Huawei ME60-X8 is a multi-service control gateway product series launched by Huawei. ME60s are mainly used as broadband service access BRAS nodes and IP/MPLS network service-provisioning nodes. ME60-X8 must work with control plane unit SRU and switching network unit SFU, it supports 3 main types SRU A7 A5 and B5, and 3 main types SFU SFUI-200-C and SFUI-100-D.
Introduction to the Control Plane
System Control and Management Unit
As the system control and management unit, the SRU provides the following functions on the system control panel:
- Route calculation: All routing protocol packets are sent by the forwarding engine to the SRU for processing. In addition, the SRU broadcasts and filters packets, and downloads routing policies from the policy server.
- Outband communication between boards: The LAN switch modules integrated on the SRU provide outband communications between boards. In this manner, messages can be controlled, maintained, and exchanged between the boards.
- Device management and maintenance: Devices can be managed and maintained through the management interfaces (serial interfaces) provided by the SRU.
- Data configuration: The SRU stores configuration data, startup files, charging information, upgrade software, and system logs.
- Data storage: The SRU provides two interfaces for CF cards, which serve as mass storage devices to store data files.
System Clock Unit
As the system clock unit, the SRU provides accurate and reliable SDH clock signals for BSUs/MSUs. The SRU can provide three-channel 2.048 MHz synchronous clock signals for the downstream devices, or receive 2.048 MHz or 2.048 Mbit/s external reference clock signals.
System Maintenance Unit
As the system maintenance unit, the SRU collects system monitoring information to test system units locally or remotely, or implement in-service upgrading of system units.
The SRU periodically collects information about the operation of system units through the MonitorBus. The SRU then generates related control information based on the collected information, for example, the detection of board installations and adjustments to fan speed. Through the joint test action group (JTAG) bus, the SRU remotely or locally tests system units, or performs in-service upgrading of system units.
Reliability
The main control modules, clock modules, and LAN switch modules on the SRU work in 1:1 hot backup mode, therefore improving system reliability.
The two SRUs work in 1:1 backup mode. Each SRU monitors the status of the other. If the master SRU is faulty, the slave SRU automatically takes over as the master SRU.
Comparison for the Control Plane
Model | ME0D0SRUA570 | ME0D0SRUA770 | ME0D0SRUB570 |
Board name silkscreen | SRUA | SRUA | SRUB5-200 |
Description | 200G Switch and Route Processing Unit A5 | 100G Switch and Route Processing Unit A7 | 200G Switch and Route Processing Unit B5 |
Appearance | |||
BOM | 03053926 | 03054638 | 03057058 |
Typical power consumption |
149.0 W | 125.0 W | 177.0 W |
Processing unit | Dual-core 1.5GHz | Dual-core 1.5GHz | Quad-core 2.0GHz |
SDRAM | 2 GB x 2 | 2 GB x 2 | 8 GB x 2 |
Flash | 16 MB x 2 | 16 MB x 2 | 16 MB |
Storage | CF card:4 GB (2GB x2) | CF card:4 GB (2GB x2) | SSD card:8 GB |
Introduction to the Switching Network
The switching network responsible for switching data between BSUs/MSUs is a key component of the ME60. The ME60 uses the switching chips developed by Huawei and Memory-Crossbar-Memory (M-C-M) to provide a three-level switching mode. Level-1 and level-3 switching adopts the shared-memory model and is performed on BSUs/MSUs; level-2 switching adopts the Crossbar model and is performed on an SFU.
The level-1 switching chip on one BSU/MSU is fully connected to all the level-2 switching chips on the SFUs. The level-2 switching chips on the SFUs are also fully connected to the level-3 switching chip on another LPU. In addition, the level-2 crossbar switching chips work in load balancing mode across multiple switching planes. The entire switching network is unblocked. The following describes how data packets are transmitted across the switching network.
- Data packets enter the BSU/MSU through physical interfaces and are fragmented into cells of a fixed length. These cells are then sent to the level-1 switching chips. After being buffered and scheduled, the cells enter the crossbar switching chips on the SFU. The level-1 switching chip on the BSU/MSU is fully connected to all of the level-2 switching chips on SFUs. As a result, the same number of cells can be distributed to each level-2 switching plane. This implements load balancing across switching planes and facilitates fault tolerance.
- After the cells reach the crossbar switching chips, the crossbar switching chips schedule the cells to the corresponding outbound interfaces according to the destination interfaces of the data packets. The cells are then sent to the level-3 switching chips on another BSU/MSU. At this point, the switching of the cells by the level-2 switching chips is completed.
- After the cells reach the level-3 switching chips on another BSU/MSU, the system searches for the destination interfaces. Once found, the cells are reassembled and sent out through physical interfaces. At this point, the switching of the data packets is completed.
Switching network of the ME60
Reliability
ME60-X8 has three SFUs. Two SFUs are integrated on two SRUs. The other SFU is separate. These three SFUs work in 2+1 load balancing mode. The three SFUs load balance services at the same time. When one SFU is faulty or being replaced, the other two SFUs automatically take over its tasks to ensure normal delivery of services, improving system reliability.
Comparison for the Switching Network
Model | ME0DSFUIE07C | ME0DSFUIA07D |
Board name silkscreen | SFUI-200-C | SFUI-100-D |
Description | 200Gbps Switch Fabric Unit C(SFUI-200-C) | 100Gbps Switch Fabric Unit D(SFUI-100-D) |
Appearance | ||
BOM | 03053927 | 03054702 |
Typical power consumption | 77.0 W | 46 W |
Performance | Switches data for the entire system at line speed of 2.36 Tbit/s | switches data for the entire system at line speed of 1.18 Tbit/s |
ME60-X8 configures with 2xSRU+1xSFU,and SRU and SFU are matched, for example, 100G Switch and Route Processing Unit A7 can be used only together with the SFUI-100-D, 200G Switch and Route Processing Unit A5 can be used only together with the SFUI-200-C, you can contact supports@thunder-link.com for ME60 configurations.