JPH02295264A - Communication state monitor device for primary station - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To operate and maintain an information network effectively by monitoring the communication state of the primary station from outside communication control. CONSTITUTION:The communication state monitor device consists of an input data buffer 1, a current state buffer 2, a merging device 3, a comparison data buffer 4, transition state buffers 51-5n, a transition state buffer control part 6, and a data comparison control part 7. Then, The state of the primary station at an optional point if time as to a protocol rule is outputted to outside the communication control and if communication trouble occurs, the state of transition in the communication state of the primary station due to trouble is offered to persons in charge of operation and maintenance in easy-to-understand form from a trace log as long as a sequence (trace log) of sent and received data in a communication at the time of the trouble occurrence is gathered and held. Consequently, the operation and cost of the network are reducible in cost.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a computer. It can be used in industrial fields that effectively operate and utilize information networks in which information processing devices such as terminals are connected through communication networks consisting of transmission equipment and switching equipment. Specifically, communication control system. Network integrated management system. The present invention relates to a communication status monitoring device for a primary station used in a network fault management system, a network fault diagnosis system, etc.

[Conventional technology]

The rules (protocols) for mutual communication between a computer (primary station) and a computer (secondary station), or between a computer (primary station) and a terminal (secondary station), are written as a communication control program in software or communication control hardware. This has been realized. The protocol (divided into 7 levels by function) defines the internal communication status of computers and terminals when communicating, and also defines the internal communication status of computers and terminals when communicating. It even specifies how the communication status changes. Protocols are usually expressed using state transition diagrams or state transition tables.

Even in conventional communication control, status monitoring is performed to detect and deal with communication abnormalities within the range specified by the protocol.
The communication state at any given time is not explicitly expressed, and the transition of the communication state cannot be known in detail from outside the communication system 1B.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The communication status of the primary station, which could not be monitored from outside the communication control system, can now be monitored from outside the communication control system. The communication state of the primary station that performs communication is expressed based on the communication protocol (protocol), and the state that changes as communication commands are sent and received is output to the outside of communication control. The communication status for the primary station monitors the transition of the communication status of the primary station in the past, even when the transmitted and received data at each level of the protocol is traced by the station and the sequence of transmitted and received data (hereinafter referred to as a trace log) is saved. Provide monitoring equipment.

[Means to solve the problem]

The communication status monitoring device for a primary station of the present invention collects transmission data (input data) from the primary station at each level of a protocol that defines a communication control flow for mutual communication between the primary station and the secondary station. A means for temporarily holding the state of the primary station (current state data) in communication specified by the protocol at the time the input data is input, and a means for merging the input data and the current state data. means to temporarily hold the merged data (comparison data), and input data that causes the transition (transition factor). Current status,
Flag information. A means for holding data (compared data) that includes bit information for identifying whether or not the transition destination state is in an inconsistent state, a means for controlling some pieces of compared data, and a means for comparing comparison data and compared data. The primary station is characterized by having means for controlling the state transition on the communication protocol and outputting the current state of the primary station along with the counter value and the state bit.

In the present invention, the state of the primary station at any time of communication is explicitly expressed, and each state holds a transition destination state for each next transmission command as specified by the protocol, and communication commands and data This is achieved by inputting the output of , processing which state to transition from the current state, holding data representing the next state, and outputting it to the outside.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, it is possible to use an application program to monitor which communication state the primary station communicating with is in, between the state specified by the protocol and the communication inconsistent state specific to operation and maintenance. Furthermore, in the event of a communication failure, it is possible to obtain output such as a trace log that shows the state of communication state transition in past communications.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the communication status monitoring device for a primary station according to the present invention is shown in the block diagram of FIG.

The input data buffer 1 temporarily stores transmission data from the primary station for subsequent processing.

The current status buffer 2 temporarily stores the current communication status of the primary station.

The merging device 3 concatenates the data contents of the input data buffer 1 and the current state buffer 2 and stores it in the comparison data buffer 4.

The comparison data buffer 4 holds the current communication state and the transmission data performed in the communication state.

