Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Network computer configuring – Reconfiguring
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-04
2001-04-24
Rinehart, Mark H. (Department: 2152)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Network computer configuring
Reconfiguring
C709S220000, C709S223000, C370S254000, C370S255000, C370S397000, C370S399000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223218
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and a method for automatically setting virtual LAN configuration information, and in particular, to a system and a method for automatically setting virtual LAN configuration information of a virtual LAN which is constructed by Ethernet port groups (each of which is composed of one or more Ethernet ports which have been selected from Ethernet ports in a switching hub) and LECs (LAN Emulation Clients) which are used in LANE (LAN Emulation).
Description of the Prior Art
Various kinds of communication methods or communication services have been proposed due to development and enlargement of information communication techniques of these days. Especially, LANs (Local Area Networks) which are constructed by connecting a plurality of computers together are widely utilized in various fields. Such LANs of these days employs a concept which is called “virtual LAN” (VLAN: Virtual Local Area Network). The VLAN has functions for arbitrarily and logically grouping terminals (or nodes) which are connected to switching hubs, thereby a LAN having desired connection can be virtually constructed regardless of real physical connection of the terminals. Therefore, the VLAN has advantages of being able to reduce unnecessary traffic and ensure security.
However, when a network administrator tries to employ the functions of the VLAN for a LAN, conventional switching hubs which can support the functions of the VLAN involves the following drawbacks.
The VLAN can be utilized for constructing virtual LAN segments at a low cost, by grouping terminals logically. The virtual LAN segment is composed of various elements such as Ethernet ports, IP subnets, ELANs (Emulated LANs), etc. which are linked together. Therefore, VLAN configuration information setting procedure which has to be executed by the network administrator tends to be highly complicated, and thus network administrators are required considerable amount of effort for constructing a VLAN.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide a system and a method for automatically setting VLAN configuration information, by which tasks of network administrators in VLAN configuration information setting procedure can be lightened, and labor and cost for operating and managing VLANs can be reduced.
In the following, an outline of the present invention will be described. An automatic VLAN configuration information setting system according to the present invention comprises an automatic VLAN configuration information setting device
1
and one or more switching hubs
2
as shown in FIG.
1
. The switching hub
2
is provided with one or more (10 or 20, for example) Ethernet ports to each of which a terminal (such as a personal computer) can be connected. A switching hub
2
is related to (involved in) one or more VLANs, and VLAN configuration information of the VLANs related to the switching hub
2
are stored in a VLAN configuration information storage section
24
of the switching hub
2
. In the automatic VLAN configuration information setting system according to the present invention, the VLAN configuration information stored in each switching hub
2
is set and updated automatically by the automatic VLAN configuration information setting device
1
.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, when a terminal is connected to or removed from an Ethernet port of a switching hub communication function section
25
of a switching hub
2
, the terminal movement detection section
213
in the switching hub
2
detects the event and activates the VLAN alteration request editing section
212
. The VLAN alteration request editing section
212
edits a VLAN alteration request based on terminal connection information which has been obtained by the terminal movement detection section
213
, and sends the VLAN alteration request to the VLAN alteration request transmission section
211
. The VLAN alteration request edited by the VLAN alteration request editing section
212
includes, for example, information indicating the Ethernet port to which a terminal has been added or from which a terminal has been removed by the user (port No. etc.), information indicating the switching hub
2
itself (device ID etc.), and information indicating a VLAN (or one or more VLANs) to which the Ethernet port (the terminal) is related (VLAN name etc., which is managed by the automatic VLAN configuration information setting device
1
and also stored in the VLAN configuration information storage section
24
). The VLAN alteration request transmission section
211
transmits the VLAN alteration request to the VLAN alteration request receiving section
18
of the automatic VLAN configuration information setting device
1
, thereby process of the VLAN alteration request section
21
is finished.
In the automatic VLAN configuration information setting device
1
, the VLAN alteration request received by the VLAN alteration request receiving section
18
is sent to the VLAN configuration instruction text editing section
15
. The VLAN configuration instruction text editing section
15
is provided with a VLAN status variation device which is not shown in FIG.
1
. The VLAN configuration instruction text editing section
15
edits input information which is used to operate the unshown VLAN status variation device, by referring to the VLAN alteration request and VLAN detailed information
19
which is stored in the database
11
of the automatic VLAN configuration information setting device
1
. The VLAN detailed information
19
stored in the database
11
is detailed information of all the VLANs which have been constructed on switching hubs
2
which are managed by the automatic VLAN configuration information setting device
1
.
FIG. 2
shows an example of the VLAN detailed information
19
concerning a VLAN (VLAN-A). Referring to
FIG. 2
, in the VLAN detailed information
19
, element tables concerning intrinsic information of Ethernet port groups (
192
,
193
), element tables concerning intrinsic information of LECs (
194
,
195
), element tables concerning intrinsic information of switching hubs (
196
,
197
), and element tables concerning intrinsic information of Ethernet ports (
198
,
199
,
200
) are defined, for example. Here, the LEC (Lan Emulation Client) is a functional component in LAN emulation (protocols for constructing virtual LAN -segments on an ATM network which have been standardized in “ATM Forum af_Iane
—
0021.00 January 1995”) and becomes necessary when two switching hubs are connected in a VLAN. The “intrinsic information” means information concerning the component itself. For example, intrinsic information of a switching hub-A
1
includes the device ID of the switching hub-A
1
, the IP address of the switching hub-A
1
, etc. Incidentally, a “VLAN status number” which will be described later is included in the VLAN detailed information
19
, as intrinsic information of the VLAN-A. VLAN configuration of the VLAN-A composed of such components is defined by the VLAN detailed information
19
in the form of the element tables and links
201
between the element tables. Incidentally, the VLAN detailed information
19
shown in
FIG. 2
is VLAN detailed information concerning a VLAN (named VLAN-A) only. When two or more VLANs (VLAN-B, VLAN-C, etc.) are registered in the VLAN detailed information
19
in the database
11
of the automatic VLAN configuration information setting device
1
, similar VLAN detailed information concerning the VLAN-B, VLAN-C, etc. are generated in the VLAN detailed information
19
.
FIG. 3
shows examples of input information which is edited by the VLAN configuration instruction text editing section
15
and variations in VLAN configuration status of a VLAN according to the input information. Referring to
FIG. 3
, the input information, which is edited by the VLAN configuration instruction text editing section
15
and supplied to the unshown VLAN status variation device, includes two types: input information
34
,
35
,
36
and
37
concerning a res
Iijima Akio
Yamamoto Yukihiro
Kang Paul
NEC Corporation
Rinehart Mark H.
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
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