CN116962325A

CN116962325A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116962325A
Application number: CN202210414670.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 贾成跃; 第海兵; 孔庆荣; 李晨; 周贵
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-04-20
Filing date: 2022-04-20
Publication date: 2023-10-27
Also published as: WO2023202565A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a device, which relate to the field of communication, and the method comprises the following steps: a first operational state of a stacked link between a first switch and a second switch is obtained, wherein the second switch is a switch in the same stacked system as the first switch. And sending the first information to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch. Wherein the first information is used to indicate a first operating state. The application is used for the switches, and can enable each switch in the stacking system to rapidly detect the operation state of the stacking link between the switch and other switches.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus.

Background

With the development of network technology, the scale of the network is continuously enlarged, and the problems of insufficient ports or bandwidth of the switch and the like often occur. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in a possible method, a stacking technology may be used to connect a plurality of switches through a stacking link to form a stacking system. By means of the stacking system, the effects of improving network expansion capacity, simplifying network management and the like can be achieved.

When the switch in the stacking system detects that a stacking link between other switches fails, the stacking system can be split timely into a plurality of independent stacking systems or switches, so that each independent stacking system or switch can independently execute service forwarding tasks.

Therefore, how to make each switch in the stacking system quickly detect the operation state of the stacking link with other switches is a problem that needs to be solved at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are used for enabling each switch in a stacking system to rapidly detect the operation state of a stacking link between the switch and other switches.

In a first aspect, there is provided a communication method applied to a switch (hereinafter referred to as "first switch" for convenience of distinction), the method comprising: a first operational state of a stacked link between a first switch and a second switch is obtained, wherein the second switch is a switch in the same stacked system as the first switch. And sending the first information to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch. Wherein the first information is used to indicate a first operating state.

In the method, the running state of the stacking link between the local end switch and the opposite end switch is sent to the opposite end switch in consideration of the fact that the service link between the switches in the stacking system can be used, so that the opposite end switch can directly know the running state of the stacking link, and stacking splitting can be performed in time when the stacking link fails. Compared with the related art, on one hand, the method does not occupy the bandwidth resources of the stacking links between the switches; on the other hand, the method of the application is not limited by the timeout duration of the stack protocol message, so that the stack splitting can be triggered more quickly, thereby reducing the influence on the transmission service.

In one possible design, sending first information to a second switch over a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch includes: transmitting an LLDP message to a second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch; the LLDP message carries the first information.

In the above design, the first information is sent by using the related field in the LLDP message, so that the running state of the stacked link can be sent to the second switch without occupying the bandwidth resources of the stacked link between the switches and without re-establishing a new transmission protocol.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: and judging whether the first running state is normal or not. The method for sending the first information to the second switch through the service link between the first switch and the second switch specifically comprises the following steps: and after the first running state abnormality is determined, the first information is sent to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch.

In the above design, after determining that the first operation state is abnormal, the first switch sends the first information to the second switch through the service link. In this way, the first information may not be sent to the second switch in the case that the first operation state is normal, thereby reducing the bandwidth occupation of the transmission link.

In one possible design, the first operating state includes: the operational status of the stacking port between the first switch and the second switch, and the operational status of the stacking process in the first switch.

By the above design, the running state of the stacking port between the first switch and the second switch and the running state of the stacking process in the first switch can be sent to the second switch through the service link. Thereby facilitating the operations such as stack splitting and the like of the second switch in time.

In one possible design, the first switch is a master switch in a stacked system, or the second switch is a master switch in a stacked system.

In a second aspect, there is provided a communication method applied to a switch (hereinafter referred to as "second switch" for convenience of distinction), the method comprising:

the first information is received over a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch. The first switch is a switch in the same stacking system with the second switch, and the first information is used for indicating a first running state of a stacking link between the first switch and the second switch. Based on the first information, stack splitting is performed.

In one possible design, receiving first information over a traffic link between a first switch and the second switch includes: receiving an LLDP message through a service link between a first switch and the second switch; the LLDP message carries the first information.

In one possible design, the performing stack splitting according to the first information includes: judging whether the first running state is normal or not according to the first information; after determining that the first operating condition is abnormal, performing stack splitting.

In one possible design, the first switch is a master switch in the stacked system or the second switch is a master switch in the stacked system.

In a third aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, applied to a first switch, the communication apparatus comprising: and the acquisition unit is used for acquiring a first running state of a stacking link between the first switch and a second switch, wherein the second switch is a switch which is in the same stacking system with the first switch. And the sending unit is used for sending first information to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch, wherein the first information is used for indicating the first running state.

