Patent Document

BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Without proper network redundancy, a network failure occurring within a networked automation and control infrastructure may result in a sudden and unexpected production stoppage. For example, the time, effort, and costs associated with recovery, repairs, and restarting a production line after a sudden outage may be significant for a company. Whether a plant is involved in discrete or process operations, ensuring that production runs smoothly and uninterrupted is important to the bottom line. 
         [0002]    Network redundancy is akin to an insurance policy for industrial networks. Acting as a quick-response backup system, one of the goals of network redundancy is to mitigate the risk of unplanned outages and ensure continuity of operation by instantly responding to and reducing the effects of a point of failure anywhere along the critical data path. When one considers the direct and indirect costs of unplanned downtime, it becomes clear that making the investment in network redundancy is typically a smart strategy. 
         [0003]    A redundant network topology, in conjunction with a redundancy protocol, is typically designed to ensure that networks continue to function in the presence of single points of failure. Network redundancy works by creating multiple data paths within a network, between any and all locations. If a cable, switch, or router suddenly fails, another pathway may be available to maintain the communication flow. Any interruptions that are caused by a failure should be as short as possible, in which reliability is increased by redundancy. A network that is based on switches or bridges will typically introduce redundant links between those switches or bridges to overcome the failure of a single link. While the use of industrial-grade network components, such as ruggedized switches and hardened or armored cables, alleviates the potential for damage or breakage of parts. A network benefits from redundancy only if the network is correctly configured with redundant paths. 
         [0004]    An operator of an automation and control system may assume that the network is properly configured for redundancy, only to discover later that it is not when a single failure actually occurs in the network. Moreover, even if an automation and control system is properly configured, but due to a variety of reasons, network redundancy may be lost due to a variety of reasons. For example, a user may inadvertently forget to connect a cable between two devices or a cable may break after installation. Consequently, an improved method and system for verifying redundancy would be beneficial. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    An aspect of the invention provides apparatuses, computer-readable media, and methods for diagnosing a communications problem such as a cable break or a missing cable in an Ethernet network utilizing Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) or Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) in a ring (loop) topology. The time for evaluating the network may be quicker and simpler than with traditional systems. 
         [0006]    In another aspect of the invention, one of the network devices may be selected in a network ring, where the selected device interacts with the ring through a first and a second port. The network devices in the network ring may be configured with default parameters specified in a network protocol (e.g., Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) or Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP)) that ensures a loop-free topology to prevent bridge loops for the network ring. The values of some of the parameters (e.g., the bridge priority and/or port pathcost) of the selected device can be modified to be larger or smaller than that of any network device in the network ring, and diagnostics about the functioning of the network protocol for the selected device are then performed to obtain state information about the first and second ports of the selected device. When one of the ports is determined to be in the blocking state, network redundancy for the network ring may be verified. However, when neither of the ports is not in the blocking state, a redundancy problem may be detected for the network ring. 
         [0007]    In yet another aspect of the invention, state information about the selected device&#39;s ports may be obtained by accessing software objects (e.g., EtherNet/IP (EIP) objects) from the selected device, in which state information for each port corresponds to a separate instance of the software object. 
