MULTI-STAGE SWITCH FABRIC FAULT DETECTION AND HANDLING

• US 20190319832A1
• Filed: 06/27/2019
• Published: 10/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Yadav, Alam, Golash, Mukul
• Granted Patent: US 11,178,001 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/00 Packet switching elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/101 using crossbar or matrix
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/1523 Parallel switch fabric planes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/40 Constructional details, e.g. power supply, mechanical construction or backplane
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/555 Error detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/557 Error correction, e.g. fault recovery or fault tolerance
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/04 for time-division multiplexing H04Q11/0001 takes precedence

Abstract

In some examples, a switching system includes a plurality of fabric endpoints and a multi-stage switching fabric having a plurality of fabric planes each having a plurality of stages to switch data units between any of the plurality of fabric endpoints. A fabric endpoint of the fabric endpoints is configured to send, to a switch of a first one of the stages and within a first fabric plane of the plurality of fabric planes, a self-ping message destined for the fabric endpoint. The fabric endpoint is configured to send, in response to determining the fabric endpoint has not received the self-ping message after a predetermined time, an indication of a connectivity fault for the first fabric plane.

Claims

1. A switching system comprising:

a plurality of fabric endpoints;

a multi-stage switching fabric having a plurality of fabric planes each having a plurality of stages to switch data units between any of a plurality of fabric endpoints,

wherein a first-stage switch of a first fabric plane of the plurality of fabric planes is configured to receive, from a intermediate-stage switch or final-stage switch of the first fabric plane, an indication of a link error for a failed link connecting a first switch of the first fabric plane to a second switch of the first fabric plane;

wherein the first-stage switch is configured to send, to a first final-stage switch of the first fabric plane, a first fabric link fault signaling cell that identifies the failed link, and

wherein the first-stage switch is configured to send, to a second final-stage switch of the first fabric plane, a second fault fabric link fault signaling cell that identifies the failed link.