Abstract:
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for routing data, and more particularly to a novel backplane for use in a data routing device, said backplane being a passive backplane. The present invention is also directed to a data routing device employing such a novel passive backplane.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for routing data, and more particularly to a novel backplane for use in a data routing device, said backplane being a passive backplane. The present invention is also directed to a data routing device employing such a novel passive backplane.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Networked computers have become a mainstay in all facets of life. One important benefit of most networked computer systems is the ability to easily and quickly share information/data between networked computers.  
           [0003]    The networks providing data communication between computers can be local in nature linking a relatively few concentrated computers via a local area network (“LAN”), or over a relatively wider area via a wide area network (“WAN”), or range from inter-connecting any or all of individual computers, LANs and/or WANs via a global computer network, as for example the Internet and its World Wide Web (“WEB”) subcomponent to interconnect computers the world over. Unless otherwise clear from the context of use, the term “network” hereinafter shall include LANs, WANs, global networks and/or any other networking of computers to provide data communication there between.  
           [0004]    Much advancement has been made in the relatively recent past in the infrastructure linking such computers via a network. This includes advancements in both software and hardware necessary for the operation of such networks.  
           [0005]    The term “hardware” includes cabling, jacks and other devices necessary to make the physical connection between the computers or other devices on the network to enable data to flow over the network. The term “hardware” also includes computer cards, computer boards and other devices that may/must be inserted into a computer that is to be linked over the network to permit that computer to share information over the network. The term “hardware” also includes devices that are separate and apart from the computers that are to be linked over the network, which devices are placed within the computer network and become a part of the network&#39;s infrastructure and operate to perform some function necessary for the operation of the network. Devices in this last category of hardware include routers, and bridges, for example.  
           [0006]    More particularly, it is most common in the presently available networking systems for large concentrations of data that is to be transferred from a first computer to a second computer on the network to be packetized. In this process the large data file that is to be transferred is broken into smaller subcomponents or “data packets” and the data packets are provided with address information that indicates where that packet destination (the second computer) may be found on the network. The data packets are then sent over the network via a variety of paths, and devices on the network forward any given data packet in the direction of its intended destination using the address information described above. The data packets are forwarded in any order until they arrive at the desired destination, whereupon the packets are reassembled at the destination (e.g. the second computer) to recreate the transferred data on the second computer. As may be appreciated, at any one time there are millions of packets flowing over a computer network of any size, and devices such as routers operate as junction points between the many paths of the network receiving the data packets and forwarding them along the appropriate path of the network toward the data packet&#39;s intended destination.  
           [0007]    It is a difficult enough task to complete this operation and to transfer the data packets with sufficient speed and accuracy as to render the network useful without malicious intervention, but the matter is further complicated when intentionally or inadvertently an entity floods the network with data packets that overload or otherwise damage the ability of the network to route the data packets over the network. Intentional attacks are sometimes referred to as denial of service (“DoS”) attacks and if successful render the attacked computer, network or other device temporarily or permanently unable to effectively transfer data over the computer network. Particularly troublesome are intentional attempts by computer hackers to interrupt or otherwise destroy data flow. Therefore, there have been both hardware and software developments, but particularly software developments, that attempt to thwart such attacks, and such software may reside on the interconnected computers, on the infrastructure devices such as the router described above, or both. These systems to prevent DoS attacks are sometimes referred to as a “firewall” in the sense that as a firewall in a building or other structure operates to protect to provide protection from a fire on one side of the wall for occupants or equipment on the other, these systems operate to protect the computer or other device from attacks coming from the computer network. As may be appreciated, however, the term “firewall” is generally not limited to DoS attack protection alone, and firewalls typically provide other protections such as protection from computer viruses and/or privacy/access restrictions/protections, among others. Thus for example, a routing device may include several junctions (referred to as “ports”) with the computer network for receiving and forwarding data packets and a means within the router for reading the address information and selecting the proper path along which to forward the data packet, and the router may further be equipped with firewall protection to prevent, for example, DoS attacks on the router itself or the computer network as a whole.  