         [0008]    Moreover, in another aspect of the invention, network redundancy may be verified for a network comprising more than one network ring, where each ring is configured with a separate STP/RSTP domain. Each ring can be separately evaluated by identifying a selected device in a particular network ring to obtain state information about the selected device&#39;s ports. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    A more complete understanding of the present disclosure and the advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like features and wherein: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  shows a network configuration for verifying communication redundancy for a ring typology in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  shows a process for verifying communication redundancy in a network in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  shows a table representing an EtherNet/IP (EIP) object in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  shows a configuration for verifying communication redundancy for a system with remote I/O devices in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  shows a block diagram for a monitoring apparatus in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  shows network configuration  100  for verifying communication redundancy for a ring typology in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In an aspect of the disclosure, ring network  106  is characterized by a network topology in which each node  102 - 105  connects to neighboring nodes, forming a single continuous pathway for signals through each node through ring  106 . Data travels from node to node, with each node along the way handling every packet. For example, a node may process a packet or may allow the packet to pass through without any processing of the packet. Network ring  106  typically comprises a set of bidirectional links between each pair of network devices using optical fiber and/or copper-based communications. Network devices may comprise different device types such as remote device  402 , dual ring switch  401 , and network controller  408  as shown in  FIG. 4 . (Network controller  408  is typically a device controlling and/or communicating with the remote devices.) With some of the embodiments of the disclosure, each of the network devices supports Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) or Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP). Message traffic between network devices is typically dispatched in the direction of the lowest cost and/or shortest path towards its destination. In the event of the loss of a link (e.g., a cable is broken or not configured in the network), the two nearest surviving devices loop back their ends of the ring. In this way, traffic can still travel to all surviving parts of the ring, even if it has to travel the long way around ring  106 . 
         [0017]    In ring network  106 , every device  102 - 105  may have two neighbors for communication purposes. For example, network device  105  may have neighboring devices such as network devices  104  and  107 . Messages may travel through ring  106  in one of the directions (i.e., either clockwise or counterclockwise), where each path is bidirectional. However, when a cable or device becomes inoperative between two devices in the ring, the two devices may communicate in the other direction around network ring  106  if ring  106  is properly configured. For example, devices  103  and  105  can communicate with each other even if the path through device  104  becomes inoperative by communicating through device  102 . However, if a cable has not been configured in ring  106 , communication in ring  106  may fail if one of the paths becomes inoperative. If cable  109 , for example, were not included during network installation and the path through device  104  were inoperative, devices  103  and  105  would not be able to communicate with each other. 
         [0018]    System verification of network redundancy may be desirable to detect the physical and operational integrity of the network ring. System verification may detect cable breaks and device failure or fault (due to lack of power, defect, etc.). 
         [0019]    In an aspect of the disclosure, monitoring apparatus  101  may determine whether network ring  106  is properly configured with network redundancy by querying selected network device  102  through communication path  110  about two ports (e.g., ports  107  and  108 ) that connect selected device  102  to network ring  106 . With some embodiments, monitoring apparatus  101  communicates with selected device  102  through path  110  using EtherNet/IP and/or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Path  110  may include separate communication facilities from ring  106 , may share facilities with ring  106 , or may be located on ring  106  (e.g., as one the network devices  102 - 105 ). Consequently, monitoring apparatus  101  may be different from the network devices located in network ring  106  or may be incorporated into one of the network devices (e.g., a network controller). 
         [0020]    In some embodiments, monitoring apparatus  101  queries selected device  102  about diagnostic results of its network operation within network ring  106 . In an aspect of the disclosure, various different protocols may be used within network ring  106 , including Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) or Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) for the ring (loop) topology. For example, RSTP is commonly used as the network redundancy protocol in an industrial Ethernet network. In particular, ring topology may be desirable in terms of predictable performance and also guaranteed redundancy from network issues. 
         [0021]      FIG. 2  shows a flowchart  200  for verifying communication redundancy in a network in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In  FIG. 2 , the physical and operational integrity of an Ethernet network utilizing STP or RSTP protocols in a ring (loop) topology may be determined. In an aspect of the disclosure, network ring  106  may be assessed without modifications to the existing STP and RSTP standard, e.g., IEEE Standard 802.1D™-2004 (IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks: Media Access Control (MAC) Bridges). With some embodiments, as will be further discussed, devices  102 - 105  perform diagnostics as supported by the STP and/or RSTP standards. 