In one possible design, the sending unit, configured to send, to the second switch, first information through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch, includes: the sending unit is specifically configured to send an LLDP packet to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch; the LLDP message carries the first information.

In one possible design, the communication device further comprises: and the judging unit is used for judging whether the first running state is normal or not. The sending unit is configured to send, through a service link between the first switch and the second switch, first information to the second switch, and specifically includes: the sending unit is specifically configured to send the first information to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch after determining that the first operation state is abnormal.

In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, applied to a second switch, the communication apparatus including: and the receiving unit is used for receiving first information through a service link between a first switch and the second switch, wherein the first switch is a switch which is in the same stacking system with the second switch, and the first information is used for indicating a first running state of the stacking link between the first switch and the second switch. And the stack management unit is used for carrying out stack splitting according to the first information.

In one possible design, the receiving unit, configured to receive the first information through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch, includes: the receiving unit is specifically configured to receive an LLDP packet through a service link between a first switch and the second switch; the LLDP message carries the first information.

In one possible design, the stack management unit is configured to perform stack splitting according to the first information, and includes: and the stack management unit is specifically configured to determine whether the first operation state is normal according to the first information. And the stack management unit is also specifically used for performing stack splitting after determining that the first running state is abnormal.

In a fifth aspect, a communications device is provided, comprising a processor and an interface through which the processor receives or transmits data, the processor being configured to implement a method according to the first aspect or any one of the designs of the second aspect.

A sixth aspect provides a switch comprising the communication apparatus of any of the third or fourth or fifth aspects.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when executed on a processor, implement a method as described in the first aspect or any of the designs of the first aspect or any of the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a processor, implement a method as described in the first aspect or any one of the designs of the second aspect or any one of the second aspect.

The advantages of the second to eighth aspects are described with reference to the corresponding descriptions of the first aspect, and are not repeated here.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication network according to the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a stacking system according to the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to the present application;

FIG. 4 is a second schematic diagram of a stacking system according to the present application;

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an LLDP message provided in the present application;

FIG. 6A is a second flow chart of a communication method according to the present application;

FIG. 6B is a third flow chart of a communication method according to the present application;

FIG. 7 is a third schematic diagram of a stacking system according to the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a communication method according to the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to the present application;

FIG. 10 is a second schematic diagram of a communication device according to the present application;

fig. 11 is a third schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in this embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings in this embodiment. In the embodiments of the present application, the words "first", "second", etc. are used to distinguish identical items or similar items having substantially identical functions and actions for the sake of clarity in describing the present embodiment. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the words "first," "second," and the like do not limit the amount and order of execution, and that the words "first," "second," and the like do not necessarily differ. Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, words such as "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g." is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete fashion that may be readily understood.

In order to facilitate understanding of the present embodiment, a description is first given of the related art related to the present embodiment:

stacking refers to a technique of logically combining a plurality of switches supporting stacking characteristics together into one switching device. Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication network according to the present embodiment. In fig. 1 (a), communication between the communication network 121, the communication network 122, and the communication network 123 can be performed through the switch 111, the switch 112, and the switch 113. Wherein, the switch 111 and the switch 112 form the stacking system 110 after establishing a stacking link a through a stacking cable (for example, the stacking ports 9/0/0 ports (not shown in fig. 1 (a)) of the switch 111 and the switch 112 are respectively connected through the stacking cable), so as to establish the stacking link a between the switch 111 and the switch 112. For upstream and downstream devices, the stacking system 110 acts as a switch, as shown in fig. 1 (b).

By combining the switches into the stacked system, on the one hand, the reliability of the network can be improved by redundancy backup among a plurality of switches in the stacked system. On the other hand, by adding member switches in the stacked system, expansion of the port number, bandwidth, and processing capacity of the stacked system can be achieved quickly. In addition, by constructing the stacking system, member switches in the stacking system can be uniformly configured and managed, so that network management is simplified.

Switches in stacked systems can be divided into three types by function: master switch, standby switch and slave switch. The main switch is responsible for managing the whole stacking system besides the service forwarding. Typically there is only one master switch in a stacked system. The standby switch is a backup switch of the main switch. When the primary switch fails, the backup switch may take over all traffic of the primary switch. Typically there is only one primary switch and one backup switch in a stacked system. The slave switch is mainly used for forwarding the service. The other switches in the stacked system are slave switches except the master switch and the standby switch.