           [0008]    A router generally includes at least the following components, not in any particular order. First, it is generally housed within a box-like housing. Second, there is typically a power supply to enable the unit to function, which is typically powered by plugging the unit into an AC current, 120 volt power source and, third, an on/off switch to turn the unit off and on. Fourth, the router usually includes a plurality of ports, also known as interfaces, for example between three and twelve in number, which are visible and accessible from the exterior surface of the device, which physically resemble telephone jacks to enable the unit to be connected via cabling to several computers or devices on the network. The ports are often named in terms of the amount of data they can carry. For example, 10/100 megabit (“Mb”) ports can carry zero to 100 megabits per second of data. One gigabyte ports can carry 125,000,000 bytes of data per second. Routers may include a mixture of such ports, wherein some may for example be 10/100 Mb ports whereas others are one gigabyte ports all in the same router. As may be appreciated, the rate of data transfer is not a factor of the port alone, but rather it is the supporting circuitry described below that enables a named port to operate at or about its named speed.  
           [0009]    The ports themselves typically reside on a fifth component, an electronic circuit board or card. The port-bearing electronic circuit board is often referred to as a network interface card (“NIC”).  
           [0010]    Any number of ports may be associated with a NIC, but often there are four ports affixed to each NIC. A router having 12 ports would then, for this example, include three NICs.  
           [0011]    The three port-bearing NICs are plugged into a sixth component, a common electronic circuit board or card, known as a backplane, each NIC being inserted into its own respective plug, slot or socket on the backplane. A backplane operates much like an electrical junction box, and, more particularly, is an electronic circuit board containing circuitry and sockets into which additional electronic devices on other circuit boards or cards can be plugged. The backplane in this example operates to provide data communication pathways between the 12 ports on the three port-bearing NICs.  
           [0012]    A backplane typically operates only as an intermediary board to provide pathways between the various ports, and the backplane is typically itself placed in data communication, via another plug, slot or socket on the backplane with a seventh component, which is another electronic circuit board, which other electronic circuit board in fact reads the address information and operates as the “brain” for the device, deciding which pathway the received data packet should be forwarded along. The decision-making electronic circuit board is referred to as a single board computer (“SBC”).  
           [0013]    Finally, typical router includes as an eighth component a plurality of fans to keep the temperature in the unit fairly constant and to avoid damage to the components from heat.  
           [0014]    The SBC may or may not have an operating system associated with it. The router may also include additional components to permit an administrator of the router to configure certain operational or other parameters of the router and/or the SBC. As used herein a “user” generally refers to any entity utilizing the router, but the term “administrator” is generally reserved for an entity having permissions to configure the router. The additional components may include interfaces for keyboards and monitors and serial or other ports to permit data communication with a terminal or other device to permit configuration of the router and/or the SBC. The router and/or the SBC may be configured by directly plugging in a keyboard and/or terminal, or, particularly where the SBC has its own operating system, it may be configured remotely by a user over the network via the existing ports or additional ports or interfaces added for that express purpose.  
           [0015]    Backplane systems do not have a motherboard in the true sense of the word. In a backplane system, the components normally found on a motherboard are located on the SBC.  
           [0016]    Backplane systems come in two main types: passive and active.  
           [0017]    A passive backplane means the main backplane board does not contain any bus control circuitry except for the bus connectors. All the circuitry found on a conventional motherboard is contained on one or more expansion cards installed in slots on the backplane. Some backplane systems incorporate the entire system circuitry into a single mothercard (e.g. the SBC). The mothercard is essentially a complete motherboard that is designed to plug into a slot in the passive backplane. The passive backplane/mothercard concept allows the entire system to be easily upgraded by changing one or more cards.  
           [0018]    An active backplane means the main backplane board contains bus control circuitry and usually other circuitry as well. In essence, such backplanes include an additional integrated circuit chip which operates like a repeater/buffer/driver to facilitate movement of the data packets over the various circuit pathways on the backplane. While this chip facilitates data packet movement, it also forms a system bottleneck on the backplane as all data must pass over the chip which creates an inherent time delay, and adds additional cost to the manufacture of the backplane as the chip itself is expensive and its placement on the backplane can require expensive and specialized equipment and skills. Also, while most active backplane systems contain some of the circuitry found on a typical motherboard, such active backplanes generally still do not include a processor complex, which remains present on the SBC.  
