Apparatus for link failure detection on high availability Ethernet backplane
US7260066B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 20, 2002 |
| Grant date | Aug 21, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 28, 2025 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L69/40
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for actively detecting link failures on a high availability backplane architecture. The backplane system includes redundant node boards operatively communicating with redundant switch fabric boards. Uplink ports of the node boards are logically grouped into trunk ports at one end of the communication link with the switch fabric boards. A probe packet is sent, and a probing timer is set whenever either a specified number of bad packets are received, or an idle timer expires. If a response to the probe packet is received before the probe timer expires then the link is deemed valid, otherwise the link is presumed to have failed. Preferably, either the node boards or the switch fabric boards are configured to properly handle a probe pack, which preferably has identical source and destination addresses.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.