Ethernet Link Redundancy

Overview

The DSP Series 2 card functionality support the IP Address Configure (0x00E7) message in order to enable Ethernet Link Redundancy.

To enable this feature, the IP Address Configure message includes the following TLVs:

• Ethernet Link Redundancy (0x09) TLV to enable and disable Ethernet Link Redundancy

• Activate Ethernet Port (0x0A) TLV to select the active port with the values being 1 (NET1/upper port), 2 (NET2/middle port), or 3 (NET3/lower port).

While the DSP Series 2 card is in Ethernet Link Redundancy mode, all three external ports NET1, NET2 and NET3, located on the Multi-Function Media I/O card, can be used.

Important! Only one port can be the active redundant port.

Important! By default, Ethernet Link Redundancy will be disabled to provide complete backwards compatibility.

Host Support

To support Ethernet Link Redundancy, the host can do the following:

• Enable/disable Ethernet port redundancy using the Ethernet Link Redundancy (0x09) TLV within the IP Address Configure (0x00E7) message.

• Force an Ethernet Link Switchover using the Activate Ethernet Port TLV (0x0A) within the IP Address Configure (0x00E7) message.

• Query the Ethernet Mode and Active Link via IP Address Query (0x00E6) message.

Alarms

When a Link is detected as being down on the Active port, the DSP Series 2 card automatically detects the condition and switches over to an available Standby port without host intervention. The switchover response time is less than two seconds, so that NFS file read and write functions are not impacted.

The DSP Series 2 card generates the following alarms when relating to the status of the ports. Refer to the Alarm (0x00B9) message, 0x02 Card Alarms. When resolved, these alarms are cleared by sending the Alarm Clear (0x00C1) message.

• An Ethernet Link Failure (Major, 0x22) alarm when the link is detected as being down on any of the three Ethernet ports.

• An Ethernet Link-Up (Informative, 0x39) alarm, when the link is detected as being up on any of the three Ethernet ports.

Important! The Ethernet Link-Up (0x39) alarm is not cleared, and is sent only when an Ethernet port link has been detected for the first time.

• An Ethernet Port Switchover (Informative, 0x4F) alarm is sent if the active Ethernet port configuration changes while in Redundant Port mode. This alarm can not be cleared.

The Ethernet mode and Active port configured via IP Address Configure (0x00E7) message is retained after a soft reset.