WO2008052463A1

WO2008052463A1 - Method and apparatus for hot upgrading network processor

Info

Publication number: WO2008052463A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/070925
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jianyi Zhu
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-10-25
Filing date: 2007-10-18
Publication date: 2008-05-08
Also published as: CN100542103C; CN1968153A

Abstract

A method and apparatus for hot upgrading a network processor, includes: setting an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor into non-report processing state; and after finishing the setting, refreshing an old service module command in the engine by using an upgraded service module command, thereby hot upgrading the network processor without interrupting the service.

Description

Method and device for thermally upgrading network processor

[1] Technical field

[2] The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for thermally upgrading a network processor.

[3] Background Art

With the transformation of the interactive network (Internet) from scientific research to commercial applications, the number of network users has increased rapidly. Various types of applications coexist on one physical network. The processing power, quality of service (QoS) guarantee and network bandwidth of network nodes gradually Become the main obstacle to the continued development of the Internet. However, with the development of optical transmission technology, the transmission bandwidth no longer becomes the bottleneck of the network, and the processing capability of the network switching node is particularly important.

In order to meet the ever-changing changes in the network, Gigabit Routers (GSR) and Mega Terabit Routers (TSRs) have emerged. These high-end routers use large-capacity switching fabrics and hardware high-speed forwarding technology to greatly improve packet forwarding speed. The network processor (NP: Netwo rk Processor), which is the core of these high-end routers, has also been rapidly developed and applied.

[6] The network processor is a programmable device that is used for various tasks in the communication field, such as packet processing, protocol analysis, route lookup, voice/data aggregation, firewall, QoS, and the like.

[7] With the continuous introduction of new technologies and new requirements from users for NP functions, NP needs to be continuously upgraded, that is, new instructions are updated with new running instructions to meet user requirements and implement new technologies. . Then, the NP in the router running the service on the backbone network, how to implement the hot upgrade of these NPs without interrupting the service has become the focus of current research.

[8] In the prior art, a method for hot-upgrading an NP in a router is: using a modified instruction jump technique to perform a hot upgrade of an NP in a router on a backbone network that is running a service. The basic principle is to put the newly added instruction at the end of the free area of the microcode instruction space, and replace the instruction to be modified with the instruction address that jumps to the newly added microcode.

[9] In the process of implementing the present invention, the inventors have found that the above-mentioned prior art methods have the disadvantages of: When upgrading with this method, it is necessary to be very familiar with microcode, and also requires resources such as related registers of the entire NP. Very familiar, and need to prevent the upgrade from covering the internal resources of the NP. Moreover, this method is only suitable for repairing Change the amount of instruction code. If you use this method to modify a software bug, you need to jump in the same place where the original code is not continuous. This may cause the update to be out of sync, causing problems in microcode processing. This method also causes a waste of instruction space.

[10] Summary of the invention

[11] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for thermally upgrading a network processor such that the network processor performs a hot upgrade without interrupting the service.

[12] The object of the present invention is achieved by the following technical solutions:

[13] A method of hot upgrading a network processor, comprising:

[14] Set the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to no message processing state;

[15] The updated service module instruction is used to update the old service module instruction in the engine that needs to be upgraded, and the network processor is upgraded.

[16] A device for thermally upgrading a network processor, comprising:

[17] a setting unit, configured to set an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to a no-message processing state;

[18] an update unit, configured to: after the setting unit completes the setting, use the upgraded service module instruction to update the old service module instruction in the engine that needs to be upgraded, and complete the network processor upgrade.

[19] It can be seen from the technical solutions provided by the present invention that the present invention provides a reliable, simple, and practical method and apparatus for network processor hot upgrade, so that the network processor can be implemented without interrupting services. Hot upgrade. Moreover, the implementation process of the present invention is stable, reliable, and has a wide range of applications. The implementation of the invention can also meet the modification of a large number of service module codes, improve the reliability and stability of the router, and ensure the normal operation of the carrier-class service.

