JP4099708B2 - Communication path failure detection apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a communication path failure detection apparatus and method, and a communication path selection apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In an IP packet network using IP (Internet Protocol) routing in packet transmission / reception between packet switching nodes, it is common to provide a plurality of routes (redundant configuration) assuming various load conditions. In such a configuration, a communication path constant monitoring function for the purpose of automatic detection for immediately switching to another route due to a failure of an adjacent node is necessary.
[0003]
This constant monitoring function may impose a high load on the processor and the network when monitoring is required.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a packet communication service with a reduced load.
[0004]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-111550 discloses a network management system including a plurality of communication devices and a management device that manages the network via a network. The management device is based on a report of status information from the communication device. Thus, there is disclosed a network management system that performs control so as to suppress a reporting interval from the communication device.
[0005]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-23750 discloses the following failure detection method. The failure detection method is a failure detection method that receives information including failure information and detects and recognizes failure information from the received information. The method receives the information and receives failure information from the information. A fault detection unit for detecting the fault detection unit, and a control unit for recognizing the fault detected by the fault detection unit by monitoring the fault detection unit, wherein the control unit is an apparatus to which the fault detection method is applied. Corresponding to the control processing steps performed by the above, the apparatus has a plurality of monitoring cycles for monitoring the failure detecting means.
[0006]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-183891 discloses the following computer system. The computer system (a) performs a predetermined process, detects whether a failure has occurred during the execution of the process, and transmits it as a detection signal; (b) a detection signal from the test software; In the computer system having the fault detection software for detecting the fault of the test software, each of the test software and the fault detection software includes a load detection unit for detecting the system load, and is detected by the load detection unit. The transmission / reception interval of the detection signal is adjusted according to the system load.
[0007]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-307418 discloses the following distributed processing system monitoring method. The distributed processing system monitoring method monitors a state monitoring action for a plurality of monitored devices from one monitoring device in a distributed processing system including a plurality of devices coupled via a network. In the monitoring method of the distributed processing system that is controlled by the action execution interval time, in addition to the normal monitoring execution interval, the monitoring execution interval at the time of abnormality having different lengths is provided, and these two kinds of monitoring actions for all monitored devices The monitoring action for a certain monitored device is changed to the group to be monitored at the normal monitoring execution interval when the result of the monitoring action executed last time is normal, When the result of the monitoring action executed last time is abnormal, the monitoring action is changed to a group to be monitored at the monitoring execution interval at the time of the abnormality.
[0008]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-183891 (FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 2]
JP 2001-111550 A (FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 3]
JP-A-3-23750 (FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 4]
JP-A-8-307418 (FIG. 1)
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
An object of the present invention is to provide a communication path failure detection apparatus and method capable of preventing a processor or network from being subjected to a high load when detecting a communication path failure and providing a packet communication service with a reduced load. It is.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a communication path selection device capable of preventing a processor or network from being subjected to a high load when selecting an optimal communication path and providing a packet communication service with a reduced load. .
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
[Means for Solving the Problems] will be described below using the numbers and symbols used in [Embodiments of the Invention]. These numbers and symbols are added to clarify the correspondence between the description of [Claims] and the description of [Mode for carrying out the invention]. It should not be used to interpret the technical scope of the described invention.
[0011]
The communication path failure detection apparatus of the present invention is a monitoring target path (10, 20) among a plurality of communication paths (10, 20) between first and second nodes (30, 40) that transmit and receive communication data. A failure detection device (30) for a communication path for detecting a failure in a communication path, wherein a monitoring signal (12) is transmitted to the monitored path (10, 20) and received via the monitored path (10, 20) Based on the response signal (13) to the monitored signal (12), the failure detection unit (2) that detects a failure in the monitored path (10, 20) and the load on the monitored path (10, 20) And a transmission cycle determining unit (2) for determining the transmission cycle of the monitoring signal (12).
[0012]
In the failure detection device (30) of the present invention, a time determination unit (2) that further determines a waiting time for waiting for reception of the response signal (13) according to a load on the monitoring target route (10, 20). I have.
[0013]
In the communication path failure detection apparatus (30) according to the present invention, the communication path failure detection apparatus (30) is provided in the first node (30), and the transmission cycle determination unit (2) or the time determination is performed. The unit (2) determines the transmission cycle or the waiting time according to the load on the first node (30), respectively.
[0014]
The communication path failure detection device (30) of the present invention further includes an input unit (1) for inputting an instruction signal (11) indicating the transmission cycle from an external terminal (B), and the transmission cycle determination unit ( 2) resets the transmission cycle indicated by the instruction signal (11) according to the load of the monitoring target route (10, 20).
