Specifications

ALAXALA Ring Configuration Guide (Edition 1)

2. Operation of the Ring Protocol

2.1 Network configuration

This section describes types of network configurations in which the Ring Protocol is used.

(1) Single ring configuration

A ring configuration made up of one master node and several transit nodes is called a single ring configuration.

The single ring configuration is a basic configuration for the Ring Protocol.

Physical ports or link aggregations are specified as ring ports to connect the nodes in the ring. Note that for all

nodes in the ring, the same VLAN must be used as the control VLAN, and a common VLAN must be used for

data frame transfer. Control frames sent from the master node are circulated on the control VLAN for ring status

control. VLANs used to send and receive data frames are assigned to a logical group called a VLAN group. You

can configure a maximum of two groups for a single ring (one for clockwise circulations from the master node

and the other for counter-clockwise circulations from the master node). You can include multiple VLANs in a

VLAN group.

(2) Multi-ring configuration without shared links

A configuration consisting of multiple rings in which multiple physical or logical master nodes exist is called a

multi-ring configuration.

If only one node acts as a contact point between neighboring rings, the nodes in each ring run independently as

nodes in a single ring do because the neighboring rings have no duplicate link (no shared link). This applies to

the cases both where a common VLAN for data frame transfer is used between the neighboring rings

(VLAN-shared) and where different VLANs for data frame transfer are used for each ring (VLAN-excluded).

LAN-shared

Multi-ring configuration without shared links

LAN-excluded

Multi-ring configuration without shared links

Single ring configuration

Master

node

Transit

node

Transit node