Taking the stacking system 110 of fig. 1 as an example, where the switch 111 is a master switch and the switch 112 is a standby switch (slave switches are not shown in the stacking system 110 for ease of understanding). One or more master boards for controlling the switches are respectively included in the switch 111 and the switch 112, wherein the master boards may be system-control cross-connect multi-protocol processes (CXPs). As in FIG. 2, CXP1/5 and CXP1/6 are included in switch 111 and CXP2/5 and CXP2/6 are included in switch 112. The CXP1/5 is used as a system master control board for uniformly configuring and managing the switches in the stacking system 110, and the CXP2/5 is a backup master control board of the CXP 1/5. CXP1/6 and CXP2/6 are the cold backup master control single board.

Specifically, when CXP1/5 (i.e. the system master control single board) fails, CXP2/5 is switched to the system master control single board, CXP1/6 is used as a backup master control single board of CXP2/5, and CXP2/6 is still used as a cold backup master control single board. Then, when CXP2/5 (i.e. the system master control single board) fails, then CXP1/6 is switched to the system master control single board, and CXP2/6 is used as the backup master control single board of CXP 1/6. In this way, reliable operation of the stacking system 110 may be ensured.

In addition, physical interface cards (physical interface card, PIC) are also included in the switch 111 and the switch 112, respectively. Through the stack ports on the PCI in each switch, a stack link can be established between the switches to establish a stack system. For example, in fig. 2, a stack link a is established between stack port 9/0/0 of the PIC on switch 111 and stack port 9/0/0 of the PIC on switch 112 via a stack cable connection.

Wherein, when a stacking link between switches in the stacking system fails, the stacking system splitting may be triggered to split the stacking system into two independent stacking systems or switches. For example, in fig. 2, when a stacking link a between the switch 111 and the switch 112 fails, the stacking system 110 may be split into two independent switches, so that each of the switch 111 and the switch 112 may independently perform traffic forwarding.

In the related art, a stacking protocol message is sent between a master switch and other switches in a stacking system at regular time through a stacking link, so that the switches can learn the running state of the other switches. When the switch in the stacking system detects that the stacking protocol message is overtime, the stacking system is triggered to split. As in fig. 2, switch 111 periodically sends a stack protocol message (e.g., every 60 seconds) to switch 112 over stack link a, and switch 112 also periodically sends a stack protocol message to switch 111 over stack link a. When switch 111 or switch 112 detects a stack protocol message timeout, stack splitting is triggered.

It can be seen that in the above related art, a heartbeat state machine needs to be maintained between switches in the stacking system, so as to send the stacking protocol packet at a fixed time. This approach requires, on the one hand, the bandwidth of the stacked links between switches to be occupied to maintain the heartbeat state machine; on the other hand, in the related art, when a stacking link in the stacking system fails, a passive waiting for stacking protocol messages is required to timeout, and then stacking splitting is triggered, so that the speed of triggering stacking splitting is slow, and thus, the transmission of services is affected.

In view of the above problems, in the technical solution provided in this embodiment, it is considered that the running state of the stacking link between the home terminal switch and the opposite terminal switch may be sent to the opposite terminal switch through the service link between the switches in the stacking system, so that the opposite terminal switch may directly know the running state of the stacking link, and may perform stacking splitting in time when the stacking link fails. Compared with the related art, on one hand, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment does not occupy the bandwidth resources of the stacking links between the switches; on the other hand, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment is not constrained by the timeout duration of the stack protocol message, so that the stack splitting can be triggered more quickly, and the influence on the transmission service is reduced.

Further, the present embodiment provides a communication method that can be applied to a stacked system of switches. The communication method provided in this embodiment will be described below by taking the communication procedure of the switch 111 and the switch 112 in the stacked system 110 shown in fig. 1 and 2 as an example. Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, the communication method provided in this embodiment may include:

S201, the switch 111 acquires a first operation state of the stack link a with the switch 112.

Specifically, the operation state of the stacked link a (for convenience of description, the operation state of the stacked link a will be referred to as "first operation state" herein) may be specifically reflected as: one or more of an operation state of a stacking port on the switch 111 for establishing the stacking link a, an operation state of a stacking process corresponding to the stacking link a, and a transmission error rate on the stacking link a.

S202, the switch 111 sends first information indicating the first operation state to the switch 112 through a traffic link between the switch 111 and the switch 112.

In this embodiment, the traffic link between the switch 111 and the switch 112 may specifically be any transmission link between the switch 111 and the switch 112 for transmitting traffic data.