[0015]
The communication path failure detection device (30) of the present invention further includes an input unit (1) for inputting an instruction signal (11) indicating the waiting time from an external terminal (B), and the time determination unit (2). ) Resets the waiting time indicated by the instruction signal (11) according to the load of the monitoring target route (10, 20).
[0016]
In the communication path failure detection apparatus (30) according to the present invention, the communication path failure detection apparatus (30) is provided in the first node (30), and the transmission cycle determination unit (2) or the time determination is performed. The unit (2) resets the transmission cycle or the waiting time indicated by the instruction signal (11) according to the load of the first node (30).
[0017]
In the communication path failure detection apparatus (30) according to the present invention, the communication data is packet data, and the communication paths (10, 20) are part of an IP packet network using IP (Internet Protocol) routing. .
[0018]
The communication path selection apparatus according to the present invention includes an optimum communication path (first and second communication paths (10, 20) between the first and second nodes (30, 40) that transmit and receive communication data. 10 and 20), a communication path selection device (30) for transmitting a monitoring signal (12) to each of the first and second communication paths (10, 20), and A time detection unit (2) for detecting a time until a response signal (13) to the monitoring signal (12) is received via each of the two communication paths (10, 20), and the first and second A route selection unit that selects the optimum communication route (10, 20) based on the time for each of the communication routes (10, 20).
[0019]
In the communication route selection device (30) according to the present invention, the route selection unit further includes the optimum communication route (10, 20) based on the load status of each of the first and second communication routes (10, 20). 10, 20).
[0020]
In the communication path selection device (30) of the present invention, the communication data is packet data, and the communication paths (10, 20) are a part of an IP packet network using IP (Internet Protocol) routing.
[0021]
According to the communication path failure detection method of the present invention, the monitoring target path (10, 20) among the plurality of communication paths (10, 20) between the first and second nodes (30, 40) that transmit and receive communication data. (A) An instruction signal (11) for instructing a transmission cycle when a monitoring signal (12) is transmitted to the monitoring target path (10, 20) is input. (B) resetting the transmission cycle indicated by the instruction signal (11) according to the load on the monitoring target path (10, 20), and (c) the monitoring A step (S4) of transmitting the monitoring signal (12) to the target route (10, 20); and (d) a response to the monitoring signal (12) before the waiting time elapses after the execution of (c). The signal (13) is sent to the monitored route (S5) for determining whether or not to receive via (10, 20), (e) When the response signal (13) is received as a result of (d), the response signal (13) Detecting a failure recovery of the monitored route (10, 20) if a failure is detected in the monitored route (10, 20) before receiving (f), the result of (d) A step (S9) of initializing the number of failures when the response signal (13) is received; and (g) the number of failures when the response signal (13) is not received as a result of (d). (S6), (h) a step (S2) for determining whether or not the number of failures exceeds a set number, and (i) as a result of (h), the number of failures is set to the set number. Is exceeded, the monitoring target route (10 A step (S3) of detecting that there is a failure in 20), and a step of performing (j) when the re-set transmission period has elapsed, the (c).
[0022]
In the communication path failure detection method of the present invention, the waiting time is instructed in the instruction signal (11) input in (a) (S1), and the monitored path (10) in (b). 20), the waiting time indicated by the instruction signal (11) is reset. In (d), the reset waiting time is used as the waiting time.
[0023]
In the communication path failure detection method according to the present invention, in (b), the transmission cycle or the waiting time indicated by the instruction signal (11) is retransmitted according to the load on the first node (30). Is set.
[0024]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a communication path failure detection apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0025]
The present embodiment provides a periodic monitoring function for detecting a failure in a communication path to an adjacent node without applying a load to the packet switching node or the packet switching network in the packet switching network.
[0026]
The periodic monitoring function is generally concerned about a decrease in processing capacity due to an increase in load on the exchange node or network. In this regard, in this embodiment, when it is determined that the load is high according to the traffic data (the load status of the node and the amount of packets sent to the target route), the periodic processing (monitoring signal (packet arrival confirmation signal) The monitoring condition is automatically reset to extend the interval of the transmission cycle) and the response signal waiting time, and the route monitoring is performed to reduce the influence on the packet communication service (reduce the call loss of the packet call).
[0027]
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, each of switching node A30 and switching node C40 is a packet switching node in an IP packet network using IP (Internet Protocol) routing, and provides a packet communication service. .
[0028]
A plurality of communication paths 10 and 20 are provided between the exchange node A30 and the exchange node C40 (redundant configuration). The communication path 10 is a path that uses the relay node A1 in communication from the node A30 to the opposite node C40. The communication path 20 is a path that uses the relay node A2 in communication from the node A30 to the opposite node C40.
