Packet relay apparatus
In a packet relay apparatus equipped with a hierarchical bandwidth control function, a queuing unit of a bandwidth controller for controlling a bandwidth of a packet to be transmitted recognizes user information for identifying a user from VLAN ID of a received Tag-VLAN packet, acquires queue information representative of a queue position by referring to a priority mapping table by using a user priority order in the packet, and queues the packet to the queue identified by the user information and queue information. Bandwidth control can therefore be performed without searching a QoS information management table.
1. A packet relay apparatus to be connected to a plurality of networks each accommodating users, comprising:
a plurality of network interfaces having bandwidth controllers for transmission/reception of a packet relative to said networks; and
a packet processor for referring to header information of said packet received via any one of said plurality of network interfaces to determine a relay destination, and transferring said packet to any one of said plurality of network interfaces,
wherein said bandwidth controller comprises:
a buffer having a plurality of queues;
a queuing unit for storing said packet in any one of said plurality of queues; and
a transmission controller for transmitting said packet stored in said queue in accordance with bandwidth information,
a QoS information management unit for storing a packet detection condition, said user information representative of users from and at which said packet is transmitted and received, and said priority order information representative of a priority order of said packet, respectively in correspondence with each other;
a QoS search unit for referring to said QoS information management unit to acquire said user information and said priority order information stored in correspondence with said packet detection condition coincident with said header information of said packet; and
a relay processor for affixing a control information header including said user information and said priority order information acquired by said QoS search unit to said packet and transferring said packet to said network interface, and
said queuing unit performs either one of a first process of referring to a first field of header information of said packet to judge whether said packet is a predetermined packet type, if said packet is the predetermined packet type, referring to a second field of said header information to acquire user information representative of users from and at which said packet is transmitted and received, referring to a third field of said header information to acquire priority order information representative of a priority order of said packet, and determining a storage destination of said packet among said plurality of queues in accordance with said acquired user information and priority order information or a second process of determining a storage destination of said packet among said plurality of queues in accordance with said user information and said priority order information included in said control information header.
2. The packet relay apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a bandwidth setting unit for setting said bandwidth information to said bandwidth controller, wherein:
said bandwidth information includes at least one of a minimum bandwidth of each of said users, a maximum bandwidth of each of said users and a line bandwidth; and
said bandwidth setting unit sets said bandwidth information to said bandwidth controller to uniformly assign the same bandwidth information to said users.
3. The packet relay apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said minimum bandwidth is a bandwidth obtained by dividing said line bandwidth by the number of said users.
4. The packet relay apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a bandwidth setting unit for setting said bandwidth information to said bandwidth controller, wherein:
said bandwidth information includes at least one of a minimum bandwidth of each of said users, a maximum bandwidth of each of said users and a line bandwidth; and
said bandwidth setting unit sets said bandwidth controller to assign a designated bandwidth to special users and assign a bandwidth obtained by dividing a left line bandwidth by the number of ordinary users to said ordinary users as said minimum bandwidth.
5. The packet relay apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said predetermined packet type is one of Tag-VLAN, IPv4, IPv6 and MPLS.
6. A packet relay apparatus to be connected to a plurality of networks each accommodating users, comprising:
a plurality of network interfaces having bandwidth controllers for transmission/reception of a packet relative to said networks; and
a packet processor for referring to header information of said packet received via any one of said plurality of network interfaces to determine a relay destination, and transferring said packet to any one of said plurality of network interfaces,
wherein said bandwidth controller comprises:
a buffer having a plurality of queues;
a queuing unit for storing said packet in any one of said plurality of queues; and
a transmission controller for transmitting said packet stored in said queue in accordance with bandwidth information,
said packet processor comprises:
a QoS information management unit for storing a packet detection condition, user information representative of users from and at which said packet is transmitted and received, priority order information representative of a priority order of said packet, first information representative of whether said user information is acquired by referring to said header information of said packet, and second information representative of whether said priority order information is acquired by referring to said header information of said packet, respectively in correspondence with each other;
a QoS search unit for referring to said QoS information management unit to acquire said user information, said priority order information, said first information and said second information stored in correspondence with said packet detection condition coincident with said header information of said packet; and
a relay processor for affixing a control information header including said user information, said priority order information, said first information and said second information acquired by said QoS search unit to said packet and transferring said packet to said network interface,
and if at least one of said first information and said second information is information indicating reference to said header information of said packet, said queuing unit refers to a first field of said packet header information to judge whether said packet is a predetermined packet type, if said packet is the predetermined packet type, acquires said user information from said header information or said control information header of said packet, in accordance with said first information, acquires said priority order information from said header information or said control information header of said packet, in accordance with said second information, and determines a storage destination of said packet among said plurality of queues in accordance with said acquired user information and said acquired priority order information.