For example, in fig. 1, switch 111 may send the first information to switch 112 over a traffic link between switch 111-switch 113-switch 112.

As another example, as shown in fig. 4, traffic port 1/0/0 of switch 111 is connected to traffic port 1/0/0 of switch 112 and traffic link b is established. The switch 111 may send the first information to the switch 112 over the traffic link b.

In one implementation, consider: the switches in the same stacked system may send their own capability information (e.g., device identification, interface identification, management address, etc.) to other switches in the same stacked system by sending link layer discovery protocol (link layer discovery protocol, LLDP) messages over traffic links between the switches.

Therefore, in the switch 111, the first information may be sent to the switch 112 by the LLDP module carrying the first information in a payload (payload) of the LLDP message and sending the LLDP message to the switch 112 through a traffic link between the switch 111 and the switch 112. The LLDP module is a software/hardware module in the switch 111 for performing LLDP protocol communication.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of an LLDP message. Wherein:

the DA field, i.e., the multicast address (Multicast address), carries the destination address of the LLDP message, typically taking 6 bytes. Typically, the DA field has a value of the multicast address 01-80-C2-00-00-0E.

The SA field, i.e., source MAC address (Source MAC), carries the bridge MAC of the device adjacent to the device, and in a specific implementation, the SA may be the port MAC address of the local switch or the MAC address of the local switch.

A VLAN field for indicating that the message can be received in the same virtual local area network (virtual local area network, VLAN) domain.

The ethernet type field, i.e. the ethernet type, carries a frame type, and is used to indicate that the message is an LLDP message, so that the receiving end device parses the message according to the LLDP protocol. Typically, the value of the ETH type field is 0x88CC.

The lldpu field, i.e., LLDP data unit (LLDP data unit), is used to carry payload data. Specifically, the switch 111 may send the first information carried in the LLDPDU field of the LLDP packet, so that the switch 112 obtains the first running state of the stacked link a through the LLDP module.

The FCS field, i.e., a frame check sequence (frame check sequence), is used for error detection and correction of the LLDP message.

The format of the LLDPDU field is shown in fig. 5. Wherein, the LLDPDU adopts a format of Type+data Length+value (TLV). Wherein the type field indicates the type of the present TLV, the data length (length) is the length of the TLV in bytes, and the value (value) is the value of the TLV. Among them, the Chassis ID TLV (frame identification TLV), port ID TLV (Port identification TLV), time To Live TLV (Time-To-Live TLV), and End Of LLDPDU TLV (end TLV) are mandatory (i.e., parts that must be included). In addition To this, between the Time To Live TLV and End Of LLDPDU TLV, 0 To a plurality of optional other TLVs may be included.

Specifically, the definition of the type field of the TLV is shown in table 1 below:

TABLE 1

In one implementation, one or more of TLV types=9-126 (i.e., reserved types) may be selected from among TLV types to define first information indicating an operational state of a stacked link between switches.

For example, TLV type=9 in the TLV type may be defined as an operation state of the stacked link in advance, that is, the above first information may be understood as TLV of TLV type=9 in the LLDP message. The running state of the stacking port corresponding to the stacking link a, the running state of the stacking process, and the transmission error rate of the stacking link may be transmitted in TLV of TLV type=9 as shown in fig. 5. In order to distinguish the stacking link a from other stacking links on the switch 111 (for example, stacking links between other switches except the switch 112 and the switch 111), the TLV further carries an identifier of the stacking link a, for example, stacking port number 9/0/0 corresponding to the stacking link a.

In one implementation, after acquiring the first operation state of the stacked link a, the switch 111 may first determine whether the operation state of the stacked link a is normal. After determining that the stacked link a is abnormal, the first information is sent to the switch 112 through S202. In this way, the first information indicating the operation state of the stacked link a may not be transmitted to the switch 112 when it is determined that the operation state of the stacked link a is normal, but may be transmitted to the switch 112 only when it is determined that the operation state of the stacked link a is abnormal, so that transmission resources between the switch 111 and the switch 112 may be saved.

Specifically, the method further comprises the steps of:

s203, the switch 111 determines whether the first operation state of the stacked link a is normal.

Specifically, determining whether the first operation state is normal may include: judging whether the stacking port 9/0/0 for establishing the stacking link a operates normally, judging whether the stacking process corresponding to the stacking link a operates normally, and judging whether the transmission error rate of the stacking link a is normal.