[0029]
The maintenance terminal B can input a maintenance command to the node A30. The maintenance command sent from the maintenance terminal B to the node A30 includes the failure monitoring data 11 (see step S1 in FIG. 2).
[0030]
The node A 30 includes a route monitoring control unit 1, a route monitoring execution unit 2, a packet communication service control unit 3, and a signal transmission / reception control unit 4. The route monitoring control unit 1 is connected to the maintenance terminal B. The signal transmission / reception control unit 4 is connected to the communication path 10 and the communication path 20.
[0031]
The route monitoring control unit 1 inputs failure monitoring data 11 from the maintenance terminal B. The route monitoring control unit 1 checks the validity of the input contents of the failure monitoring data 11, and if it is valid, requests the route monitoring control unit 2 to execute route monitoring based on the failure monitoring data 11. When the route monitoring control unit 1 receives a notification that a failure has occurred in the communication route or that the failure has been recovered, the route monitoring control unit 1 reports the fact to the packet communication service control unit 3 and notifies the maintenance terminal B of the fact. A warning is output.
[0032]
The failure monitoring data 11 includes data indicating the monitoring target communication path 10 or 20, data indicating the transmission period of the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 (see step S4 in FIG. 2), and a response signal 13 ( The data indicating the reception waiting time in step S5 in FIG. 2 and the data indicating the number of times of path failure determination (the allowable number of timeouts of the waiting time of the response signal 13) are included.
[0033]
When the route monitoring control unit 1 requests route monitoring as described above, the route monitoring execution unit 2 executes a communication route monitoring function, detects a failure or recovery of the communication route, and monitors the detection result. Report to the control unit 1.
[0034]
Further, the route monitoring execution unit 2 examines whether or not each monitoring condition indicated in the failure monitoring data 11 input when the route monitoring request is received from the route monitoring control unit 1 is appropriate. That is, the route monitoring execution unit 2 sets each monitoring condition of the failure monitoring data 11 input from the maintenance terminal B according to the traffic data (the load state of the node A30 and the amount of packets sent to the target route 10 or 20). Reset it. Specifically, when the path monitoring execution unit 2 determines that the load on the node A 30 or the monitoring target path 10 or 20 is high, the transmission period of the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 and / or the reception waiting time of the response signal 13 The monitoring conditions are reset so that
[0035]
The signal transmission / reception control unit 4 receives a transmission request for the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 from the route monitoring execution unit 2, transmits the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 to the communication path 10 or 20 to be monitored, and from the communication path 10 or 20 When the response signal 13 to the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 is received, the route monitoring execution unit 2 is notified of the reception.
[0036]
The packet communication service control unit 3 receives information indicating the occurrence or failure of the communication path 10 or 20 detected by the path monitoring execution unit 2 through the path monitoring control unit 1 and reflects it in the route selection process in the packet communication service. Let
[0037]
The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0038]
The node A30 inputs a maintenance command from the maintenance terminal B. Thereby, the failure monitoring data 11 is input from the maintenance terminal B to the node A30 (step S1 in FIG. 2).
[0039]
When step S <b> 1 is performed, the route monitoring control unit 1 determines whether there is a failure in the communication routes 10, 20 to the opposite node C and whether there is a failure recovery based on the failure monitoring data 11. Request execution of monitoring.
[0040]
In response to the execution request, the route monitoring execution unit 2 creates an IP (Internet Protocol) network communication route arrival confirmation packet (packet arrival confirmation signal 12), and performs the above monitoring specified by the failure monitoring data 11 Transmission to the target communication path (communication path 10 or communication path 20) is performed through the signal transmission / reception control unit 4 (step S4).
[0041]
In this case, the route monitoring execution unit 2 uses the transmission period of the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 specified by the failure monitoring data 11 and the reception waiting time of the response signal 13 as a basis for the traffic data during operation (the load status of the node A30, Flexible monitoring conditions according to the load status of the node A30 and the communication path 10 or 20 based on the packet transmission amount to the target path 10 or 20). That is, when the route monitoring execution unit 2 determines that the load on the node A 30 or the monitoring target route 10 or 20 is high based on the traffic data, the transmission cycle of the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 and / or the response signal 13 Reset the monitoring conditions to increase the reception waiting time. Then, the transmission period of the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 in the following steps S4 and S10 and the reception waiting time of the response signal 13 in step S5 are executed with the reset contents.
[0042]
When the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 is transmitted to the monitoring target communication path 10 or 20, a timer for measuring the reception waiting time of the response signal 13 for the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 and the transmission period of the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 are measured. A periodic start timer is started (step S4).
