JPH06237271A - Routing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To drastically reduce the communication volume required for update of routing information by devising the routing information update system in a routing information management device. CONSTITUTION:A management device 1 and terminating equipments (nodes) 2A to 2N in a network 3 are started to initialize a routing table holding part 10 and a table version holding part 11. Routing information held at present is sent from the device 1 to the node side. After this sending, it is discriminated whether there is a cause of routing information update or not at intervals of a prescribed time by an update discriminating part 12; and if there is not, routing information is regarded as not updated for the prescribed time, and all of this information is not sent but only information related to the version number of a corresponding table is sent from a table version transmission part 13. If there is a cause, contents of the corresponding table are updated by a table version update part 14, and all of related routing information is sent.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a routing device, and more particularly, to an appropriate update process for routing information suitable for executing required communication between a plurality of nodes in a given network system. The present invention relates to a routing device that enables management operations including applying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to manage the routing information so that the content of the routing information suitable for executing required communication between a plurality of nodes in a given network system is always the latest. In this device, the routing information currently stored in the appropriate storage means is notified to a plurality of nodes in the related network system by transmitting a predetermined broadcast packet at a constant time interval. It had been. Then, on the side of the individual node that receives this broadcast packet, based on the content of the reception, a required measure such as updating the information in the table managed by itself is executed. By the way, when the scale of the network as an application target is appropriate, it does not become a problem so much, but when the network becomes large-scale, the routing information for managing this becomes enormous, and as a result, A large number of broadcast packets for updating the routing information sent from the routing information management device also increase the communication volume in the related network system. In addition, since the time interval for transmitting the broadcast packet is predetermined,
Even if the routing information is not updated, the broadcast will be executed, resulting in useless communication. The following disclosures have been made as matters relating to this type of conventional technique. That is, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-143759 [Routing information update processing method], a route management device that broadcasts routing information and holds the routing information and a routing management device that captures and holds the broadcast routing information and based on this In a network system including a terminating device (node) for communication, the route management device and the terminating device (node) respectively hold the routing information updating request issued from the terminating device (node) side. A routing information update processing method characterized by updating routing information is disclosed.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional technique for updating routing information of this kind, when the network to be applied becomes large-scale, the routing information for managing this becomes large. There has been a problem that the number of broadcast packets required to update the routing information sent from the routing information management device also increases, and the amount of communication in the related network system increases. Further, since the time interval for sending out the broadcast packet is fixed, the broadcast is executed even if the routing information is not updated, which causes a problem that wasteful communication is performed. It was

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and by devising a method for updating the routing information in the routing information management device, the amount of communication required for updating the routing information is increased. It is an object of the present invention to provide a routing device capable of significantly reducing

[0005]

The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and a plurality of routing devices according to the present invention are connected to a network (3),
A routing device (1) for relaying data transmitted and received between the devices (2A to 2N) connected to the network
In, a routing table holding means (1) for holding a routing table in which route information, an information source of the route information, and a version identifier of the route information are associated with each other.
0) and table version holding means (11) for holding the version identifier of the routing table. Further, the routing device according to the present invention transmits an update determination means (12) for determining whether or not the route information is updated, and periodically transmits the version identifier of the routing table to the network when the route information is not updated. It is characterized by comprising table version transmitting means (13) and table version updating means (14) for updating the version identifier of the routing table when the route information is updated. Further, the routing device according to the present invention, in response to the update of the route information,
It is characterized by further comprising update route information transmitting means (16) for transmitting the route information related to the update to the network. Further, the routing device according to the present invention refers to table version receiving means (15) for receiving the version identifier of the routing table transmitted by another routing information management device connected to the network, and the received version identifier. Version determining means (12) for determining whether or not the routing table needs to be updated, and the other routing corresponding to the determination by the version determining means that the routing table needs to be updated. The information management device further comprises route information requesting means (17) for requesting route information.

[0006]

In the routing device according to the present invention,
If there is no change in the applied routing information, only the information for identifying the related management device and the version of the relevant routing information need to be notified to the necessary places. There is an advantage that the load is reduced. Further, in the routing device according to the present invention, the number of packets used for managing the routing information is reduced and the size of the packet is also reduced. Thus,
There is an advantage that the load of information on the network system is further reduced.