           [0019]    Keeping the SBC on its own circuit board as opposed to placing the processor complex on the active backplane allows the user to easily upgrade to a new processor type by changing only the SBC card. In effect, it amounts to a modular motherboard with a replaceable processor section. In devices other than routers, as for example, most modem personal computer (“PC”) systems that use a backplane design use an active backplane/processor complex. Both IBM and Compaq have used this type of design in some of their high-end (server class) systems, for example. The theoretical advantage of a backplane system, however, is that you can upgrade it easily to a new processor and new level of performance by changing a single card (e.g. the SBC card). If the processor complex were built into the backplane board to form a type of motherboard-design system, upgrading the processor would require changing the entire processor complex/backplane combination, a seemingly more formidable task. However, development of the upgradeable processor (e.g. Intel has designed all 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro, and Pentium II processors to be upgradeable to faster (sometimes called OverDrive) processors in the future by simply swapping (or adding) the new processor chip) has created the possibility of changing only the processor chip for a faster one, which may be the easiest and generally most cost-effective way to upgrade without changing the entire processor complex/backplane combination.  
           [0020]    Generally, the presently available active or passive backplane boards do not have a power supply regulator formed within or on such backplane boards but must obtain power via complex cabling from the power supply located elsewhere in the router housing and not otherwise associated with the backplane board.  
           [0021]    Whether active or passive, for all routers, and indeed for all computer network hardware and even arguably for all computer equipment, there is ever-felt marketplace pressure and there remains a need in the art to design and build a router in such a way that it is easier to manufacture, less expensive to manufacture, faster to manufacture, smaller in overall dimensional size which can more quickly and accurately process data, preferably with new and additional functionality (e.g. firewall protection, etc) over known router designs.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0022]    The present invention is directed to an improved design for a backplane board for use in a computer networking router comprising:  
           [0023]    a backplane board substrate having a plurality of electrical circuitry pathways over said backplane board;  
           [0024]    a plurality of electronic circuit board expansion slots located on said substrate and in data communication with said electrical pathways, each slot adapted to receive a network interface card and retain said network interface card spaced apart from but in a generally parallel plane with said backplane board substrate; and  
           [0025]    at least one electronic circuit board expansion slot adapted to received a single board computer; wherein said backplane board is a passive backplane board and said router case is one rack unit in height.  
           [0026]    In alternative embodiments the novel backplane board of the present invention is provided with several additional components including but not limited to an electrically erasable programmable read only memory chip (also known as an “EEPROM” or an “E 2 -PROM” which is in data communication with the SBC which can be programmed for a variety of functions including to provide a hardware serial number, to control startup and/or operation of the router, as for example requiring a data key to be transmitted from the memory chip to the SBC before the router will operate. The E 2 -PROM transmits data to the SBC in response to a request from the SBC.  
           [0027]    The novel backplane board may also be provided with a plurality of diagnostic light emitting diodes (LEDs) which will indicate the status of the operation of the backplane board.  
           [0028]    Also preferably, the backplane board includes a half-wave bridge rectifier providing the ability for the dual power supplies to both power the backplane board and provide fail over protection should either power supply fail.  
           [0029]    The present invention is also directed to a novel router employing the novel passive backplane board of the present invention. The novel router of the present invention includes a housing having retained therein the following components: a pair of redundant power supplies, an on/off switch for operation of the device, a plurality of cooling fans retained within said housing, a plurality of ports accessible externally of said housing, said ports being provided on and in data communication with at least one NIC, an SBC, a backplane board substrate having a plurality of electrical circuitry pathways over said backplane board, a plurality of NIC-receiving electronic circuit board expansion slots located on said backplane board substrate and in data communication with said electrical pathways, said NIC being retained within and in data communication with at least one slot adapted to receive said NIC and retain said NIC spaced apart from but in a generally parallel plane with said backplane board substrate, an SBC-receiving electronic circuit board expansion slot, said SBC being retained within and in data communication with said electrical pathways in said backplane board substrate, a half wave bridge rectifier on or within said backplane board substrate which half wave bridge rectifier is adapted to receive electrical current from said power supplies and to distribute said electrical current to one or more components affixed to said backplane board substrate.  
           [0030]    Preferably, the novel router&#39;s redundant power supplies include takeoffs from the backplane board to power the fans, wherein the takeoffs to the fans include a polyfuse (a type of self resetting fuse). This arrangement permits each fan to operate regardless of a failure in the electrical circuitry of other the fans.  
           [0031]    In alternative embodiments the backplane board of the novel router of the present invention is provided with several additional components including but not limited to a programmable memory chip which is in data communication with the SBC which can be programmed to control startup and/or operation of the router, as for example requiring a data key to be transmitted from the memory chip to the SBC before the router will operate.  