[0043]
The route monitoring execution unit 2 receives a response packet (response signal 13) indicating packet arrival confirmation through the signal transmission / reception control unit 4 within the reception waiting time of the response signal 13 designated or reset by the failure monitoring data 11. If it is possible (step S5-Y), it is considered that the route 10 or 20 to be monitored is valid.
[0044]
At this time, if a failure has already occurred in the monitoring target route 10 or 20 (step S7-Y), it is detected that the failure of the route has been recovered (step S8), and the previous monitoring is performed. Information NG count 14 is initialized (step S9).
[0045]
Thereafter, the next monitoring process is executed at the time-out (step S10) of the periodic start timer for transmitting the next packet arrival confirmation signal 12.
[0046]
On the other hand, when the response packet 13 cannot be received within the reception waiting time of the response signal 13 (step S5-N), NG (defective) occurs in the monitoring path 10 or 20, and the monitoring information NG of the corresponding monitoring path The number of times 14 is incremented (step S6).
[0047]
When the value of the monitoring information NG count 14 exceeds the route failure determination count specified in the failure monitoring data 11 (step S2-Y), the monitoring route is in a communication disabled state (failure detection) (step S3). ), The route monitoring execution unit 2 notifies the route monitoring control unit 1 to that effect.
[0048]
The route monitoring control unit 1 notifies the packet communication service control unit 3 that a failure has been detected in the monitoring route and the monitoring route cannot be used in the packet communication service.
[0049]
Further, even after the path failure is detected (step S3), the path monitoring execution unit 2 continuously transmits the packet arrival confirmation signal 12 to the monitoring target path through the signal transmission / reception control unit 4 according to the transmission cycle of the packet arrival confirmation signal 12. Continue (step S4), and thereafter, when the failure of the corresponding route is recovered, the response packet 13 is received through the signal transmission / reception control unit 4 (step S5-Y), thereby confirming the arrival of the packet on the monitoring route (failure recovery). Is detected (step S8), and the fact is notified to the route monitoring control unit 1.
[0050]
The route monitoring control unit 1 notifies the packet communication service control unit 3 that failure recovery of the monitoring route has been detected and packet communication using the monitoring route is possible in the packet communication service. Upon receiving the notification, the packet communication service control unit 3 re-embeds the monitored route into the route selection target in the packet communication service.
[0051]
Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.
[0052]
Conventionally, in the periodic monitoring process, there has been a concern about a decrease in processing capacity due to a high load on the exchange node and the network. However, in this embodiment, traffic data (node load status and packet transmission amount of the target route) ), When it is determined that the load is high, the monitoring condition is automatically reset to extend the interval of the periodic processing (transmission cycle of the monitoring signal 12) and the waiting time of the response signal 13 to the packet communication service. It is possible to realize route monitoring with reduced influence.
By detecting a failure at the time of communication path failure using this function, it is possible to reduce the service degradation of the packet communication service.
[0053]
Next, an embodiment of a communication path selection device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 3, the same components as those of the above-described embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
[0054]
As shown in FIG. 3, when there are a plurality of communication paths (communication path 10, communication path 20) to the adjacent node C, the path monitoring execution unit 2 periodically transmits these communication paths 10 through the signal transmission / reception control unit 4. The monitoring signal 12 is transmitted to the opposite node C using the communication path 20, and a response reception report is received from the signal transmission / reception control unit 4 when the response signal 13 from each node is received.
[0055]
In the above, the route monitoring execution unit 2 notifies the route selection processing unit 5 of the time from the transmission of the monitoring signal 12 to the reception of the response signal 13.
[0056]
The route selection processing unit 5 determines each route 10, 20 based on the measurement time from the transmission of the monitoring signal 12 to the reception of the response signal 13 and the usage status of each route 10, 20 in the packet communication service from the packet communication service control unit 3. Twenty information transfer capabilities and load conditions are measured periodically. The route selection processing unit 5 adjusts and detours the number of packet communication services assigned to the route with poor response by reflecting the measurement result in the route selection processing. Thereby, an efficient service for selecting an optimum packet communication path can be provided.
[0057]
The route selection processing unit 5 periodically measures the information transfer capability of each of the routes 10 and 20 based on the measurement time from the transmission of the monitoring signal 12 to the reception of the response signal 13, and the measurement result is route selection processing. Can be reflected.
