JP3296305B2 - Switching hub and communication method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a switching hub and a communication method for improving communication throughput between switching hubs by connecting the switching hubs using a plurality of ports.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Switching hubs are used to connect network devices. However, the communication speed between the switching hubs has been a bottleneck due to an increase in the communication speed of the connected terminals and an increase in the number of terminals.

On the other hand, there is a switching hub having a high-speed port for connecting to a server or a backbone, but its performance is limited. In some cases, existing network cables could not be used. Some switching hubs have a function of connecting the switching hubs using a plurality of ports. However, since such a switching hub uses a unique protocol, it cannot be interconnected with other devices. In addition, it is necessary to set the group port and the port assignment for the switching hub.

[0004]

As described above, in the above-mentioned conventional switching hub, an increase in the communication speed of the connected terminals and an increase in the number of terminals prevent improvement in the communication throughput between the switching hubs. I have. Further, in a switching hub having a high-speed port for connecting to a server or a backbone, an existing network cable may not be used. Furthermore, a switching hub having a function of connecting the switching hubs by using a plurality of ports uses a unique protocol, so that interconnection with other devices is impossible. In addition, there is a problem that setting of group ports and setting of port assignment are required for the switching hub.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a switching hub and a communication method capable of improving performance.

[0006]

A switching hub according to claim 1 comprises a plurality of first ports connected to a plurality of first ports of a first switching hub having a MAC address.
Communication between a plurality of terminals and a plurality of second terminals connected to the plurality of second ports of the second switching hub,
And a switching device that is distributed to the second plurality of ports.
And the first switching hub has a first port.
Whether the port is a group port or a single port
Manage and group port 1st port
A port management table that evenly allocates
Generates a link detection signal to detect the link status of the
And a first port based on the link detection signal.
Packet that includes the MAC address and transmission port number.
A packet transmitting unit for transmitting a packet from the first port;
The source MAC address matches its own MAC address
Received the packet that was recorded in the packet
Transmission port number and transmission port number that received the packet
Is registered as a group port in the port management table.
Packet receiving unit and a packet transmitted from the first port.
Refer to the MAC address and port management table of the packet
And a switch unit for performing switching processing by
And said that you are. Also, the transmission port number of the packet transmitted from the packet transmission unit can be recorded in the data portion of the packet based on the MAC address of the first switching hub. Also,
When there is no link detection signal for the first port from the link detection unit, the packet reception unit can register the corresponding port as a single port in the port management table. In the switching process by the switch unit, the packet received from the group port is
It is possible to include a filtering process in which forwarding is not performed except for the single port assigned to the group port. The communication method according to claim 5 , wherein the first port is connected to the first port of the first switching hub .
Generating a link detection signal when the terminal or the second port of the second switching hub is connected;
Transmitting a packet including a MAC address and a transmission port number to a terminal or a first port to which a second port is connected, recording the port number of the first port that received the packet, and recording in the packet Detecting the connection destination of the first port from the transmission port number that has been set, and the second step when the connection destination is the second switching hub.
Registering the first port connected to the switching hub in the port management table as a group port in the port management table; and registering the first port connected to the second switching hub in the group port in the port management table with: Allocating the rest of the first port and referring to the MAC address of the packet and the port management table, and determining that the packet received from the group port is not transferred to any port other than the first port allocated to the group port And performing the following. In the switching hub and the communication method according to the present invention,
A plurality of first terminals connected to a plurality of first ports of a first switching hub having a MAC address;
The communication between the plurality of second terminals connected to the plurality of second ports of the switching hub is performed by distributing the communication to the first and second plurality of ports.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the switching hub of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of the switching hub of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a port management table of FIG. .

FIG. 1 shows terminals 17-1 to 17-n as first terminals connected to a switching hub 10 as a first switching hub and a switching hub 20 as a second switching hub. In this case, the communication with the terminals 27-1 to 27-n as the second terminals is distributed to a plurality of ports. As a result, the throughput of communication between the switching hub 10 and the switching hub 20 can be improved, and the details will be described later.

Next, referring to FIG.
Will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the switching hub 10 includes a link detection unit 11, a packet transmission unit 12, a packet reception unit 13, a port management table 14, a switch unit 15, and ports 16-1 to 16-n. I have. The switching hub 10 has a MAC (medi
a access control) address.

The link detecting unit 11 is provided for each of the ports 16-1 to 16-1.
The state of the link 6-n is checked, and a link detection signal is generated.
The packet transmission unit 12 is connected to each of the ports 16-1 to 16-n and the link detection unit 11, and transmits a broadcast packet to the port by a link detection signal. The source address of the broadcast packet is recorded as the source port number in the data portion of the packet by the MAC address of the device itself.

