DEFINITY Enterprise Communications Server Release 7
Maintenance for R7r
555-230-126
Issue 4
June 1999
Maintenance Architecture
1-21SPE Duplication
1
SPE software. SMM also ensures that when handshake communication has been
down for an extended period, the standby SPE will transition into the SPE-down
state.
Handshake Communication
Every 30 seconds, the active SPE sends a handshake request message to SMM
and waits for SMM to respond with a handshake response message. This
message transmission occurs across the Duplication Interface circuit packs and
their interconnecting cable. As long as SMM responds to these regular
handshake request messages, handshake communication is considered
up
as
reported on the
status spe
screen.
The physical path of handshake communication is illustrated below. Hardware
problems at any point in this route could interfere with handshake
communication. If the standby SPE fails to respond to four successive
handshake requests, handshake communication is considered down. A major
alarm is logged against STBY-SPE with error type 1 logged. The
status spe
screen will indicate that handshake is down. It is then no longer possible to
communicate with the standby SPE. Maintenance testing of the standby by the
active SPE (or by command) is discontinued, and the error and alarm logs
become outdated for standby components.
Handshake communication failure is a severe and rare condition. It is due to
either a failure of Duplication Interface hardware or a catastrophic failure of the
standby SPE. As long as the active SPE is not locked by the switches, software
attempts every 30 seconds, to re-establish handshake communication.
When the SPEs are locked with the switches, handshake communication is
physically impossible, but no alarm is raised. When the standby is busied out,
handshake communication should remain up, but in any case, only the busyout
WARNING alarm will be raised.
Whenever the active SPE has undergone a restart (levels 1-5), handshake is
technically considered down during and just after the restart. After a level 1 (hot)
restart, if there are no standby SPE problems, handshake communication should
be restored within 30 seconds. After active-SPE restarts of levels 2 and up,
handshake should be restored within 3 minutes of G3-MT re-enabling.
The active SPE keeps hardware configuration and vintage data about the
components of the standby SPE. This data can be accessed with list
configuration control. Whenever handshake is down, this data may be out of
date. Whenever handshake has been down and is restored, the active SPE
requests standby SPE software to transmit the current version of this data. The
data is then stored in active SPE memory.
Failure to use the lock-and-power- down method for standby circuit pack
replacement can lead to incorrect standby component hardware configuration
and vintage data.