[20] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

1 is a flow chart of a method for thermally upgrading a network processor according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for thermally upgrading a network processor according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a setting unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[24] Specific implementation

[25] The embodiment of the present invention provides a method for hot-upgrading a network processor by setting an engine that needs to be upgraded in a network processor, so that the NP can perform hot upgrade without interrupting the service.

[26] An embodiment of the present invention sets an engine that needs to be upgraded in an NP to a no-message processing state; The engine that needs to be upgraded is in a state of no message processing, and the upgraded service module instruction is used to update the old service module instruction in the engine that needs to be upgraded, and after the upgrade is completed, the normal operation of the NP is resumed.

Specifically, the embodiment of the present invention can ensure that the engine that needs to be upgraded in the NP does not receive the packet again, and the service processing module in the engine that needs to be upgraded sends all the remaining reports. After the engine that needs to be upgraded in the NP does not receive the packet, the technology is delayed by a period of time, so that the engine that needs to be upgraded in the NP sends the remaining packets before the packet is completely processed. Then, the upgraded service module instruction is used to update the instruction space of the service module in the engine that needs to be upgraded, and after the update and upgrade is completed, the non-message processing state of the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor is released, and the network processor is restored. operating.

[28] In order to facilitate the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, the method of the present invention is divided into three stages, and combined with the method flowchart of the hot upgrade network processor of the embodiment of the present invention (as shown in FIG. 1), the present invention The specific implementation process of the embodiment is described in detail, and specifically includes:

[29] 1, the setup phase

[30] At present, the idea of NP upgrade is: Use NP resources as little as possible, that is, let NP be in the simplest state; Determine as much as possible which instructions are to be executed during the upgrade; The diversity and breadth of business processes must be considered to expand their scope of application.

[31] While the NP is in the simplest state, the engine does not need to process any messages, because this time, the engine will be in the polling state of the message or wait for the activation state. In this state, The use of NP resources is minimal, and the state of the relevant NP is also the clearest.

[32] So just try to let the NP need to upgrade the engine in the state that there is no message to be processed, and then let the general-purpose central processing unit (CPU) directly use the upgraded business module instructions to refresh the business instruction space. Yes.

[33] Based on the NP upgrade idea, the present invention uses the technical means to enable the engine that needs to be upgraded in the NP to no longer receive the message, and the technical means can use the link level back pressure on the NP uplink, the pair The NP uplink link-level backpressure operation can be controlled by a general-purpose CPU in the router. However, it is not limited to this method, and other technical means may be used, for example, by resetting the port so that the port no longer receives the message, and the same effect can be achieved. This will ensure that the engine that needs to be upgraded will not receive it again. Message.

[34] Although the engine that needs to be upgraded does not receive the message again, the service processing module in the engine that needs to be upgraded may still have the remaining received message not sent out. In order to enable the engine that needs to be upgraded to completely send out the remaining packets, after the engine that needs to be upgraded in the NP does not receive the message by technical means, the device may be delayed for a period of time to facilitate the need. The upgraded engine sends the remaining packets completely, and then the engine that needs to be upgraded in the NP is completely in the state of no message processing. The delay period can be set differently according to different upgrade situations, such as lms. In practical applications, a detection mechanism can also be used to ensure that the engine that needs to be upgraded completely sends the remaining packets.

[35] In this phase, if the engine that needs to be upgraded in the NP is in the state of no message processing, the general-purpose CPU in the router is sending the message to the NP, so that the general-purpose CPU stops sending the message to the NP.

[36] 2. Update phase

[37] After the engine that needs to be upgraded in the NP is in the no-message processing state, the upgraded service module instruction is used to update the instruction space of the service module in the engine that needs to be upgraded.

[38] 3. Recovery phase

[39] After the update phase is completed, the impact of the setup phase on the engine that needs to be upgraded is cancelled, the unmessed processing state of the upgraded engine in the Np is released, and the normal operation of the network processor is resumed.

