Communicating using IP addressing for redundant telephony modules
View Patent ↗The present invention provides for efficient and reliable IP addressing in redundant telephony modules where an active one of the redundant modules must communicate using a common IP address. An addressing methodology is provided wherein an active module in a node assumes and uses an active IP address for the node. The inactive module may assume and use an inactive IP address for communication directed to the inactive module within the node.
1. A telephony node comprising first and second modules, each module comprising:
a network interface; and
a control system associated with the network interface and adapted to:
operate in an active mode when the other module is inactive and in an inactive mode when the other module is active;
communicate via the network interface using a first IP address when operating in the active mode; and
communicate via the network interface using a second IP address when operating in the inactive mode,
wherein one of the first and second modules operating in the active mode represents the telephony node and communicates as the telephony node using the first IP address; and
wherein said control system for the first module is further adapted to broadcast a first gratuitous ARP request over a network intended to be received by at least one device upon switching from the inactive mode to the active mode, said first gratuitous ARP request containing the first IP address and a unique hardware address for said first module, and said control system for the second module is adapted to broadcast a second gratuitous ARP request over the network intended to be received by the at least one device upon switching from the inactive mode to the active mode, said second gratuitous ARP request containing the first IP address and a unique hardware address for said second module.
2. A telephony node comprising first and second modules, each module comprising:
a network interface; and
a control system associated with the network interface and adapted to:
operate in an active mode when the other module is inactive and in an inactive mode when the other module is active;
communicate via the network interface using a first IP address when operating in the active mode; and
communicate via the network interface using a second IP address when operating in the inactive mode,
wherein one of the first and second modules operating in the active mode represents the telephony node and communicates as the telephony node using the first IP address; and
wherein said control system for the first module is further adapted to broadcast a first gratuitous ARP request over a network intended to be received by at least one device upon switching from the inactive mode to the active mode, said first gratuitous ARP request containing the second IP address and a unique hardware address for said second module and said control system for said second module is adapted to broadcast a second gratuitous ARP request over the network intended to be received by the at least one device upon switching from the inactive mode to the active mode, said second gratuitous ARP request containing the second IP address and a unique hardware address for said first module.
3. A method of providing a node using redundant modules comprising:
operating a first module in an active mode when a second module is inactive and in an inactive mode when the second module is active;
communicating using a first IP address with an active one of the first and second modules over a network; and
communicating using a second IP address with an inactive one of the first and second modules over the network, wherein one of the first and second modules operating in the active mode may represent the node and communicates as the node using the first IP address; and
broadcasting a gratuitous ARP request over the network intended to be received by at least one device on the network upon switching from the inactive mode to the active mode, said gratuitous ARP request containing the first IP address and a unique hardware address for an active one of the first and second modules.
4. A method of providing a node using redundant modules comprising:
operating a first module in an active mode when a second module is inactive and in an inactive mode when the second module is active;
communicating using a first IP address with an active one of the first and second modules over a network; and
communicating using a second IP address with an inactive one of the first and second modules over the network, wherein one of the first and second modules operating in the active mode may represent the node and communicates as the node using the first IP address; and
broadcasting a gratuitous ARP request over the network intended to be received by at least one device upon switching from the inactive mode to the active mode, said gratuitous ARP request containing the second IP address and a unique hardware address for the inactive one of the first and second modules.
5. A telephony node comprising:
a first telephony module having a first internet protocol (IP) address;
a second telephony module having a second IP address; and
a network interface; and
a control system associated with the network interface and adapted to:
designate one of the first and second telephony modules as active and concurrently designate the other of the first and second telephony modules as inactive;
assign an active IP address to the first telephony module when the first telephony module is designated active and concurrently assign the second telephony module an inactive IP address when the second telephony module is designated inactive; and
assign the active IP address to the second telephony module when the second telephony module is designated active and concurrently assign the first telephony module the inactive IP address when the first telephony module is designated inactive,
wherein the first, second, active, and inactive IP addresses are distinct from one another.
6. The telephony node of claim 5 wherein the first and second telephony modules are each associated with a unique hardware address.
7. The telephony node of claim 6 , wherein the active IP address is selectively associated with the corresponding unique hardware address based on which module is designated active.
8. The telephony node of claim 6 , wherein the inactive IP address is selectively associated with the corresponding unique hardware address based on which module is designated inactive.
9. The telephony node of claim 5 , wherein first and second telephony modules are adapted to broadcast gratuitous ARP requests.
10. A telephony module comprising:
a network interface; and
a control system associated with the network interface and adapted to:
associate a first internet protocol (IP) address with the telephony module;
receive instructions from a computation module to associate an active IP address with the telephony module when the telephony module is in an active state; and
receive instructions from the computation module to associate an inactive IP address with the telephony module when the telephony module is in an inactive state,
wherein the first, active, and inactive IP addresses are distinct from one another such that:
messages sent to the first IP address are received by the telephony module independent of a state in which the telephony module is,
messages sent to the active IP address are received by the telephony module only when the telephony module is in the active state, and
messages sent to the inactive IP address are received by the telephony module only when the telephony module is in the inactive state.
11. The telephony module of claim 10 wherein the telephony module is associated with a unique hardware address.
12. The telephony module of claim 11 wherein the control system associates the active IP address with the unique hardware address when the telephony module is in the active state.
13. The telephony module of claim 11 wherein the control system associates the inactive IP address with the unique hardware address when the telephony module is in the inactive state.
14. The telephony module of claim 10 wherein the control system is adapted to broadcast a packet to at least one device upon switching from the inactive state to the active state.
15. The telephony module of claim 10 wherein the control system is adapted to broadcast a gratuitous ARP request over a network to be received by at least one device upon switching from the inactive state to the active state.
16. The telephony module of claim 10 further comprising a telephony interface for handling circuit-switched traffic and a computation module interface to communicate with the computation module.
17. The telephony module of claim 16 , wherein said control system is further adapted to establish a remote socket interface with the computation module via the computation module interface.
18. The telephony module of claim 10 further comprising a telephony interface for handling circuit-switched traffic and a computation module interface for communication with the computation module to form a peripheral module for a digital switch, the telephony module and the computation module cooperating to provide call processing.
19. The telephony module of claim 10 wherein said control system is further adapted to control a media gateway as part of a media gateway controller.
20. A method of using a telephony node comprising:
assigning a first telephony module a first internet protocol (IP) address;
assigning a second telephony module a second IP address;
designating one of the first and second telephony modules as active and concurrently designating the other of the first and second telephony modules as inactive;
assigning an active IP address to the first telephony module when the first telephony module is designated active and concurrently assigning the second telephony module an inactive IP address when the second telephony module is designated inactive; and
assigning the active IP address to the second telephony module when the second telephony module is designated active and concurrently assigning the first telephony module the inactive IP address when the first telephony module is designated inactive.
21. A method of using a telephony module comprising:
associating a first internet protocol (IP) address with the telephony module;
receiving instructions from a computation module to associate an active IP address with the telephony module when the telephony module is in an active state; and
receiving instructions from the computation module to associate an inactive IP address with the telephony module when the telephony module is in an inactive state,
wherein the first, active, and inactive IP addresses are distinct from one another such that:
messages sent to the first IP address are received by the telephony module independent of a state in which the telephony module is,
messages sent to the active IP address are received by the telephony module only when the telephony module is in the active state, and
messages sent to the inactive IP address are received by the telephony module only when the telephony module is in the inactive state.