Non-fault tolerant network nodes in a multiple fault tolerant network

• US 6,901,443 B1
• Filed: 03/10/2000
• Issued: 05/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Huang, Jiandong, Freimark, Ronald J., Song, Sejun, Kozlik, Tony J., Gustin, Jay W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Jospeh
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CHAU T
• Application Number:
  US09/522,702
• Time in Patent Office: 1,908 Days
• Field of Search: 709/238, 709/239, 709/240, 709/242, 709/243, 709/244, 709/245, 709/203, 709/220, 709/224, 709249-251, 709/253, 714/4, 370/404, 370/390, 370/218, 710/104
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40189 by using a plurality of bus systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for facilitating communication with non-fault tolerant network nodes in a fault-tolerant network environment. In various embodiments, a network address or network location of any network nodes present on a network that are not fault-tolerant is determined and stored, and data intended for the detected non-fault-tolerant network nodes is routed only over that network to which the non-fault-tolerant network node is connected. In further embodiments, the fault-tolerant network comprises a primary and redundant network with fault tolerant network nodes that are attached to each network; a non-fault-tolerant network node that is attached to either the primary or redundant network is then operable to communicate with any fault-tolerant network node via data sent over only the network to which the non-fault-tolerant network node is connected.

Claims

1. A method of managing communication in a fault-tolerant computer network comprising at least one non-fault tolerant node and at least one fault tolerant node, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting network addresses of each of the at least one non-fault tolerant node coupled to either a primary network or a redundant network of a plurality of networks that form the fault-tolerant computer network;

determining to which of the network of the plurality of networks the at least one non-fault tolerant node is coupled;

storing the detected network addresses data of each of the at least one non-fault tolerant node;

storing associated network data comprising the network to which each of the at least one non-fault tolerant node is coupled therewith;

prior to sending data from one of the fault tolerant nodes to a selected one of the at least one non-fault tolerant node, searching the stored detected network addresses and the stored associated data to determine if the network address and the associated network data of the selected one of the at least one non-fault tolerant node is stored;

if the network address and the associated data is stored for the selected at least one non-fault tolerant node, sending data intended for the selected at least one non-fault tolerant node over only the network to which the at least one non-fault tolerant node is coupled; and

if the network address and the associated data is not stored for the selected non-fault tolerant node, sending data intended for the selected at least one non-fault tolerant node over the plurality of networks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of detecting network addresses of each of the non-fault-tolerant network node comprises detecting network address information that each of the at least one non-fault tolerant network node send over the network to which it is coupled.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of detecting network address information comprises the step of detecting Internet Protocol Address Resolution Protocol packets (IP ARP packets).

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining which of the network to which the at least one non-fault-tolerant network node is coupled comprises the step of determining which network interface received the network address information sent from each of the at least one non-fault-tolerant network node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing the data comprises the step of populating a non-fault-tolerant network node address table.

6. A fault-tolerant network node interface operable to communicate with one or more non-fault tolerant network nodes, the interface operable to:

detect network addresses for each of the one or more non-fault network nodes coupled to a primary network or a redundant network of a plurality of networks that form a fault-tolerant network;

determine the network of the plurality of networks to which each of the one or more non-fault tolerant network nodes are coupled;

store the detected network address data of each of the one or more non-fault tolerant network nodes;

store associated network data comprising the network on which each of the one or more non-fault tolerant network nodes are determined to be coupled therewith;

prior to sending data to a selected one of the one or more non-fault tolerant nodes, search the stored detected network addresses and the associated data to determine if the network address and the associated network data of the selected one of the one or more non-fault tolerant is stored;

if the network address and the associated data are stored for the selected one of the one or more non-fault tolerant nodes, send data intended for the selected one of the one or more non-fault tolerant network nodes over only the network on which the selected one of the one or more non-fault tolerant network nodes has been determined to be coupled; and

if the network address and the associated data are not stored for the selected one of the one or more non-fault tolerant nodes, send data intended for the selected one of the one or more non-fault tolerant network nodes over the plurality of networks.

7. The interface of claim 6, wherein the network addresses of the one or more non-fault-tolerant network nodes are determined by detecting of network address information that the one or more non-fault-tolerant network nodes send over the one network.

8. The interface of claim 7, wherein the network address information that is sent comprises Internet Protocol Address Resolution Protocol packets (IP ARP packets).

9. The interface of claim 7, wherein determining the network to which the one or more non-fault-tolerant network nodes are coupled comprises determining which network interface received the network address information sent from the one or more non-fault-tolerant network nodes.

10. The interface of claim 6, wherein the detected network addresses and the associated data are stored in a non-fault-tolerant network node address table.

11. A computer program product stored on a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code, wherein the computer readable program code when executed on a computerized system is operable to cause the computerized system to detect network addresses of the one or more non-fault network nodes coupled to a primary network or a redundant network of a plurality of networks that form a fault-tolerant network;

determine the network of the plurality of networks to which each of the non-fault tolerant network nodes coupled;

store the detected network address data of each of the non-fault tolerant network nodes;

store associated network data comprising the network to which each of the non-fault tolerant network nodes are determined to be coupled therewith;

prior to sending data to a selected one of the non-fault tolerant nodes, search the stored detected network addresses and the associated data to determine if the network address and associated network data of the selected non-fault tolerant is stored;

if the network address and the associated data are stored for the selected non-fault tolerant node, send data intended for the selected non-fault tolerant network node over only the network on which the selected non-fault tolerant network node has been determined to be coupled; and

if the network address and the associated data are not stored for the selected non-fault tolerant node, send data intended for the selected non-fault tolerant network node over the plurality of networks.

12. The computer program product of the claim 11, wherein the network address of each of the non-fault-tolerant network nodes is detected by network address information that the non-fault-tolerant network node sends over the one network to which it is coupled.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the network address information that is sent comprises Internet Protocol Address Resolution Protocol packets (IP ARP packets).

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the network to which each of the non-fault-tolerant network nodes coupled is determined by which one of a plurality of fault tolerant interfaces received the network address information sent from the non-fault-tolerant network node.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, the data is stored in a non-fault-tolerant network node address table.