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Turbo Chain™ Goes Beyond Standard Ethernet Ring Redundancy
In recent years, redundant Ethernet technology has been rapidly and popularly adopted due to its enhanced reliability. However, building or expanding complex redundant network infrastructures for industrial applications can be taxing due to the lack of an accommodating technology. In addition, as redundant networks become more heavily utilized, networking requirements consequently grow more demanding, making some redundant technologies inefficient in certain situations.
This article will explore various challenges
presented by existing redundant networking technologies
and introduce a new and innovative redundant
solution that increases the efficiency and availability
of multiple redundant connections in complex
mission-critical industrial networks.
The Challenges of Building Reliable and Readily Available Redundant Networks
Ease of deployment, high availability, rapid failure recovery, and future expandability are important features for industrial redundant Ethernet networks.
For industrial redundant Ethernet networks,
one of the most common problems encountered
today is the lack of a technology that simplifies
building high-availability networks containing
complex redundant connections. This requirement
is sorely needed for industrial applications
such as wind power, oil pipelines, and railway
automation networks, which require large redundant
Ethernet networks that may encompass multiple
locations over substantial distances and require
topologies that are more flexible.
Other problems such as troublesome network expansions or slow failure-recovery are also frequently encountered. As we go over the pros and cons of standard redundant technologies, we will discuss how Turbo Chain™ can address these issues precisely and efficiently.
Current Network Redundancy Technologies
Many existing mechanisms can enhance fault-tolerance in an Ethernet network. The most common of these are STP, RSTP, and proprietary ring redundancy.
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
STP automatically designates redundant links
in an arbitrary mesh network, and then reactivate
one or more of the links when active links fail.
Although this type of redundancy can be used
with networks with complicated topologies, the
recovery time is too slow for industrial applications.
Figure 1: Spanning Tree Protocol blocks redundant ports to resolve loops
Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP)
RTSP improves somewhat on STP's slow recovery time, but remains unsuitable for many mission-critical applications.
Proprietary Ring Redundancy
Ring redundancy is a cost-effective solution with excellent recovery times, but has limitations in topology flexibility and expandability.
Figure 2: Example of ring redundancy
Turbo Chain™: A New Recovery System that Goes Beyond Current Redundant Ethernet Rings
Moxa's Turbo Chain™ is an advanced redundancy technology that solves the slow recovery time of STP/RSTP, and the inflexible topology or restricted rings of proprietary ring redundancy.
Use Turbo Chain™ with any Moxa managed Ethernet
switch to build a solid foundation for creating
mission-critical and multiple redundant network
connections with fast fault recovery time, flexible
topology, unlimited network expansion, and cost-effective
configuration—for today and tomorrow.
Using the innovative "chain" concept, network administrators can create any type of redundant topology among any network segment. Configuring Turbo Chain™ is easy; simply connect several Ethernet switches together to form a daisy-chain, where a Head-Switch and a Tail-Switch (the edge switches at the two sides of the chain) are configured first, then the remaining switches are configured as member switches. Next, link the two ends of the chain to an Ethernet network. That's it, setup is finished!
Figure 3: Turbo Chain™ Networking
Turbo Chain™ provides the prompt redundancy that is required for industrial applications. Once a chain-segment fails, the blocked path (link between the tail-switch and the outside network) will activate instantaneously with a recovery time of under 20 milliseconds. This fast recovery will ensure that the industrial Ethernet network remains available, with almost zero downtime.
Benefits of Turbo Chain™
Turbo Chain™ presents significant benefits and
advantages for industrial networks, which often
require complex redundant topologies, and it
enables the highest reliability and availability
for industrial Ethernet network applications.
Whenever a network adopts a multiple ring architecture,
Turbo Chain™ is the best solution for the following
reasons: flexible and scalable construction,
unrestricted expansion, fast fault recovery,
and cost-effective deployment.
Build Highly Flexible and Scalable Redundant Topologies
Turbo Chain™ features extreme versatility for
accommodating any type of complex network topology.
With the chain methodology, network engineers
now have the freedom to create as many redundant
connections as they need by simply linking a
new Turbo Chain™ to any segment of the Ethernet
Network.
Unrestricted Expansion to Form Scalable Redundant Networks
Turbo Chain™ allows unlimited and easy network
expansions. Network engineers do not need to
reconfigure the existing network, but rather,
use Turbo Chain™ to scale up the redundant networks
directly. In addition, Turbo Chain™ can be connected
to a network using other redundant technologies,
such as STP, RSTP, and Moxa's Turbo Ring™.
Reliable and Immediate Fault Recovery Mechanism
Turbo Chain™ offers industrial-grade redundancy
that is capable of tolerating network-segment
failures. If any given network link fails, Turbo
Chain™ will activate the blocked path and continue
forwarding data—all with a super fast recovery
time of less than 20 milliseconds.
Cost-effective Deployment
Turbo Chain™ reduces deployment time, effort,
and installation costs since the connection
of different redundant networks can be achieved
without ring coupling cables. When compared
with ring-coupling technology, Turbo Chain™
presents significant cost reductions, since
Ethernet ports and kilometers of fiber-cabling
used for ring coupling paths are eliminated.
This type of deployment is ideal for applications that require network redundancy and have budget considerations and cabling difficulties associated with coupling. Figures 5, 6, and 7 illustrate Turbo Chain's™ cost-effectiveness.
Figure 4: Ring coupling structure Figure 5: Turbo Chain™ network
Figure 6: Turbo Chain™ cuts 10 km of coupling cables for this oil pipeline system (actual case study)
Turbo Chain™ allows for unlimited redundant network expansions without reconfiguration, and since Turbo Chain™ is compatible with standard IEEE 802.1w/D RSTP, STP, and Turbo Ring protocols, Turbo Chain™ can be integrated into other Ethernet networks.
Actual Case Studies
Wind Power System
Wind farms consist of
windmills scattered over a wide area, and redundant
Ethernet network connections are an ideal solution
to connect devices at each windmill to the same
network. However, typical ring technologies
are awkward, costly, and make it inconvenient
when linking the nodes together. Turbo Chain™
is the best solution, because it satisfies all
the requirements of this application: a reliable
self-healing network (recovery time < 20
ms), cost-saving deployment, and high scalability
and expandability so that more windmills can
be conveniently added in the future.
Figure 7: A Wind Power System Uses Moxa's Turbo Chain™ to Build a Network That Is Ready for Tomorrow
Railway System
Railway systems use a
centralized redundant monitoring system to connect
different sub-communication stations for real-time
operation to ensure safe transportation. Moxa's
Turbo Chain™ allows the railway system to quickly
and easily scale up whenever the network needs
to be expanded. Instead of creating another
sub-ring for the new network, or rerouting/reconfiguring
the existing network, administrators can simply
chain-up the new nodes, and hook up the chain
to the current network. Regardless of whether
or not the existing network is running STP,
RSTP, or Turbo Ring protocols, Turbo Chain™
can interoperate reliably with any of them.
Figure
8: A Railway System Uses Moxa's Turbo Chain™
to Expand an Existing Network
Summary
Industrial applications
require reliable, redundant network systems
to ensure non-stop network operations. Since
the complexity of industrial field wiring continues
to increase, deploying redundant connections
with flexibility and scalability has become
imperative.
Moxa's Turbo Chain™ redundant technology, which
is supported by all of Moxa's industrial managed
Ethernet switches, is the solution with the
highest availability, and it allows network
administrators to easily build multiple redundant
connections that are highly adaptable. The benefits
of Turbo Chain™ redundant technology include:
- Flexible and expandable network construction, with zero network reconfiguration effort.
- Interoperability with various redundant networks, such as STP, RSTP, and Moxa's Turbo Ring™ networks.
- Rapid fault recovery (recovery time < 20 ms) for reliable system operations.
- Cost-effective deployment compared with ring coupling.
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