           [0032]    The novel backplane board of the novel router of the present invention may also be provided with a plurality of diagnostic light emitting diodes (LEDs) which will indicate the status of the operation of the backplane board.  
           [0033]    The SBC of the novel router of the present invention may or may not have an operating system associated with it. The router may also include additional components to permit a user of the router to configure certain operational or other parameters of the router and/or the SBC. Such components may include interfaces for keyboards and monitors and serial or other ports to permit data communication with a terminal or other device to permit configuration of the router and/or the SBC. The router and/or the SBC may be configured by directly plugging into the router a keyboard and/or terminal, or, particularly where the SBC has its own operating system, it may be configured remotely by a user over the network via the existing ports or additional ports or interfaces added for that express purpose.  
           [0034]    The novel backplane of the present invention provides several advantages over known active backplane boards. It operates up to 10% faster than known active backplane boards. It is only one rack unit high taking up far less space than known router systems while providing far greater port density in that one rack unit high silhouette. By avoiding the need for an active backplane, the electrical circuitry is much simpler, easier and less costly to imprint in the backplane board substrate. It is easier to manufacture the finished backplane, as less sophisticated technology can be employed for assembly. Further, providing power directly from redundant power supplies to a half wave bridge rectifier associated with the backplane board substantially reduces the wiring harness necessary to operate the backplane board, resulting in less cost and greater ease of manufacture. Providing the E 2 PROM on the backplane board provides limited non-volatile data storage that is more secure and tamper resistant than that provided on the SBC or attached mass storage devices such as hard drives or solid state disks. Providing the diagnostic LEDs on the backplane board permits much easier diagnosis of the operation, and in particular, for example, of the power supply operation on the backplane board. The novel router of the present invention also provides the advantage that the sequential numbering of the ports when a plurality of ports is present proceeds from one end of the aligned ports to the other, such that port  1  is logically the first and left-most port proceeding in increasing numerical sequence to port  12  at the right-most portion of the aligned ports. Known routers do not have this capability and it is not at all intuitive where port  1  is located along the aligned string of ports. Further, unlike known router systems employing an active backplane, it is not necessary to populate each and every NIC-receiving electronic circuit board expansion slot located on said backplane board substrate for the backplane board to operate, in contrast to known routers require that each and every NIC-receiving electronic circuit board expansion slot located on said backplane board substrate to be populated by a NIC for the backplane board to operate.  
           [0035]    The router of the present invention can operate with a PCI bus with 32-bits and 33 megahertz clock speeds without the need for an active backplane board at speeds up to 10% faster than presently available 32-bit/33 megahertz router systems.  
           [0036]    In a preferred embodiment, the router of the present invention is also equipped with adaptive firewall protection, and in particular with DoS protection. It can support up to twelve 10/100 Mb ports or eight 10/100 Mb ports and one gigabit port. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0037]    [0037]FIG. 1 front perspective view of the novel router of the present invention.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 2 is a back perspective view of the novel router of the present invention.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the components of the novel router of the present invention.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a prior art active backplane board.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the novel passive backplane board of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0042]    Illustrated in FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the novel router  10  of the present invention. The novel router  10  includes chassis  12  in which the components described below are retained. The chassis includes front wall  14  having openings  16 ,  18  and  20  there through, side walls  22  and rear wall  24 . The chassis  12  is enclosed within cover  26 , which cover  26  is affixed to the chassis  12  by any means known in the art, typically with a plurality of screws, not shown.  
         [0043]    The openings  16 ,  18  and  20  are adapted to receive there through ports  28 - 46 . The precise number of ports is not limiting to the present invention, and more or less ports may be employed within the scope of the present invention. Also, the capacity of the ports may be the same or may be different. For example, ports  28 - 42  in the example illustrated are 10/100 Mb ports, and ports  44 , 46  collectively are a one gigabyte port respectively. But this example is non-limiting, the present invention may include any combination of ports in any data carrying capacity. The ports operate as interfaces to permit cabling to be inserted into the ports to provide data communication between the router  10  and other devices, such as computers to be networked via the router  10  or other devices such as, but not limited to other routers. In fact, any PCI based network interface card may be used in the ports, e.g. cards to interface to T-1, OC-*, token ring, ARCNET, V0.35, FDDI, ATM, DSL, ISDN, or other devices, which allows the backplane to be adaptable to a variety of networking environments.  