[0058]
【The invention's effect】
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when detecting the failure of a communication path | route, it can prevent giving a high load to a network.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a communication path failure detection apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B is applied to this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows a communication path.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of an embodiment of a communication path failure detection apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a communication path selection device according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Path | route monitoring control part 2 Path | route monitoring execution part 3 Packet communication service control part 4 Signal transmission / reception control part 10 Communication path 11 Fault monitoring data 12 Packet arrival confirmation signal 13 Response signal 14 Monitoring information NG frequency 20 Communication path 30 Exchange node A
40 Switching node C
B Maintenance terminal

Claims (12)

A monitoring signal is transmitted to a monitoring target path among a plurality of communication paths provided between a first node apparatus that transmits and receives communication data and a second node apparatus that faces the first node apparatus, and the monitoring A signal transmission / reception control unit that receives a response signal to the monitoring signal via a target path;
A path monitoring execution unit for setting a transmission cycle for transmitting the monitoring signal and a waiting time for waiting for reception of the response signal according to the path load of the monitoring target path and the node load of the first node device; Provided in the first node device ,
The signal transmission / reception control unit determines whether or not to receive the response signal before the waiting time elapses after transmitting the monitoring signal. In the communication path failure detection device according to claim 1,
Furthermore,
An input unit for inputting an instruction signal indicating the transmission cycle and the waiting time from an external terminal;
The path monitoring execution unit is a communication path failure detection apparatus that resets the transmission cycle and the waiting time indicated by the instruction signal according to the path load and the node load. In the communication path failure detection device according to claim 1 or 2,
The signal transmission / reception control unit includes:
When the response signal is received, if a failure is detected in the monitored route before receiving the response signal, the recovery of the monitored route failure is detected,
When the response signal is received before the waiting time has elapsed since the monitoring signal was transmitted, the number of failures for the monitoring target path is initialized,
When the response signal is not received before the waiting time elapses after the monitoring signal is transmitted, the failure count of the monitoring target path is detected when the number of failures is incremented and the set count is exceeded. Fault detection device. In the communication path failure detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Transmitting a monitoring signal to each of the plurality of communication paths and detecting a response time until receiving a response signal to the monitoring signal via each of the plurality of communication paths;
A communication path failure detection apparatus, further comprising: a path selection unit that selects an optimal communication path among the plurality of communication paths based on the response time for each of the plurality of communication paths. The communication path failure detection device according to claim 4,
The path selection unit is a communication path failure detection apparatus that further selects the optimum communication path based on the load status of each of the plurality of communication paths. In the communication path failure detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The communication data is packet data,
The communication path is a part of an IP packet network using IP (Internet Protocol) routing. A transmission step of transmitting a monitoring signal to a monitoring target path among a plurality of communication paths provided between a first node apparatus that transmits and receives communication data and a second node apparatus that faces the first node apparatus;
A receiving step of receiving a response signal to the monitoring signal via the monitoring target path;
A monitoring condition setting step for setting a transmission cycle for transmitting the monitoring signal and a waiting time for waiting for reception of the response signal based on the path load of the monitoring target path and the node load of the first node device; Comprising
The reception step includes a determination step of determining whether to receive the response signal before the waiting time elapses after the monitoring signal is transmitted ,
A communication path failure detection method for detecting a failure in the monitoring target path by the first node device . The communication path failure detection method according to claim 7,
An input step of inputting an instruction signal indicating the transmission period and the waiting time from an external terminal;
The monitoring condition setting step includes a step of resetting the transmission cycle and the waiting time indicated by the instruction signal according to the path load and the node load. In the communication path failure detection method according to claim 7 or 8,
The receiving step includes
A recovery detection step of detecting recovery of a failure in the monitoring target path if a failure is detected in the monitoring target path before receiving the response signal when the response signal is received;
An initialization step of initializing the number of failures for the monitoring target path when the response signal is received before the waiting time elapses after transmitting the monitoring signal;
A defect detection step of incrementing the number of defects when the response signal is not received before the waiting time elapses after transmitting the monitoring signal;
A failure detection method for a communication path, further comprising: a failure detection step for detecting a failure in the monitoring target path when the number of failures exceeds a set number. The communication path failure detection method according to any one of claims 7 to 9,
A time detection step of detecting the response time until the monitoring signal is transmitted to each of the plurality of communication paths and the response signal to the monitoring signal is received via each of the plurality of communication paths;
A communication path failure detection method, further comprising: a path selection step of selecting an optimal communication path among the plurality of communication paths based on the response time for each of the plurality of communication paths. The communication path failure detection method according to claim 10,
The route selection step further comprises a step of selecting the optimum communication route based on a load state of each of the plurality of communication routes. 12. The communication path failure detection method according to claim 7, wherein the communication path is a part of an IP packet network using IP routing.

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