         [0022]    In an embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 2 , monitoring apparatus  101  identifies which of the network devices on ring  106  is the selected device in block  201 . The identification may be performed in a number of ways. For example, the identification of the selected device may be obtained from input data by monitoring apparatus  101 . Alternatively, or in combination with the input data, monitoring apparatus  101  may obtain network parameters for devices  102 - 105  and identify the selected device by determining which device has distinguishable parameter values, e.g., the largest values with respect to the other network devices. Referring to  FIG. 1 , selected device  102  is chosen in ring  106  so that monitoring apparatus  101  may verify the redundancy of ring  106 . The selected device should typically have a central role and/or always be present in the operation of ring  106  such that if the selected device is not present, the ring may not operate properly. Examples of a selected device include the controller (of the devices on the ring) and the switch/bridge that connects the ring to other parts of the network. However, the selected device is typically not the root device in the STP/RSTP network in order to ensure that one of the ports is in the blocked state as will be further discussed. 
         [0023]    At block  202 , the STP/RSTP parameters of each network device  102 - 105  in ring  106  may be set to default values that may be specified in in the STP/RSTP standards document. The parameters may be set by configuration software through a number of ways. For example, the parameters of a network device may be configured by a user through a touch screen interface, downloaded from a configuration file server, or obtained from non-volatile memory of the device. At block  203 , STP/RSTP parameters may be modified for the selected device The STP/RSTP parameters may be modified in a number of ways. For example, the modified parameter values may be sent from another device (e.g., monitoring apparatus  101 ) using File Transfer Protocol (FTP). With some embodiments the bridge priority parameter of selected device  102  is modified to a value greater than the values that are used by devices  103 - 105  in the ring  106 , where bridge priority of device  102  is set to 61440 while bridge priority of other devices  103 - 105  is set to 32768, which is the default value. Also, the port pathcost parameter of the two ports (e.g., ports  107  and  108  of selected device  102 ) connected to ring  106  is modified to a value larger than the values that correspond to the data rates used in the ring. For example, port pathcost may be set to 200,000,000. Other STP/RSTP parameters may be modified to the extent that the parameter values do not disturb proper operation in the ring topology. Modification of the STP/RSTP parameters forces either of the two ports of selected device  102  to be in a blocking state (as determined at blocks  204 - 205 ) if ring  106  is intact with proper redundancy and all network devices  102 - 105  are operational. A port may be determined to be in the blocking state, when no data is normally sent or received through the port but the port may go into the forwarding mode if other links in use were to fail. Consequently, if one of the paths were to fail, the port may transition into a forwarding mode to utilize the network redundancy to compensate for the network failure. 
         [0024]    At block  204 , monitoring apparatus  101  queries selected device  102  about the state of the ports with the modified STP/RSTP parameters. In an embodiment, devices  102 - 105  maintain port status based on STP/RSTP operation, and selected device  102  may report diagnostic results about its STP/RSTP operation to monitoring apparatus  101 . The diagnostic data, which may include information about the port states, can be exposed through one of a number of reporting mechanisms, e.g., via SNMP, EtherNet/IP, or Modbus. 
         [0025]    Related information about the state of ports may be available with STP/RSTP-capable devices via various means, including EtherNet/IP and SNMP. For example, information about a port state may be obtained with EtherNet/IP explicit messaging. Using explicit messaging, monitoring apparatus  101  may query selected device  102  about an EtherNet/IP (EIP) object (as shown in  FIG. 3 ), where there is an instance for every port on a network device. The state or a particular port of the device may be obtained from the state of the port status. As shown in  FIG. 3 , possible port states may include disabled, blocking, listening, learning, forwarding, and broken with corresponding integer values of 1-6, respectively. To complete the diagnostics of ring  106 , in order to query about the states of two ports, two instances of the EIP object should be read. 