The first operation state exception may specifically include: one or more of a stack port 9/0/0 shutdown (down) for establishing a stack link a, a stack process corresponding to the stack link a not responding, powering down a board running the stack process, and a transmission error rate of the stack link a exceeding a threshold.

Further, S202 specifically includes:

s202a, after determining that the first operation state is abnormal, the switch 111 sends first information to the switch 112 through a traffic link between the switch 111 and the switch 112.

For example, after determining that the first operation state is abnormal, as shown in fig. 5, the switch 111 may send the first operation state to the switch 112, carried in TLV (i.e., first information) of TLV type=9 in the LLDP message.

S204, the switch 112 performs stack splitting according to the first information.

For example, after receiving the LLDP message carrying the first information, the switch 112 may parse the LLDP message by the LLDP module in the switch 112 and obtain the first information, and then send the first information to a stack management module in the switch 112 for managing the stacking system, so that the stack management module performs stack splitting according to the first information.

In one implementation, as shown in fig. 6A, S204 may specifically include:

s2041, the switch 112 determines whether the operation state of the stacked link a is normal according to the first information.

Continuing to take fig. 5 as an example, after receiving the LLDP packet, the switch 112 parses TLV (i.e., the first information) of TLV type=9 in the LLDP packet, and determines whether the operation state of the stacked link a is normal according to the parsed content.

S2042, the switch 112 performs stack splitting after determining that the operation state of the stack link a is abnormal.

The switch 112 performs stack splitting, which may specifically include: CXP2/5 is set as the main control single board of the system, CXP2/6 is set as the backup main control single board and the like. For how the switch 112 performs stack splitting, reference may be made to related art, and details of this embodiment will not be described.

In this embodiment, the communication method provided in this embodiment is described by taking two switches (switch 111 and switch 112) in the stacked system 110 as an example. It will be appreciated that in practical applications, other switches may be included in the stacking system 110, for example, as shown in fig. 7, and the stacking system 110 further includes a switch 114 connected to the switch 112 through the stacking link b, and a switch 115 connected to the switch 111 through the stacking link c. At this time, the switch 112 performs stack splitting, which may include: switch 112 negotiates with switch 114 to elect a master switch to establish a new stacked system. Reference is made to the related art for the process of establishing a new stacked system between switch 112 and switch 114.

In another implementation, as shown in fig. 6B, S204 specifically includes:

s2043, the switch 112 performs stack splitting in response to receiving the first information.

In this implementation, consider: referring to the description of S203 and S202a above, the switch 111 may first determine whether the first operation state is normal after acquiring the first operation state of the stack link a, and then send the first information to the switch 112 after determining that the first operation state is abnormal. That is, in this case, the switch 111 transmits the first information to the switch 112 only in the case where the first operation state is abnormal. Therefore, in this case, the switch 112 may not determine whether the operation state of the stack link a is normal after receiving the first information, but may trigger the stack splitting directly.

In addition, after determining, by the switch 111, that the first operation state of the stacked link a is abnormal, the method further includes:

s205, the switch 111 performs stack splitting.

The switch 111 performs stack splitting, which may specifically include: the switch 111 calculates the stack topology, and deletes topology information and the like of the switch 112. For how the switch 111 performs stack splitting, reference may be made to related art, and details of this embodiment will not be described.

In this embodiment, the communication method provided in this embodiment is described by taking two switches (switch 111 and switch 112) in the stacked system 110 as an example. For example, as shown in fig. 7, when stacking system 110 may also include switch 114 and switch 115. At this time, the switch 111 performs stack splitting, which may specifically include: the switch 111 calculates the stack topology, deletes the topology information of the switch 112 and the switch 114, and synchronizes the new topology information to the switch 115 and the like.

It will be appreciated that the various numbers referred to in the communication method of the present embodiment are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the present embodiment. For example, in the above communication method, S205 may be performed at any time after S203. The sequence number of each process does not mean the sequence of the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined according to the function and the internal logic.

In addition, in the specific implementation process of the communication method described in fig. 3, fig. 6A and fig. 6B, the communication method provided in this embodiment is mainly described by taking the example that the primary switch 111 sends the first information for indicating the operation state of the stacked link to the standby switch 112 in the stacked system. It can be understood that, in the practical application process, the communication method provided by the embodiment may also be applied in a scenario in which the standby switch sends information for indicating the operation state of the stacked link to the main switch, or in a scenario in which information for indicating the operation state of the stacked link is sent between two switches other than the main switch in the stacking system, so that after receiving the information for indicating the operation state of the stacked link, the receiving-end switch of the information may perform stack splitting in time.