[0007]

1 is a system configuration diagram for explaining a routing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, together with a management unit 1 described later, a first node unit 2A, ... Nth node unit 2N of the same format are connected to appropriate places of a certain network 3. Here, regarding the management unit 1, it is provided with the following various means. That is, a routing table holding unit 10 that holds a routing table in which route information relating to data transmitted in a network, an information source (source) of the route information, and a version identifier of the route information are stored in association with each other, In addition to the table version holding unit 11 holding the version identifier of the routing table and determining whether or not the route information is updated, it is determined whether or not the routing table needs to be updated by referring to the received version identifier. An update determination unit 12 also having a function, a table version transmission unit 13 that periodically transmits the version identifier of the routing table to the network when there is no update of the route information, and the routing when there is an update of the route information Table version A table version updating unit 14 for updating the identifier, a table version receiving unit 15 for receiving the version identifier of the routing table transmitted by another routing information management device (a device (not shown) other than 1) connected to the network, Corresponding to the update of the route information, the update route information transmitting unit 16 that transmits the route information related to the update to the network, and the determination that the update determination unit 12 needs to update the routing table. Then, a route information request unit 17 for requesting route information to the other routing information management device is provided.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of a network to which the routing device according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied. In FIG. 2, for example, the management device R11 for managing routing is a terminating device (node) E11.
And the first network Net-A in connection with E12
Are configured. This management device R11 is also associated with the terminating device (node) E21 and is connected to the second network Net-B.
Are configured. The management device R12 is a terminating device (node)
A third network Net-C is configured in association with E22. Then, the management device R21 constitutes a fourth network Net-D in association with the terminating device (node) E31.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining a mode of routing information processing which is a main operation of the above embodiment. In FIG. 3, a related management device and a termination device (node) in a predetermined network are activated (S30), and a table (not shown) provided corresponding to each is initialized (S3).
1). Following this, all the routing information including the version currently held is broadcast from the related management device to the terminating device (node) side (S3).
2). Following this, after the broadcast timer T (not shown) provided in the related management device is set (S33), that is, after the timer T is set to a predetermined initial value and activated, It is determined whether there is a cause of updating the routing information (S34). If the result of this determination is [none], it is determined whether the broadcast timer T has timed out (S35). Then, if the result of this determination is YES, it is assumed that the routing information has not been updated within a certain predetermined time interval, and the routing information is not sent out as a whole, and it is regarded as the header of the corresponding (routing) table. Only information about the version number is broadcast (S36). On the other hand, the determination result in step S34 is [Yes]
If so, the contents of the corresponding table are updated (S37), and subsequently, all the related routing information is broadcast (S38). And
After the broadcast timer T is reset (S39), the process returns to the previous step S34. [Reset of timer T] in step S39 will be described. When the timer T is already running,
[1] Set the timer T to an initial value; [2] The timer T
Is restarted. In step S34 described above, when the contents of the routing table are updated, the routing table is updated as required, and the routing information is broadcast at a timing corresponding to the update. However, it is also possible to execute the broadcast of the routing information at the timing when the set broadcast timer T is timed out without depending on such timing.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of management items of the routing table used in the above embodiment. In FIG. 4, [net] represents the number of the network to be transmitted; [delay] represents the distance to the network to be transmitted;
[Router] represents the identifier of the management device as the information source; and [version] represents the version of the target information.