         [0026]    At block  205 , monitoring apparatus  101  may determine whether ports  107  or  108  (as shown in  FIG. 1 ) is in the blocking state (corresponding to state=2 of the port status as shown in  FIG. 3 ). If the state of either of ports  107  or  108  is set to the blocking state, then the ring  106  may be deemed to be intact and there is network redundancy to each device in the ring. In such a case, monitoring apparatus  101  generates an indication (for example to the user) that ring  106  has the desired redundancy. However, if the state of neither of the ports is set to the blocking state, then the ring  106  may not be intact, and a problem may exist with network redundancy. In such a case, monitoring apparatus  101  may generate a different indication that there is a network redundancy problem with ring  106 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 4  shows network configuration  400  for verifying communication redundancy for a system with remote I/O devices in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Network configuration  400  comprises rings  409 ,  410 , and  411  and may further include additional network topological entities (e.g., bus, star, mesh, and/or tree) that may be connected via switch  415 . Network ring  409  includes dual ring switch  401  and remote devices  402 - 404 ; network ring  410  includes dual ring switch  405  and remote devices  406 - 407 ; and network ring  411  includes network controller  408  and dual ring switches  401  and  405 . Dual ring switch  401  supports switching for rings  409  and  411 , and dual ring  405  supports switching for rings  410  and  411 , where rings  409 ,  410 , and  411  are configured for separate STP/RSTP domains. 
         [0028]    Monitoring apparatus  101  verifies network redundancy of each ring  409 - 411  by querying a selected device in each ring corresponding to dual ring switch (DRS)  401 , dual ring switch  405 , and network controller  408  (which may be referred as a programmable logic controller (PLC)) through communication paths  412 ,  413 , and  414 , respectively. The selected device may be a unique device in the ring. For example, if remote devices  402 - 404  were the same type of devices, dual ring switch  401  may be selected as the selected device so that remote devices  402 - 404  would be configured with the same STP/RSTP parameter values as the default values. As previously discussed, the selected device for a network ring should typically have a central role in the operation of the ring such that if the selected device is not present, the ring would not operate properly. A different device other than network controller  408  may be selected for ring  411  based on the above criterion. 
         [0029]    In some embodiments, monitoring apparatus  101  separately verifies the redundancy of each ring  409 - 411  through communication paths  412 - 414 , respectively. For example, verification of ring  411  may be first performed followed by the verification of rings  409  and  410 . Ring  411  functions as the main network because ring  411  includes network controller  408 , while rings  409  and  410  function as remote I/O leafs. In order to verify the redundancy of each ring, monitoring apparatus  101  may determine whether the network ring  409 ,  410 , or  411  is properly configured with network redundancy by querying selected network device  401 ,  405 , or  408  about two ports ( 416 - 417 ,  418 - 419 , and  420 - 421 ) that connect the selected device with the corresponding network ring. Also, monitoring apparatus  101  may verify a double ring by evaluating each ring separately. 
         [0030]      FIG. 5  shows block diagram  500  for monitoring apparatus  101  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Processing system  501  may execute computer executable instructions from a computer-readable medium (e.g., storage device  504 ) in order provide verify communication redundancy for a network, Memory  502  is typically used for temporary storage while storage device  504  may comprise a flash memory and/or hard drive for storing computer executable instructions and a profile image. However, computer storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media include, but may not be limited to, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired information and that can be accessed by processing system  801 . The executable instructions may carry out any or all of the method steps described herein. 
         [0031]    With some embodiments, processing system  501  may correspond to one or more processors and storage device  504  may correspond to one or more memories. 
         [0032]    Apparatus  101  may be implemented as one or more ASICs or other integrated circuits having instructions for performing operations as described in connection with one or more of any of the embodiments described herein. Said instructions may be software and/or firmware instructions stored in a machine-readable medium and/or may be hard-coded as a series of logic gates and/or state machine circuits in one or more integrated circuits and/or in one or more integrated circuits in combination with other circuit elements. 
         [0033]    As can be appreciated by one skilled in the art, a computer system with an associated computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling the computer system may be utilized to implement the exemplary embodiments that are disclosed herein. The computer system may include at least one computer such as a microprocessor, digital signal processor, and associated peripheral electronic circuitry. 
         [0034]    While the invention has been described with respect to specific examples including presently preferred modes of carrying out the invention, those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are numerous variations and permutations of the above described systems and techniques that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Technology Category: 5