In addition, in another embodiment, when considering that the stacking system is established or a switch is added to the stacking system, the operation state of the stacking link between the local end switch and the opposite end switch can also be sent to the opposite end switch through the service link between the switches, so that the opposite end switch establishes the stacking topology and the stacking negotiation according to the operation state of the stacking link.

The communication method provided in this embodiment will be described below with reference to the stacking system shown in fig. 7, taking the example of adding a switch 115 to the stacking system 110 of the existing master switch 111, standby switch 112, and slave switch 114. Specifically, after the switch 115 is connected to the stack port of the switch 111 through the stack cable, as shown in fig. 8, the method includes:

s301, the switch 115 obtains a second operation state of the stack link c between the switch 115 and the switch 111.

Specifically, the operation state of the stacked link c (for convenience of description, the operation state of the stacked link a will be referred to as "second operation state" hereinafter) may be specifically reflected as: one or more of an operation state of a stacking port on the switch 115 for establishing the stacking link c, an operation state of a stacking process corresponding to the stacking link c, and a transmission error rate on the stacking link c.

S302, the switch 115 sends second information indicating the second operation state to the switch 111 through the traffic link between the switch 115 and the switch 111.

The specific implementation process of the switch 115 sending the second information to the switch 111 may refer to the corresponding description of the switch 111 sending the first information to the switch 112 in the above S202, which is not described herein.

S303, the switch 111 adds the switch 115 to the stacking system 110 according to the first information.

For example, the switch 111 adds the switch 115 to the stacking system 110 after determining that the operation state of the stacked link c is normal based on the first information. The process of adding the switch 115 to the stacking system 110 by the switch 111 may refer to the related art, and will not be described herein.

In the communication method provided by the embodiment, the running state of the stacking link between the local end switch and the opposite end switch can be sent to the opposite end switch through the service link between the switches in the stacking system, so that the opposite end switch can quickly know the running state of the stacking link, and the stacking splitting can be performed in time or the switch can be added into the stacking system when the stacking link fails.

The communication method provided according to the present embodiment is described in detail above with reference to fig. 3 to 8, and various apparatuses and devices corresponding to the communication method provided according to the present embodiment will be described below.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to the present embodiment. The communication device 30 may be part or all of the software/hardware devices in the switch. The communication means may be for performing all or part of the steps performed by switch 111 in fig. 3 or fig. 6A or fig. 6B above, or for performing all or part of the steps performed by switch 115 in fig. 8 above. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, a switch to which the communication device 30 is applied is referred to as a first switch. The communication device 30 includes:

An acquiring unit 301 is configured to acquire a first operation state of a stack link between the first switch and the second switch. Wherein the second switch is a switch in the same stacked system as the first switch.

A sending unit 302, configured to send first information to the second switch through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch, where the first information is used to indicate the first operation state.

Optionally, the sending unit 302 is configured to send, to the second switch, first information through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch, where the sending unit includes:

the sending unit 302 is specifically configured to send a link layer discovery protocol LLDP packet to the second switch through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch. The LLDP message carries first information.

Optionally, the communication device 30 further includes:

a judging unit 303, configured to judge whether the first operation state is normal.

The sending unit 302 is configured to send, to the second switch, first information through a service link between the first switch and the second switch, and specifically includes:

the sending unit 302 is specifically configured to send, after determining that the first operation state is abnormal, the first information to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch.

Optionally, the first operating state includes: the operational status of the stacking port between the first switch and the second switch, and the operational status of the stacking process in the first switch.

Optionally, the first switch is a master switch in the stacked system, or the second switch is a master switch in the stacked system.

For a more detailed description of the above-mentioned acquisition unit 301, determination unit 303 and transmission unit 302, reference may be made directly to the related description in the method shown in fig. 3 or fig. 6A or fig. 6B or fig. 8, and the detailed description is omitted here.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to the present embodiment. The communication device 40 may comprise some or all of the software/hardware means in the switch, and the communication device 40 may be configured to perform all or some of the steps performed by the switch 112 in fig. 3 or fig. 6A or fig. 6B, above. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, a switch to which the communication device 40 is applied is referred to as a second switch. The communication device 40 includes:

the receiving unit 401 is configured to receive the first information through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch. Wherein the first switch is a switch in the same stacked system as the second switch. The first information is used to indicate a first operational state of a stacked link between the first switch and the second switch.

The stack management unit 402 is configured to perform stack splitting according to the first information.

