NETWORK SWITCH WITH PANIC MODE

摘要

A switch is provided for use in a communications system for transmitting traffic from a first user to a second user. The first and the second users (X, K) are interconnected by a primary communications path (410) and a redundant communications path (420). The switch includes a first port configured to receive hello communications indicative of a proper operation of the primary communications path and a second port for receiving data communications. A switch control (288) monitors the receipt of the hello communications, directs the forwarding of received data communications up to a threshold capacity and, if the received data communications exceed the threshold capacity, drops at least a portion of the received data communications such that forwarded data communications are below the threshold capacity.