         [0044]    Also illustrated in FIG. 1 are a plurality of LEDs  48 - 57  which operate to provide the user of the router  10  with certain information regarding the operation and performance of the router  10 . The precise number of LEDs and their placement on the router  10  are not limiting to the present invention, and more or less LEDs or other optical and/or audible devices may be employed to provide the user with more or less operational or performance feedback. However, in this embodiment the six LEDs  48 - 57  do perform certain useful functions.  
         [0045]    In normal operation, the LEDs provide a visual indication of network activity through the router. The LEDs provide a bar graph display where more energized LEDs indicate more network traffic through the router. When two routers are paired together to form a high-availability router, one LED acts as a “heart-beat” to provide a visual indication that each router is communicating with the other. The remaining five LEDs continue to act as a bar graph of network traffic.  
         [0046]    Referring now to FIG. 2 there is illustrated a rear perspective view of the router  10 . As illustrated in FIG. 2, the cover  26  is in place over the chassis  12 . The rear wall  24  contains a plurality of openings therein to accommodate certain purposes. The precise number of openings and their placement are not limiting to the present invention and more or less openings may be employed as within the scope of the present invention. However, as illustrated in FIG. 2 there are a plurality of openings  58 - 66  to accommodate air flow past a plurality of cooling fans  68 - 76 .  
         [0047]    In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 an opening  78  is provided to accommodate a circular pin connector  80  which may be used, for example, to permit a keyboard or other device to interface with the router  10  for example, for the purpose of configuring the router  10 . An opening  82  is provided to accommodate a D-SUB connector  84  which may be used to interface a terminal with the router  10  for example, for the purpose of configuring the router  10 . An opening  86  may be provided to accommodate a D-SUB connector  88  to permit a monitor or other display device to be interfaced with the router  10 , also for example, for the purpose of configuring the router  10 . An opening  90  may be provided to accommodate a RJ-45 connector  92  which may be used to interface a computer network with the router  10 . For example, for the purpose of configuring ther router  10 , as some network installations use dedicated, private computer networks solely to configure and monitor their networking equipment. An opening  94  may be provided to permit an on/off switch  96  to be provided to operate the router  10 . Finally, an opening  98  may be provided to accommodate a power cord interface  100  for the purpose of supplying electrical power to the router  10 . However, as stated above and as repeated here, the exact number of openings, their placement and their purposes are not limited to those illustrated in FIG. 2, and more or less openings may be provided for more or less purposes.  
         [0048]    Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a front perspective schematic view of the router  10  with the cover  26  off, illustrating the major components of the router  10 . The ports  28 - 34  reside on and are in data communication with network interface card (“NIC”)  102 . The ports  36 - 42  reside on and are in data communication with NIC  104 . The ports  44  and  46  reside on and are in data communication with NIC  106 .  
         [0049]    NICs  102 - 106  reside on and are in data communication with backplane board  108 . More particularly, NIC  102  is supported on and provides its data communication with backplane board  108  via peripheral component interface (“PCI”) connector  110 . NIC  104  is supported on and provides its data communication with backplane board  108  via PCI connector  112 . Finally, NIC  106  is supported on and provides its data communication with backplane board  108  via PCI connector  114 .  
         [0050]    Data entering any of the ports  28 - 46  is then in communication over the respective NIC to the backplane board  108 . Backplane board  108  is then in data communication with single board computer (“SBC”)  116  via PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturing Group (“PIC MG”) connector  118 .  
         [0051]    Power is supplied to the backplane board  108  from redundant power supplies  120  and  122 . The electrical current carried by the wiring harnesses  124  and  126  is provided to the backplane board  108  via electrical power junction block  132 .  
         [0052]    Electrical power is transferred from the electrical power junction block  132  to a second electrical power junction block  134  where the power is transferred via wiring harness  136  to fans  138  through  148 . The electrical line to each fan  138 - 148  in the wiring harness  136  or on the backplane board  108 , includes a polyfuse (a type of self resetting fuse). This arrangement permits each fan to operate regardless of a failure in any other fan. Also illustrated in FIG. 3 is the electrical power interface  152  and the wiring harness to provide electrical power to the power supplies  120  and  122 .  
         [0053]    The back side of power switch  96  is illustrated in FIG. 3. Also illustrated in FIG. 3 is the back side of connector  80  which may be used, for example, to permit a keyboard or other device to interface with the router  10  via cable  156  to junction  158  on SBC  116 .  