The packet receiving unit 13 has a port
16-n and the port management table 14.
When the packet receiving unit 13 receives a packet whose source MAC address from each of the ports 16-1 to 16-n matches the MAC address of the device itself, the source port number recorded in the packet and the packet Port management table 14 with the port number that received
Register with. The packet receiving unit 13 is also connected to the link detecting unit 11, and when there is no link detection signal for each of the ports 16-1 to 16-n, registers the corresponding port as a single port in the port management table 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, the port management table 14 manages whether each of the ports 16-1 to 16-n is a group port or a single port. In addition, all port states are initialized with a single port. In addition, when the ports 16-4 and 16-5 are group ports, for example,
The port type is registered as group A, and the remaining single ports 16-1, 16-2, 16-3, 16-6, 16-7, 16
-8 are equally allocated to the group ports 16-4 and 16-5. In FIG. 3, the single ports 16-1, 16-3, 16-7 and the single port 1
6-2, 16-6, and 16-8 are assigned.

The switch unit 15 includes ports 16-1 to 16
Connected to -n. The switch unit 15 is connected to the port 16-1.
The switching process is performed with reference to the address of the packet sent from .about.16-n. At this time, the port management table 14 is also referred to and a filtering process is performed as needed. That is, the processing is such that a packet received from a group port is not transferred to a port other than the single port assigned to the group port.

Next, the operation of the switching hub 10 will be described. When the terminal 17-1 is connected to the port 16-1 of the switching hub 10, the link detection unit 11 generates a link detection signal. Upon receiving the link detection signal, the packet transmitting unit 12 sends the packet to the port 16-1 to which the terminal 17-1 is connected.
Send a broadcast packet to The transmission port number is recorded in the packet. The transmitted packet is received by the terminal 17-1. The received packet is discarded because it is meaningless to the terminal 17-1. Similar processing is performed when the terminals 17-2 and 17-3 are connected to the ports 16-2 and 16-3 of the switching hub 10.

Next, as shown in FIG.
0 port 16-4 to switching hub 20 port 26
When -4 is connected, the link detection unit 11 generates a link detection signal. Packet transmitting unit 1 receiving a link detection signal
2 is a port 1 to which the switching hub 20 is connected
The broadcast packet is transmitted to 6-4. The transmission port number is recorded in the packet. The transmitted packet is transferred to the terminals 27-1 to 27-n connected to the switching hub 20. The transferred packet is
The packet is discarded because it is meaningless to the terminals 27-1 to 27-n.

Also, as shown in FIG.
0 port 16-5 to switching hub 20 port 26
When -5 is connected, the link detection unit 11 generates a link detection signal. Packet transmitting unit 1 receiving a link detection signal
2 is a port 1 to which the switching hub 20 is connected
The broadcast packet is transmitted to 6-5. The transmission port number is recorded in the packet. The transmitted packet is transmitted to the terminal 27 connected to the switching hub 20.
-1 to 27-n. At the same time, the data is transferred from the port 26-4 of the switching hub 20 to the port 16-4 of the switching hub 10. The packets transferred to the terminals 27-1 to 27-n are discarded because they are meaningless to the terminals 27-1 to 27-n.

The packet transferred to the port 16-4 of the switching hub 10 is sent to the packet receiving unit 13.
In the packet receiving unit 13, the MA which is the source of the packet
By referring to the C address, it is possible to detect that the packet is transmitted by the switching hub 10 itself. Also, based on the port number of the port 16-4 receiving the packet and the transmission port number recorded in the packet, it is determined that the connection destination of the port 16-4 and the port 16-5 is the same switching hub 20. Can be detected. The packet receiving unit 13 registers the port 16-4 and the port 16-5 as the group port A in the port management table 14.

The switch unit 15 has ports 16-1 to 16
Performs switching processing of packets received from -n,
The setting is made so that a packet whose source MAC address matches the MAC address of the switching hub 10 itself is not transferred. Thereby, the switching hub 1
It is possible to prevent the packet output from the switch 0 from looping with the switching hub 20.

The packet receiving section 13 has ports 16-4 and 1
When it is detected that 6-5 is a group port, the port type of that port is registered as group A in the port management table 14 shown in FIG.
1, 16-2, 16-3, 16-6, 16-7 and 16-8 are equally allocated to the group ports 16-4 and 16-5.

The switch unit 15 performs normal switching processing with reference to the source address and destination address of the packet. At this time, referring to the port management table 14, the following filtering process is performed. That is,
The switch unit 15 does not transfer a packet received from a group port to a port other than the single port assigned to the group port. That is, the switch unit 15
The packet received from the port 16-4 is sent to the port 16-1,
It is not transferred to other than 16-3 and 16-7. Further, the switch unit 15 does not transfer the packet received from the port 16-5 to a port other than the ports 16-2, 16-6, and 16-8.