FIG. 5 shows the management device R11 according to the above embodiment.
It is an example figure of the content of the routing information management table used in. In FIG. 5, when the network [net] as the transmission target is the first network Net-A, the management device R11 belongs to the first network Net-A. Distance to network [delay] is 0
Is. The [router] corresponding to the identifier of the management device that is the information source is Net-A for the management device R11.
It is represented as [Local] because it belongs to. Then, the [version] corresponding to the version of the routing information related to the management device R11 is set to be 1, for example, if it has been updated once in the past.
Now, suppose that the contents of the table illustrated in FIG. 4 are sent from the management device R11 to the related terminating device (node), at each node, (router, versio) of the contents of the accepted table is sent.
Check the version of each routing information management table from the pair (n), (for example,
(Due to the change in the value in the version)
When it is recognized that the update has occurred, the contents of the corresponding table are updated.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of the routing information in the above embodiment. In FIG. 6, what constitutes a header part is [router] and [versio].
n], and the former [router] depends on whether or not it directly reports to a predetermined network.
l] or [Remote]. In addition, the latter [version] represents an update history (for example, the number of updates) related to the related routing information, and can be represented as [4] if there are four updates in the past. . In addition, what constitutes an information section is [net] and [delay], and the numbers and the distances to the networks to be transmitted when viewed from a predetermined management device are sequentially represented. There is. In FIG. 6, the item [router] can be deleted from the header. The types of communication executed in the embodiment of the present invention include a connectionless type and a connection type, but in the former case of connectionless type communication, the above-mentioned is based on the source address of the corresponding packet. The information corresponding to the [router] part of the can be acquired. Further, in the latter case of connection-type communication, the above-mentioned source address is previously known at a required location. For this reason, in any of the above types of communication, the [rout
There is no problem by deleting the item [er].

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining a mode of routing information processing which is another main operation of the above embodiment. In FIG. 7, a related management device and a terminating device (node) in a predetermined network are activated (S701), and a table (not shown) provided corresponding to each is initialized (S702). Next to this, from the related management device,
All the routing information including the currently held version (see FIG. 6) is broadcast to the terminating device (node) side (S703). Following this, after the broadcast timer T (not shown) provided in the related management device is set (S704),
It is determined whether a packet for routing information has been received (S705). When the result of this determination is NO, it is determined whether the broadcast timer T has timed out (S706). And
When the result of this determination is YES, it is assumed that the routing information has not been updated within the predetermined time interval, and the version number as the header of the corresponding (routing) table is not sent without sending all the routing information. Only information related to is broadcasted as a periodic notification packet (S707). On the other hand, when the result of the determination in step S705 is YES, it is determined whether or not the target packet is a regular notification packet (S70).
8). If the result of this determination is YES, it is subsequently determined whether or not there is a match in the versions that are currently related (S709). When the result of this determination is NO, a predetermined inquiry regarding update information is made to the transmission source of the regular notification packet (S710). Then, following this, a response packet is received (S711), and then the contents of the corresponding table are updated (S712), and subsequently, the updated one of the related routing information (see FIG. 8). ) Is broadcast (S713). Then, the broadcast timer T is reset (S
714), the process returns to the previous step S705. In the periodical sending of the notification packet related to the above step 708 and the like, by sending only the difference between the current version and the version immediately before the related information as the notification packet, it is possible to accurately obtain shorter information. It becomes possible to give a notice.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary diagram suitable for explaining the update processing of the routing information in relation to the aspect of the routing information processing which is another main operation of the above embodiment in FIG. In the A [routing information source pointer table] of FIG. 9 therein, for example, looking at the first column, R1 which is the management device (router) of the information source is used as a key, and the corresponding version (ve
rsion) is 1, and the corresponding pointer (po
inter) is said to be p0. And in FIG.
B [routing information management table] is a diagram showing the contents of the routing information management table possessed by, for example, the management device (router) R1. It is assumed that the first column in B of FIG. 9 is designated by p0 in the pointer in A of FIG. In the first column of FIG. 9B, the network number (net number) to be transmitted is Net.
-A, the distance (delay) to the corresponding network is 0, and the corresponding pointer (pointer) is add
It is supposed to be rp1. Next to this, by the above-mentioned pointer (addrp1),
It is assumed that the fourth column in B of FIG. 9 is designated. In the fourth column of FIG. 9B, the number of the transmission target network (net number) is Net-D, the distance to the corresponding network (delay) is 2, and the corresponding pointer (pointer). ) Is said to be addrp3. Further to this, the pointer (p
9) by addrp3, which is
It is assumed that the sixth column in is designated. In the sixth column of FIG. 9B, the number (net number) of the network to be transmitted is Net-H, the distance (delay) to the corresponding network is 7, and the corresponding pointer (pointer). The part is left blank.
In this way, if the network number (net number) as the first update target is Net-A, for example, a pointer (poi) related to this is addrp1.
By specifying the required part by
Next to this, the network number (net number) corresponding to the place where the information needs to be updated (in the example here,
(As Net-D). If there is no subsequent network number (net number) in the network of a certain predetermined number, the corresponding pointer (pointer) is set to NULL as shown in the third column in B of FIG. 9, for example. By
A message to that effect can be displayed. Thus, according to the example of FIG. 9, the routing table is divided into two tables, and the two are associated with each other by using certain predetermined pointer information, so that the routing information can be updated more quickly. Become.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for explaining a mode of routing information processing which is still another main operation of the above embodiment. In FIG. 10, a related management device and a termination device (node) in a predetermined network are activated (S1001), and a table (not shown) provided corresponding to each is initialized (S1002). Next to this, all the routing information including the version currently held (see FIG. 6) is broadcast from the related management device to the terminating device (node) side (S1003). Following this, an information update timer T (not shown) provided in the related management device is set (S100).
From 4), it is determined whether or not the packet for routing information is received (S1005). If the result of this determination is NO, it is determined whether the update timer T has timed out (S1006). And
When the result of this determination is YES, only the information regarding the version number as the header of the corresponding (routing) table is transmitted as an inquiry packet without transmitting all the routing information (S1).
007). The information transmitted here is only the header portion in the packet of FIG. Then, following this, a response packet is received (S1008). On the other hand, when the result of the determination in step S1005 is YES, it is determined whether or not the received packet for routing information is from a new management device (S1009). If the result of this determination is NO, it is subsequently determined whether or not there is a match with the version that is currently related (S1010). When the result of this determination is NO, a required inquiry regarding the update information is made to a predetermined means such as a related management device (S1011), and then a response packet is received (S1012), The contents of the related tables are updated (S10).
13). On the other hand, when the result of the determination in step S1009 is YES, steps S1010 to S1012 described above are skipped and the table contents are updated in step S1013. Updated (S10
14) and the update timer T is reset (S10).
After 15), the process returns to the previous step S1005.

