METHODS AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHECKING CONNECTIVITY AND DETECTING CONNECTIVITY FAILURE

摘要

A method is presented for connectivity checking and detection of connectivity failure, based on a modified Ethernet ARP address resolution mechanism to detect broken connectivity on physical, data-link and network layer between a first and a second node. The detection mechanism uses Periodical Gratuitous ARP messages (PGARP). PGARP messages are sent by a first node, the sender host or Issuer. On the other side of a data path is a second node, receiver host or Listener configured to detect lost connectivity by means of missing PGARP messages. The process on the Listener then informs subscribing services, host local, or remote, about the state of the connectivity.

主权项

1. A method for checking connectivity and detecting connectivity failure of data transmission paths between one or more first nodes and one or more second nodes in an Ethernet broadcast network, wherein the method in a second node comprises:
receiving an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) message periodically sent from one of said first nodes over a data path; storing the time instant when said ARP message was received as an entry of the latest received ARP message from the first node in a record comprising entries corresponding to one or more data transmission paths to said one or more first nodes; and detecting connectivity failure by periodically checking said record for one or more entries in relation to a predetermined threshold aging value.