The switch unit 15 does not transfer a packet received from a single port to another single port or to an assigned group port. That is, the switch unit 15 does not transfer the packets received from the ports 16-1, 16-3, and 16-7 to the port 16-5. Also,
The switch unit 15 does not transfer the packets received from the ports 16-2, 16-6, and 16-8 to the port 16-4.

By doing so, the switching hub 1
0 means that the packet to be transferred to the switching hub 20 is distributed to the ports 16-4 and 16-5. For the switching hub 20, the ports 16-1, 16-
Terminals connected to 3, 16-7 appear to be connected beyond port 26-4, and ports 16-2, 16-6, 16-8
Terminals 17-1 to 17-n connected to port 26-5 appear to be connected beyond port 26-5. For this reason, the switching hub 20 distributes the packet to be transferred to the switching hub 10 to the ports 26-4 and 26-5. As described above, the switching hub 10 and the switching hub 2
The communication with 0 is distributed to two ports.

As described above, in the present embodiment, communication between the terminals 17-1 to 17-n connected to the switching hub 10 and the terminals 27-1 to 27-n connected to the switching hub 20 is performed. Is distributed to the plurality of ports 16-1 to 16-n, so that the throughput between the switching hubs 10 and 20 can be improved. In the present embodiment, when a failure occurs in the cable connecting the switching hubs 10 and 20, the switching hub 1
The ports are automatically switched to the other ports 16-1 to 16-n connecting 0 and 20. Therefore, if at least one cable between the switching hubs 10 and 20 can communicate, the switching hub Communication between 10, 20 can be performed without interruption.

Further, in the present embodiment, the switching hub 20 of the other party is made to look as if a plurality of switching hubs 10 are connected.
There is no need to rely on the switching hub 20 to be connected, and interconnection with other devices can be performed.
Further, in the present embodiment, by transmitting a broadcast packet, it is possible to detect that the switching hubs 10 and 20 are connected by a plurality of ports 16-1 to 16-n. Port settings and port assignment settings can be eliminated.

[0025]

As described above, according to the switching hub and the communication method according to the present invention, the first device having the MAC address is provided.
Communication between the plurality of first terminals connected to the plurality of first ports of the switching hub and the plurality of second terminals connected to the plurality of second ports of the second switching hub. , The performance is distributed to the first and second plurality of ports, so that the performance can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a switching hub of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of a switching hub of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a port management table of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Cumulative phase addition circuit

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of first ports connected to a plurality of first ports of a first switching hub having a MAC address.
Between the first terminal and the plurality of second terminals connected to the plurality of second ports of the second switching hub in a distributed manner to the first and second plurality of ports .
A Guhabu, or wherein the first switching hub, the first port is a group port Shingurupo
Port and the group port
Management that equally allocates the first port to the
Table and link for detecting link status of the first port
A link detection unit for generating a detection signal; and a MAC to the first port based on the link detection signal.
Send a packet containing an address and a transmission port number
The packet transmission unit and the MAC address of the transmission source from the first port is
When a packet that matches the MAC address of
Transmission port number recorded in the packet,
The transmission port number that received the packet and the group port
Received as a packet registered in the port management table as
And a MAC address of a packet sent from the first port.
Switch with reference to the address and the port management table.
Switching hub, wherein a and a switch unit that performs ring processing is provided. 2. A transmission port number of a packet transmitted from the packet transmitting unit according to claim 1, wherein based on the first MAC address included in the switching hub, characterized in that it is recorded in the data portion of the packet The switching hub according to 1. Wherein the packet receiving unit, when the link detection signal to said first port from said link detecting section is eliminated, claims, characterized in that to register the port management table corresponding port as a single port 2. The switching hub according to 1 . 4. The switching process by the switch unit includes a filtering process for not forwarding a packet received from a group port to a port other than a single port assigned to the group port. The switching hub according to claim 1 . When the second port of wherein the first terminal or the second switching hub to the first port of the first switching hub are connected, the step of generating a link detection signal, the first Transmitting a packet including a MAC address and a transmission port number to a terminal or the first port to which the second port is connected; a port number of the first port receiving the packet; and the packet Detecting the connection destination of the first port from the transmission port number recorded in the connection port; and when the connection destination is the second switching hub,
The first switching hub connected to the second switching hub;
Registering the port as a group port in a port management table; and registering the remainder of the first port in a group port that is a first port connected to the second switching hub in the port management table. Allocating; and performing a process of referring to the MAC address and port management table of the packet and not transferring the packet received from the group port to any port other than the first port allocated to the group port. A communication method comprising: