Thermal Switch Router Technology

For today's high-speed, high-density communication systems, downtime can cost companies millions of dollars. High availability is a very tall order to fill in developing communication devices.To be high available, a. core router should allow the insertion and extraction of boards without adversely affecting system operation. Also it should allow its system reconfiguration and its fault recovery to take place with no system down time and minimum operator interaction. Finally it should allow the isolating of faulty boards so its system can continue operation (possibly with reduced capability) in the event of a failure. In other words, a core router should be a Hot Swap system. So this paper focuses on the implementation of Hot Swap routers.This paper considers the Hot Swap processes and the control mechanisms for these processes that a Hot Swap router may have. Then this paper presents a kind of Hot Swap structure for core routers. Also this paper defines the software connection states that the insertion and extraction of Hot Swap interface boards may cause.This paper provides our Hot Swap solutions on a specific core router called GF8516 according to the kind of Hot Swap structure of routers that this paper presents and the software connection states that this paper defines.When this paper introduces the Hot Swap design and implementation of each level of the GF8516 core router, it puts emphasis on the design and implementation of the Hot Swap interface board drivers and the Hot Swap support platform including the common management module of network processors, the Hot Swap system driver, and so on.At the end of this paper, Hot Swap function test solutions of GF8516 core router are discussed.