Configuration method, switching element and use of configuration method for configuring an ethernet network with optical links by defining logical ports made up of bidirectional and unidirectional physical ports

摘要

A method is dedicated to configuring an Ethernet network (RE) comprising at least two switching elements (EC1, EC3) connected by at least two optical links each provided with at least one bidirectional physical port and at least one unidirectional physical port. This method consists in i) defining in each of the two elements (EC1, EC3) at least one logical port (PLI, PL3) comprising a bidirectional physical port and at least one unidirectional physical port, so that the logical port (PLI, PL3) is seen by its switching element (EC1, EC3) as a bidirectional port, ii) using an Ethernet protocol adapted to the bidirectional links to define the respective states of the bidirectional physical ports, and iii) using each bidirectional physical port of each logical port (PLI, PL3) to transmit Ethernet signaling messages representing its state and the state of each unidirectional physical port of said logical port.