Optionally, the receiving unit 401 is configured to receive the first information through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch, and includes:

the receiving unit 401 is specifically configured to receive a link layer discovery protocol LLDP packet through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch. The LLDP message carries first information.

Optionally, the stack management unit 402 is configured to perform stack splitting according to the first information, and includes:

the stack management unit 402 is specifically configured to determine whether the first operation state is normal according to the first information;

the stack management unit 402 is further specifically configured to perform stack splitting after determining that the first operation state is abnormal.

For a more detailed description of the receiving unit 401 and the stack management unit 402, reference may be made directly to the related description in the method shown in fig. 3 or fig. 6A or fig. 6B, which are not repeated here.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to the present embodiment. The communication device 50 may be a chip or a system on a chip. In particular, the communication device 50 may be part or all of a hardware device in the switch.

Wherein the communication device 50 may include: a processor 501, communication lines 506, memory 503, and some or all of the components of at least one communication interface 502.

The processor 501 is configured to execute all or part of the steps executed by the switch 111 or the switch 115 in the communication method provided in the present embodiment.

In particular, the processor 501 may comprise a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), the processor 501 may further comprise a microprocessor, a field programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA), a digital signal processor (digital signal processing, DSP) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, or the like.

In a particular implementation, as one embodiment, processor 501 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 of FIG. 11.

In a particular implementation, as one embodiment, the communication device 50 may include a plurality of processors, such as the processor 501 and the processor 505 in fig. 11. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or may be a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing, for example, meter data (computer program instructions).

Additionally, the memory 503 may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM). The memory 503 may be separate and coupled to the processor 501 via a communication line 506. Memory 503 may also be integrated with processor 501.

Wherein the memory 503 stores computer instructions. For example, the computer instructions stored in the memory 503 may include software modules for implementing all or part of the functions of the acquisition unit 301, the determination unit 303, and the transmission unit 302 described above. As another example, the computer instructions stored in the memory 503 may include software modules for implementing all or part of the functions of the receiving unit 401 and the stack management unit 402 described above. The processor 501 may be configured to execute all or part of the steps of the communication method provided in the present embodiment by executing computer instructions stored in the memory 503.

Alternatively, the computer-executable instructions in this embodiment may be referred to as application program codes, which are not particularly limited in this embodiment.

In addition, the communication interface 502 uses any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio Access network (radio access network, RAN), wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), etc.

The communication line 506 is used to connect the respective components of the communication device 50. In particular, communication lines 506 may include a data bus, a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, and the like. But for clarity of illustration the various buses are labeled as communication lines 506 in the figure.

In addition, the communication device 50 may also include a storage medium 504. The storage medium 504 is used to store computer instructions and various data for implementing the technical solutions of the present embodiment. So that the communication apparatus 50 loads the computer instructions and various data stored in the storage medium 504 into the memory 503 when executing the above-described communication method of the present embodiment, so that the processor 501 can be used to execute the communication method provided by the present embodiment by executing the computer instructions stored in the memory 503.

It should be understood that the communication apparatus 50 according to the present embodiment may correspond to the communication apparatus 30 or the communication apparatus 40 in the present embodiment, and may correspond to a respective subject performing the communication method according to the present embodiment, and the above and other operations and/or functions of the respective modules in the communication apparatus 50 are respectively for realizing the respective flows of the respective methods in fig. 3 or fig. 6A or fig. 6B or fig. 8, and are not repeated herein for brevity.

The method steps in this embodiment may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by executing software instructions by a processor. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a communication device or terminal equipment. The processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a communication device or terminal device.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the present embodiment are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a communication device, a user equipment, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer program or instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wired or wireless means. The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that integrates one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium, e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, tape; optical media, such as digital video discs (digital video disc, DVD); but may also be a semiconductor medium such as an SSD.

In this embodiment, if there is no special description or logic conflict, terms and/or descriptions between different implementations have consistency and may mutually refer, and technical features in different embodiments may be combined to form a new embodiment according to their inherent logic relationship.

In this embodiment, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more, and other words are similar thereto. "and/or" describes an association relationship of an association object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. Furthermore, for elements (elements) that appear in the singular forms "a," "an," and "the," it does not mean "one or only one" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example, "a device" means a device for one or more of such devices. Further, at least one (at least one of),. The term "means one or any combination of subsequent association objects, e.g." at least one of A, B and C "includes a, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC. In the text description of the present embodiment, the character "/", generally indicates that the front-rear association object is an or relationship; in the formula of the present embodiment, the character "/" indicates that the front and rear association objects are a "division" relationship.

