Title page for ETD etd-0501100-125656

Document Type thesis

Author Name Sullivan, John F

URN etd-0501100-125656

Title Network Fault Tolerance System

Degree MS

Department Electrical & Computer Engineering

Advisors
Professor David Cyganski, Committee Chair
Professor Nathaniel Whitmal, Committee Member
Professor John A. Orr, Department Head

Keywords
switch, network fault tolerance
fault tolerance

Date of Presentation/Defense 2000-04-28

Availability unrestricted

Abstract
The world of computers experienced an explosive period of growth toward the end of the 20th century with the widespread availability of
the Internet and the development of the World Wide Web. As people
began using computer networks for everything from research and
communication to banking and commerce, network failures became a
greater concern because of the potential to interrupt critical
applications. Fault tolerance systems were developed to detect and
correct network failures within minutes and eventually within seconds
of the failure, but time-critical applications such as military
communications, video conferencing, and Web-based sales require better
response time than any previous systems could provide.

The goal of this thesis was the development and implementation of a Network
Fault Tolerance (NFT) system that can detect and recover from failures of
network interface cards, network cables, switches, and routers in much
less than one second from the time of failure. The problem was
divided into two parts: fault tolerance within a single local area
network (LAN), and fault tolerance across many local area networks.
The first part involves the network interface cards, network cables,
and switches within a LAN, which the second part involves the routers
that connect LANs into larger internetworks. Both parts of the NFT
solution were implemented on Windows NT 4.0 PC's connected by a
switched Fast Ethernet network. The NFT system was found to correct
system failures within 300 milliseconds of the failure.

Files
sullivan.pdf

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Document Type	thesis
Author Name	Sullivan, John F
URN	etd-0501100-125656
Title	Network Fault Tolerance System
Degree	MS
Department	Electrical & Computer Engineering
Advisors	Professor David Cyganski, Committee Chair Professor Nathaniel Whitmal, Committee Member Professor John A. Orr, Department Head
Keywords	switch, network fault tolerance fault tolerance
Date of Presentation/Defense	2000-04-28
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract The world of computers experienced an explosive period of growth toward the end of the 20th century with the widespread availability of the Internet and the development of the World Wide Web. As people began using computer networks for everything from research and communication to banking and commerce, network failures became a greater concern because of the potential to interrupt critical applications. Fault tolerance systems were developed to detect and correct network failures within minutes and eventually within seconds of the failure, but time-critical applications such as military communications, video conferencing, and Web-based sales require better response time than any previous systems could provide. The goal of this thesis was the development and implementation of a Network Fault Tolerance (NFT) system that can detect and recover from failures of network interface cards, network cables, switches, and routers in much less than one second from the time of failure. The problem was divided into two parts: fault tolerance within a single local area network (LAN), and fault tolerance across many local area networks. The first part involves the network interface cards, network cables, and switches within a LAN, which the second part involves the routers that connect LANs into larger internetworks. Both parts of the NFT solution were implemented on Windows NT 4.0 PC's connected by a switched Fast Ethernet network. The NFT system was found to correct system failures within 300 milliseconds of the failure.
Files	sullivan.pdf