Operational status testing apparatus and method for ethernet-based automatic protection switching process

Abstract

Provided is an operational status testing apparatus and method for an Ethernet-based APS process. A test command signal which contains a command to perform an operational test for the APS process of a first node and a second test response signal that indicates that the operation of the APS process of a second node is performed normally, from among far end request signals that are received from the second node connected to own first node via an Ethernet network, are filtered. When the far end request signals are test command signals, a first test response signal that indicates that the operation of the APS process of the first node is performed normally is generated, and a top priority local request signal is selected based on priorities of the first test response signal and at least one local request signal that indicates the status of the APS process of the first node, and an output signal to be transmitted to the second node is determined based on priorities of the top priority local request signal and the filtered the far end request signal. The function for testing the operational status for the APS process defined in ITU-T recommendation G.8031 is embodied, and when an operational status test request is received from another node, the APS process can be tested effectively without having to perform a complicated diagnosis operation for the APS process.