It will be appreciated that the various numbers referred to in this embodiment are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of this embodiment. The sequence number of each process does not mean the sequence of the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined according to the function and the internal logic.

Claims

1. A method of communication, for application to a first switch, the method comprising:

acquiring a first running state of a stacking link between the first switch and a second switch, wherein the second switch is a switch which is in the same stacking system with the first switch;

and sending first information to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch, wherein the first information is used for indicating the first running state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending the first information to the second switch over the traffic link between the first switch and the second switch comprises:

transmitting a link layer discovery protocol LLDP message to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch; the LLDP message carries the first information.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises: judging whether the first running state is normal or not;

the sending, by the service link between the first switch and the second switch, first information to the second switch specifically includes:

and after the first running state abnormality is determined, the first information is sent to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the first operating state comprises: the operational status of the stacking port between the first switch and the second switch, and the operational status of the stacking process in the first switch.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first switch is a master switch in the stacked system or the second switch is a master switch in the stacked system.

6. A method of communication, for use with a second switch, the method comprising:

receiving first information through a service link between a first switch and the second switch, wherein the first switch is a switch in the same stacking system as the second switch, and the first information is used for indicating a first running state of a stacking link between the first switch and the second switch;

And carrying out stack splitting according to the first information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving the first information over the traffic link between the first switch and the second switch comprises:

receiving a link layer discovery protocol LLDP message through a service link between a first switch and the second switch; the LLDP message carries the first information.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein said performing stack splitting based on said first information comprises:

judging whether the first running state is normal or not according to the first information;

after determining that the first operating condition is abnormal, performing stack splitting.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6-8, wherein the first operating state comprises: the operational status of the stacking port between the first switch and the second switch, and the operational status of the stacking process in the first switch.

10. The method according to any of claims 6-9, wherein the first switch is a master switch in the stacked system or the second switch is a master switch in the stacked system.

11. A communication device for use with a first switch, the communication device comprising:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a first operation state of a stacking link between the first switch and a second switch, where the second switch is a switch that is in the same stacking system as the first switch;

and the sending unit is used for sending first information to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch, wherein the first information is used for indicating the first running state.

12. The communication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the transmitting unit configured to transmit the first information to the second switch through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch includes:

the sending unit is specifically configured to send a link layer discovery protocol LLDP message to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch; the LLDP message carries the first information.

13. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the communication device further comprises:

The judging unit is used for judging whether the first running state is normal or not;

the sending unit is configured to send, through a service link between the first switch and the second switch, first information to the second switch, and specifically includes:

the sending unit is specifically configured to send the first information to the second switch through a service link between the first switch and the second switch after determining that the first operation state is abnormal.

14. The communication device according to any of claims 11-13, wherein the first operating state comprises: the operational status of the stacking port between the first switch and the second switch, and the operational status of the stacking process in the first switch.

15. The communication device according to any of claims 11-14, wherein the first switch is a master switch in the stacked system or the second switch is a master switch in the stacked system.

16. A communication device for use with a second switch, the communication device comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive first information through a traffic link between a first switch and the second switch, where the first switch is a switch that is in the same stacking system as the second switch, and the first information is used to indicate a first operation state of a stacking link between the first switch and the second switch;

And the stack management unit is used for carrying out stack splitting according to the first information.

17. The communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the receiving unit configured to receive the first information through a traffic link between the first switch and the second switch comprises:

the receiving unit is specifically configured to receive a link layer discovery protocol LLDP packet through a service link between a first switch and the second switch; the LLDP message carries the first information.

18. The communication apparatus according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the stack management unit is configured to perform stack splitting according to the first information, and includes:

the stacking management unit is specifically configured to determine whether the first running state is normal according to the first information;

and the stack management unit is also specifically used for performing stack splitting after determining that the first running state is abnormal.

19. The communication device according to any of claims 16-18, wherein the first operating state comprises: the operational status of the stacking port between the first switch and the second switch, and the operational status of the stacking process in the first switch.

20. The communication device of any of claims 16-19, wherein the first switch is a master switch in the stacked system or the second switch is a master switch in the stacked system.

21. A communication device comprising a processor and an interface through which the processor receives or transmits data, the processor being configured to implement the method of any of claims 1-10.

22. A switch comprising the communication device of any of claims 11-21.

23. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when executed on a processor, implement the method of any of claims 1-10.