Figure 4-5 Packet Flow From The Slave Channel To The Ethernet - Lucent Technologies MAX 6000 Configuration Manual

Configuring Individual WAN Connections
Configuring MP, MP+ and BACP connections
can generate fairly high levels of network traffic, which is another reason to keep them on the
same physical LAN.
Bundle ownership
Although MAX stacks do not have a master MAX unit, each bundle of channels in a MP/MP+
configuration has a bundle owner. The unit that answers the first call in the MP/MP+ bundle is
the bundle owner. If a bundle spans more than one unit in a stack, an exchange of information
flows between the units in the bundle.
Stacking requires an endpoint discriminator. Every MP/MP+ call that comes to any member of
the stack is compared to all existing MP/MP+ calls in the MAX stack to determine whether it
is a member of an existing bundle. If the call belongs to an existing bundle, the unit that
answered and the bundle owner exchange information about the bundle. Furthermore, the unit
that answered the call forwards all incoming data packets over the Ethernet to the bundle
owner.
Outgoing data
To balance the load among all available WAN channels, outgoing data packets for the WAN
are assigned to available channels in a bundle on a rotating basis. If the unit assigns an
outgoing packet to a channel that is not local to the bundle owner, the bundle owner forwards
the packet over the Ethernet to the unit that owns the nonlocal channel.
Real and stacked channels
For the purpose of this description, real channels are those channels that connect directly to the
MAX unit that owns the bundle. Stacked channels connect to a unit that transfers the data to or
from the unit that owns the bundle.
For example, assume the initial call through an MP/MP+ bundle connects to MAX #1. This
connection is a real channel. Next, the second call of the bundle connects to MAX #2. This
connection is a stacked channel. MAX #1 is the bundle owner, and it manages the traffic for
both channels of the bundle. MAX #2 forwards any traffic from the WAN to MAX #1, for
distribution to the destination, as shown in Figure 4-5.
Figure 4-5. Packet flow from the slave channel to the Ethernet
4-58
WAN
MAX #1
(master)
1
MAX #2
(slave)
A
3
2
Ethernet
MAX 6000/3000 Network Configuration Guide