one embodiment, the selected components in the network switch 100, including the network switch 131, the high-speed interface transceiver 133, the low-speed interface transceiver 121, and the processor 132, all support IEEE 1588v2 1-Step PTP to packetize Format-based synchronization network precise clock calibration function. The entire system is built into a synchronous network architecture. The processor 132 finds the best master clock source through the IEEE 1588v2 1-Step PTP protocol (protocol), allowing the entire system to enter the state of accurately synchronized clock network. The requirements of the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication network.

In one embodiment, the low-speed interface transceiver 121 and the high-speed interface transceiver 133 have a signal generator and checker for in system diagnostic test, and can perform near-end loopback test, Functions such as far-end loopback test and high-speed signal eye diagram monitoring.

In one embodiment, the switch 122 has clock recovery signal re-timing, differential signal pair polarity inversion setting, and random signal (pseudo-random binary sequence, PRBS) generator and high-speed signal eye diagram monitoring (eye diagram monitoring) and other functions, suitable for system testing and parameter adjustment.

In one embodiment, the network switching system 10 is equipped with a Multi-GNSS receiver module, which can receive GPS of the United States, GLONASS of Russia, and Beidou of China. The satellite navigation system (BeiDou) and the European Union's Galileo positioning system (Galileo) demodulate the 1 PPS (Pulse Per Second) and 10MHz precision signals, which are used as reference signal sources for the IEEE 1588v2 1-Step PTP precision clock synchronization network .

Please refer to FIG. 7, which illustrates a flowchart of an operation method 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. To make the operation method 200 shown in Fig. 7 easy to understand, please refer to Fig. 3 at the same time. The operation method 200 includes step S210, step S220, and step S230. In step S210, the input traffic is transmitted to the network switching device 110a through the first path or the input traffic is transmitted to the network switching device 110b through the second path. In step S220, when the network switching device 110a fails, the network switching device 110b is controlled to receive input traffic. In step S230, when the network switching device 110b fails, the network switching device 110a is controlled to receive input traffic.

In summary, the network switch uses a dual architecture to achieve a high-speed network switch platform with high reliability of the telecommunication level and backup fast protection switching function. At the same time, it constructs a high-speed transmission and exchange network synchronized with the precise clock of satellite navigation, with IEEE 1588v2 1-step PTP packet synchronization protocol and Sync E synchronization network architecture function.

In addition, the processor can communicate in real time and switch lines immediately when abnormal conditions occur, ensuring that the network is not interrupted. The protection switching action is within the same system, so the switching time required by 5G mobile communication equipment can be less than 1 millisecond. With a variety of high protection switching functions and flexibility, it can adopt different operation modes to meet the needs of a single system or dual backup systems according to the use needs of different environments, construction cost considerations or high reliability requirements. The chassis is designed as the front Access design is of great help to places with limited space.

120a, 120b‧‧‧Low-speed interface circuit

130a, 130b‧‧‧High-speed interface circuit

121‧‧‧Low-speed interface transceiver

122‧‧‧Toggle switch

131‧‧‧Network Switch

132‧‧‧Processor

133‧‧‧High-speed interface transceiver

Claims (8)

A network switch includes: a first network switching device for transmitting and receiving a traffic through an active path or a backup path of the first network switching device, wherein the first network switching device includes a second A switch and a first network switch; and a second network switch device, coupled to the first network switch device, for using an active path or a backup of the second network switch device Path to send and receive the traffic, wherein the second network switch device includes a second switch and a second network switch, wherein the first switch is used to control the active path by the first network switch device Transmit the traffic to the first network switch or transmit the traffic to the second network switch by the alternate path of the first network switch; the second switch is used to control the second network switch The current path of the network switching device transmits the traffic to the second network switch or the alternate path of the second network switching device transmits the traffic to the first network switch; When a network switch fails, the network switch switches the first switch to control the backup path of the first network switch device to send and receive the traffic through the second network switch device, and when the second network switch device When the network switch fails, the network switch switches the second switch to control the backup path of the second network switch device to send and receive the traffic through the first network switch device. The network switch according to claim 1, wherein the first network switch and the second network switch receive the traffic, and combine a packet of data in the traffic with one of a high-speed traffic The high-speed packet data is processed by the first network switch or the second network switch, and then forwarded to the destination of the packet data. The network switch according to claim 1, wherein the first switch and the second switch are further used for enabling the traffic to pass through the active path of the first network switching device and the second network at the same time The current path of the switching device is transmitted to the first network switch and the second network switch. The network switch according to claim 1, wherein the first network switching device includes a first processor for controlling switching of the first switch, and the second network switching device includes a second processor for controlling The switching of the second switch. An operating method of a network switch includes: transmitting and receiving a traffic through an active path or a backup path of the first network switching device through a first network switching device, wherein the first network switching device includes A first switch and a first network switch; and through a second network switch device coupled to the first network switch device, through an active path of the second network switch device or A backup path for receiving and sending the traffic, wherein the second network switching device includes a second switching switch Switch and a second network switch; wherein the first switch controls the active path of the first network switch device to transmit the traffic to the first network switch or from the first network switch device The backup path of the second network switch transmits the traffic to the second network switch; the second switch is used to control the active path of the second network switch device to transmit the traffic to the second network switch or The backup path of the second network switching device transmits the traffic to the first network switch; and when the first network switch fails, the first switch is switched to allow the first network switch The backup path of the switching device transmits and receives the traffic through the second network switching device, and when the second network switch fails, the second switch is switched to allow the backup path of the second network switching device The traffic is sent and received through the first network switching device. Active path alternate path The operation method according to claim 5, further comprising: receiving the traffic through a first network switch or a second network switch, and combining a low-speed packet data in the traffic with a high-speed traffic One of the high-speed packet data is processed by the network switch, and then forwarded to the destination of the packet data. The operation method according to claim 5, further comprising: using the first switch and the second switch to enable the traffic to pass through the active path of the first network switching device and the second network at the same time The current path of the switching device is transmitted to the first network switch and the second Network switch. The operation method according to claim 7, further comprising: controlling the switching of the first switch through a first processor; and controlling the switching of the second switch through a second processor.

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