[40] This phase also includes, if the general CPU is suspended from sending packets to the NP during the setup phase, the general CPU is resumed to send packets to the NP at this stage.

[41] Implementation of an embodiment of the method of the present invention has the following advantages:

[42] 1. This method has nothing to do with specific NP, and applies a variety of NPs;

[43] 2. Regardless of the specific business process, the data communication products using NP can use this method to upgrade and use

NP's wireless products can also be upgraded using this method;

[44] 3, do not need to understand the microcode machine code, nor need to be familiar with the resources of the entire NP related registers

[45] 4. There is no need to prevent new services from covering the internal resources of the NP;

[46] 5, can meet the modification of a large number of business module codes;

[47] 6, reliability, high serviceability; [48] 7, will not waste an instruction, because there is no patch area concept, there is no additional jump because of patching;

[49] 8, can achieve new microcode new features upgrade.

[50] The present invention also provides an apparatus for thermally upgrading a network processor, and the apparatus is schematically shown in FIG. 2.

The device specifically includes:

[51] (1) Setting unit, used to set the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to no message processing status

[52] (2) an update unit, configured to: after the setting unit completes the setting, use the upgraded service module instruction to update the old service module instruction in the engine that needs to be upgraded, and complete the network processor upgrade.

[53] (3) The recovery unit is configured to: after the update unit completes the update, cancel the non-message processing state of the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor, and resume normal operation of the network processor.

[54] The specific structure of the setting unit is as shown in FIG. 3, and the setting unit may specifically include:

[55] a state setting module, configured to set an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to not receive a message state; [56] a time delay module, after the state setting module completes setting, After a delay, ensure that the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor is in no message processing state. The delay period can be set differently depending on the upgrade situation, such as lms. In practical applications, a detection mechanism may also be used to ensure that the engine that needs to be upgraded completely transmits the remaining messages.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention. Changes or substitutions are intended to be included within the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

Claim

[1] 1. A method for thermally upgrading a network processor, comprising:

Set the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to no message processing state;

Updating the old business module instructions in the engine that needs to be upgraded by using the upgraded business module instruction

, completing the upgrade of the network processor.

[2] The method according to claim 1, wherein the process of setting an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to a no-message processing state comprises: setting an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor It is determined not to receive the message status.

[3] The method according to claim 2, wherein the process of setting an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to a no-message processing state further includes:

After the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor is set to not receive the message state, the set interval is delayed, so that the engine that needs to be upgraded completely sends out the remaining messages.

[4] The method according to claim 2, wherein the method for setting an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to not receive the message state comprises: using a general-purpose central processor in the network processor Perform link-level backpressure on the uplink of the network processor.

[5] The method according to claim 2, wherein the method for setting an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to not receive the message state comprises: resetting a port of the network processor , causing the port of the network processor to no longer receive the message.

[6] 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the method further comprises

After the upgraded service module instruction is used to update the old service module command in the engine that needs to be upgraded, the messageless processing state of the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor is released, and the network processor is resumed.

[7] 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

If the general-purpose CPU sends a message to the network server before setting the engine to be upgraded in the network processor to the no-message processing state, the general-purpose CPU stops sending the message to the network processor;

After the network processor resumes normal operation, the universal central processor sends the message to the network processor.

[8] 8. A device for thermally upgrading a network processor, comprising:

a setting unit, configured to set an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to a no-message processing state; and an update unit, configured to: after the setting unit completes the setting, use the upgraded service module instruction to update the engine that needs to be upgraded The old business module instructions complete the upgrade of the network processor.

[9] 9. The device according to claim 8, wherein the device further comprises: a recovery unit, configured to: after the update unit completes the update, cancel the engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor No packet processing status, restore the normal operation of the network processor.

[10] 10. The device according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the setting unit specifically comprises:

a state setting module, configured to set an engine that needs to be upgraded in the network processor to not receive a message shape. The inter-turn delay module is configured to delay setting after the state setting module completes the setting In the inter-segment, the engine that needs to be upgraded completely sends out the remaining messages.