         [0054]    The back side of D-SUB connector  84  is illustrated in FIG. 3. Connector  84  is in communication with SBC  116  via cable  160  and junction  162 .  
         [0055]    The back side of D-SUB connector  88  which functions to permit a monitor or other display device to be interfaced with the router  10  is illustrated in FIG. 3. It too is in communication with SBC  116  via cable  166  to junction  170 .  
         [0056]    The back side of RJ-45 connector  92  is illustrated in FIG. 3 which is in turn in communication with SBC  116  via cable  168  and junction block  171 .  
         [0057]    Extending between junction block  172  on SBC  116  to junction block  174  on backplane board  108  is cable  176 , which provides data communication from the SBC  116  to the E 2 PROM  178  on back plane board  108 .  
         [0058]    The six LED&#39;s  48 - 57  on the front of the router  10  are provided with an electrical signal to activate the LEDs  48 - 57  via cable  180  which is connected viajunction block  182  to backplane board  108 . LEDs  186 ,  190  and  194  are also present on the backplane board  108  to provide system monitoring and diagnosis, as for example whether the LEDs may be used to indicate the status of the system power supplies. LEDs  186 , 190   
         [0059]    During normal operation, the six LEDs  48 - 57  provide a bar graph of the real-time network utilization where more traffic is indicated by more LEDs being lit. During operation in a high availability (“HA”) mode, five of the LEDs display network utilization rate and one LED displays HA heartbeats, preferably at the rate of about one blink per second. LED use is preferably controlled by software, thus new LED display modes may be added as desired. During testing, the LEDs are cycled on and off repeatedly to test the operation of the SBC circuitry as well as the LEDs themselves and associated hardware and cabling, LEDs  186 ,  190  and  194  may be configured to provide a visual indication of the status of the redundant power supplies. This feature is useful, for example, during manufacturing to check the operation of the power supplies, as well as during troubleshooting of the device in the field.  
         [0060]    Referring now to FIG. 4 there is illustrated a bottom plan view of a prior art active backplane board  200 . The active backplane board  200  includes a bridge repeater chip  202  and exceedingly complex circuitry  204  to establish the necessary electrical pathways to enable the active backplane board  200  to operate.  
         [0061]    Referring now to FIG. 5 there is illustrated a top plan view of the passive backplane board  108  of the present invention. In addition to the absence of any repeater chip, the electrical pathways necessary to establish the necessary degree of interconnection of the various components of the novel router of the present invention are clearly much more simple than those of known active backplane board  200 .  
         [0062]    As noted above, the novel backplane of the present invention provides several advantages over known active backplane boards. It operates up to 10% faster than known active backplane boards. It is only one rack unit high taking up far less space than known router systems while providing far greater port density in that one rack unit high silhouette. By avoiding the need for an active backplane, the electrical circuitry is much simpler, easier and less costly to imprint in the backplane board substrate. Providing power directly from redundant power supplies to a half wave bridge rectifier associated with the backplane board substantially reduces the wiring harness necessary to operate the backplane board, resulting in far less cost and greater ease of manufacture. Providing the E 2 PROM on the backplane board provides the advantage of a software readable serial number for the backplane itself. This allows the router software or other administrative software to verify that it has access to a bonafide backplane prior to operation. Providing the diagnostic LEDs on the backplane board permits much easier diagnosis of the operation, and in particular the power supply operation on the backplane board. The novel router of the present invention also provides the advantage that the sequential numbering of the ports when a plurality of ports is present proceeds from one end of the aligned ports to the other, such that port  1  is logically the first and left-most port proceeding in increasing numerical sequence to port  12  at the right-most portion of the aligned ports. Known routers do not have this capability and it is not at all intuitive where port  1  is located along the aligned string of ports. Further, unlike known router systems employing an active backplane, it is not necessary to populate each and every NIC-receiving electronic circuit board expansion slot located on said backplane board substrate for the backplane board to operate, in contrast to known routers require that each and every NIC-receiving electronic circuit board expansion slot located on said backplane board substrate to be populated by a NIC for the backplane board to operate.  
         [0063]    The router of the present invention can operate with a PCI bus with 32-bits and 33 megahertz clock speeds without the need for an active backplane board at speeds up to 10% faster than presently available 32 bit/33 megahertz router systems.  
         [0064]    The present invention has been described in connection with certain embodiments. However the present invention is not intended to be so limited and other embodiments are contemplated as within the scope of the present invention as described in the foregoing and in the following claims.