The present disclosure relates to flexible-Ethernet data processing methods and devices. One example method includes acquiring a to-be-switched first client service flow, where the first client service flow is a service flow suitable for transmission on a flexible Ethernet, performing first rate adaptation from a source clock domain to a target clock domain on the first client service flow to obtain a second client service flow that matches the target clock domain, and performing serial-to-parallel conversion on the second client service flow in the target clock domain to obtain a parallel client slot flow.

A clock synchronization method includes receiving, by a receiving apparatus, a plurality of data blocks using a plurality of physical layer modules (PHYs), where the plurality of data blocks include a plurality of head data blocks, performing, by the receiving apparatus, timestamp sampling on the plurality of data blocks to generate a plurality of receipt timestamps, aligning, by the receiving apparatus, the plurality of receipt timestamps using a first receipt timestamp as a reference, generating, by the receiving apparatus, a clock synchronization packet based on the plurality of data blocks, and writing, by the receiving apparatus, a value of a second receipt timestamp into the clock synchronization packet, where the second receipt timestamp is a receipt timestamp that is of a second data block and that is determined based on the plurality of aligned receipt timestamps.

This application provides an isolation and recovery method and related network device for a case when one or more physical layer apparatuses (PHYs) in a flexible Ethernet group (FlexE group) are faulty. In the method, if a network device determines that a first overhead block corresponding to each current available PHY is stored in a corresponding memory, the network device determines that a FlexE group meets a PHY alignment condition, and starts to simultaneously read cached data from all memories. Therefore, there is no need to insert local fault LF code blocks to all clients, and there is no need to recreate a group. This effectively reduces the impact of a faulty PHY on client services carried by a normal PHY.

This application relates to a slot negotiation method and a device. The method includes: A transmitter sends a first FlexE overhead frame to a receiver, to request active/standby calendar switching. When the receiver is in a restart state, the receiver does not respond to the received first FlexE overhead frame. In addition, the RX sends a routine update second FlexE overhead frame to the transmitter. Determining that the second FlexE overhead frame is not a response to the first FlexE overhead frame, the transmitter sends a third FlexE overhead frame to request active/standby calendar switching again. According to the method in this application, incorrect calendar switching on the transmitter side caused by a mistaken response of the receiver can be avoided. This reduces the likelihood of a service interruption caused by the existing slot negotiation mechanism.

Embodiments of this application provide a communication method, a communications device, and a storage medium, to process an invalid block in a data stream. In embodiments of this application, N first block streams are obtained, where N is a positive integer. When there is an invalid block in the N first block streams, the invalid block in the N first block streams is converted into a target block, to obtain a to-be-sent block stream. Then, the to-be-sent block stream is sent. Because the invalid block in the block stream is checked and converted into the target block, an error that occurs in service data at a receive end and that is caused by the invalid block can be reduced.

This application provides a method for sending and receiving a clock synchronization packet in FlexE. The method includes: generating, by a sending apparatus, indication information and a plurality of data blocks, where the plurality of data blocks are obtained by encoding a first clock synchronization packet, the indication information is used to indicate a first data block, and the first data block is a data block used for timestamp sampling in the plurality of data blocks; determining, by the sending apparatus, according to the indication information, a moment at which the first data block arrives at a medium dependent interface MDI of the sending apparatus, and generating a sending timestamp, where the sending timestamp is used to record a sending moment of the first clock synchronization packet; generating a second clock synchronization packet carrying the sending timestamp; and sending, by the sending apparatus, the second clock synchronization packet.

This application discloses a method and an apparatus for adjusting a bandwidth of a transmission channel in flexible Ethernet. When the bandwidth of the transmission channel needs to be increased, bandwidths of all nodes are successively increased based on a direction reverse to a flow direction of service data, and when the bandwidth of the transmission channel needs to be decreased, bandwidths of all nodes are successively decreased based on the flow direction of the service data. In this way, a probability of a loss of service data transmitted from upstream to downstream is reduced in a process of adjusting the bandwidth of the transmission channel, and this improves reliability of service data transmission.

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a service multiplexing method. The method includes: sending, by a sending device, a bit block stream of a first service to a receiving device; if the sending device determines to switch from the first service to a second service for service sending, sending, by the sending device, at least one service switching indication bit block to the receiving device; and sending, by the sending device, a bit block stream of the second service to the receiving device. In addition, a service switching indication bit block is inserted between bit block streams that require service switching, to perform service switching, thereby reducing a latency and jitter in a service switching process, and ensuring a low latency during service switching.

A method and an apparatus for transmitting service data are disclosed. In technical solutions of the present disclosure, when an exclusive service does not completely occupy a bandwidth resource allocated to the exclusive service, data transmission of at least two candidate services on an actually unused bandwidth is supported. In this way, a waste of bandwidth resources can be reduced and network utilization can be improved.

An improved autonegotiation approach includes determining that a negotiated rate between a first network device and a second network device exceeds data transfer capacity over a network path downstream of the second network device. In response, a configuration message is generated and transmitted to the first network device. When received by the first network device, the configuration message causes the first network device to limit data transfer between the first network device and the second network device to no more than the downstream data transfer capacity.