The transition state buffers 51 to 5.1 are used to store states defined by protocols and communication inconsistency states (hereinafter referred to as
communication state) and the transition relationship between each state. As shown in FIG. 2, the transition state buffers 5l to 5fi have a current state data (B) field 9 that stores the communication state, and a transition factor data (A) field that stores the transmission data that is the basis of the current state transition. Field 8: Transition state data (E) that stores the communication state of the transition destination Field 12: A bit string expressing a characteristic pattern in the transition sequence of the communication state up to now, in order to express a unique communication mismatch state. A flag sequence (C) field 10 that stores the communication state transition includes a self-loop, but a counter overflow value (D) field 11 that stores the limit number of self-loops, which is characteristic of the communication state transition sequence up to now. A command flag bit that expresses whether there is an instruction to create a pattern.
(F) field 13, if the current state data and transition state data are the same, it indicates a self-loop, so the count amplifier command bit (G) field 14 is used to express whether or not to increment the counter value of the self-loop once. have

The comparison data buffer 4 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a transition factor data field 8, a current state data field 9, a flag sequence field 10, and a counter overflow value field 1l shown in FIG.

The transition state buffer control unit 6 stores the contents of the comparison data buffer 4 and the transition state buffers 51 to 5 . Control is performed to sequentially transfer the contents of to the data comparison control section 7.

The data comparison control unit 7 compares the content of the comparison data buffer 4 with the corresponding content of one transition state buffer, and if they match, the data of the flag sequence 01 counter overflow value D is transferred to the transition state data E shown in FIG. The current state data B is created by combining with the field, and is output to the outside and the current state buffer 2, and the transition state buffer control unit 6 is notified of the completion of processing by the data comparison control unit 7. When creating current state data B, matching transition state vanofa5. ~
If the command flag bit F and count-up command bit G of 5, . are set, the flag sequence C including the counter value is also changed.

The transition state buffer control unit 6, which has received the processing completion notification from the data comparison control unit 7, stops transferring the contents of the transition state buffer to the data comparison control unit 7, and transfers the contents of the transition state buffer to the data comparison control unit 7.
waits until new data is input.

The contents of the transition state buffers 51 to 57 are not automatically created, but must be created by the user according to the type of protocol and the knowledge of the operator/maintainer. When realizing a communication state monitoring device for a primary station that supports many protocols, the transition state buffers 5, to 57 are logically grouped to correspond to each protocol, and the transition state buffer control unit 6 The transition state buffers 5, - 5 transfer the data to the data comparison control unit 7 with consideration given to the transition state. control.

[Effects of the Invention] By using the communication status monitoring device for a primary station according to the present invention, it is possible to communicate the protocol-defined status of the primary station at any point in time when communicating between a computer and a terminal or between computers. It becomes possible to output data to the outside of control, and if a communication failure occurs, if the sequence (trace log) of transmitted and received data during communication at the time of failure is collected and retained, the communication status of the primary station at the time of failure can be monitored. Since it is possible to provide the operation/maintenance personnel with the state of the transition from the trace log in an easy-to-understand format, it is possible to reduce the cost of network operation/maintenance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a communication state monitoring device for a primary station according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of each data field of the transition state buffer shown in FIG. 1...Manual data buffer 2...Current state buffer 3...Merge device 4...Comparison data buffers 51-57...Transition state buffer 6... Transition state buffer control unit 7...Data comparison control unit 8...Transition factor data field 9...Current state data field lO...Flag sequence field l1... Counter overflow value field 12, 13, 14, field, transition state data field, command flag bit field, count up command bit field

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Means for temporarily holding the transmission data (input data) of the primary station at each level of the protocol that defines the communication control flow for mutual communication between the primary station and the secondary station; A means for temporarily holding the state of the primary station in communication specified by the protocol at the time when data is input (current state data), a means for merging input data and current state data, and a means for merging the merged data (comparison). data), the input data that causes the transition (transition factor), the current state,
Means for holding data (compared data) including flag information, transition destination state, and bit information for identifying whether or not the state is inconsistent; means for controlling several pieces of compared data; and comparison data and compared data. A communication status monitoring device for a primary station, characterized in that it has a means for comparing the statuses of the primary station, controlling status transitions on a communication protocol, and outputting the current status of the primary station along with a counter value and status bits. .