[0016]

As described above, according to the routing device of the present invention, for example, when the applied routing information is not changed, the information for identifying the related management device and the corresponding Only the version of the routing information needs to be notified to the necessary parts, and the load of the information on the network system can be reduced accordingly. Further, in the routing device according to the present invention, the number of packets used for managing the routing information is reduced and the size of the packet is also reduced, so that the information load on the network system is further reduced. There is also the effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram for explaining a routing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of a network to which the routing device according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an aspect of routing information processing, which is a main operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows the routing used in the above embodiment.
It is an illustration figure of the management item of a table.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of contents of a routing information management table used in the management device R11 according to the above embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of routing information in the above embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an aspect of routing information processing which is another main operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of updated related routing information in the above embodiment.

9 is an exemplary diagram suitable for explaining a routing information update process in relation to a mode of routing information processing which is another main operation of the embodiment in FIG. 7. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for explaining a mode of routing information processing which is still another main operation of the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 --- Management unit; 2A to 2N --- First to N-th node units; 3
--- Network; 10--Routing table holding unit; 11--Table version holding unit; 12--Update determination unit; 13--Table version transmitting unit; 14--
Table version updating unit; 15 --- Table version receiving unit; 16 --- Update route information transmitting unit; 17 --- Route information requesting unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. In a routing device which is connected to a plurality of networks and relays data transmitted and received between the devices connected to the network, route information, an information source of the route information and a version identifier of the route information are associated with each other. A routing device comprising: a routing table holding means for holding a routing table; and a table version holding means for holding a version identifier of the routing table. 2. Update determining means for determining whether or not the route information is updated, table version transmitting means for periodically transmitting the version identifier of the routing table to the network when the route information is not updated, and route information. 2. The routing device according to claim 1, further comprising a table version updating unit that updates the version identifier of the routing table when the update is performed. 3. The routing device according to claim 2, further comprising update route information transmitting means for transmitting the route information related to the update to the network in response to the update of the route information. 4. A table version receiving means for receiving a version identifier of a routing table transmitted by another routing information management device connected to the network, and updating the routing table with reference to the received version identifier. Route information requesting route information to the other routing information management device in response to the version determining means for determining whether or not there is any, and the determination by the version determining means that the routing table needs to be updated. The routing device according to claim 1, further comprising requesting means.