Interconnect Switch User Guide

Introduction
Compaq ProLiant BL p-Class GbE Interconnect Switch User Guide 1-7
COMPAQ CONFIDENTIAL Codename: Vanilla Part Number: 263680-001 Last Saved On: 4/23/02 9:55 AM
Simple Network Management Protocol and Remote Monitoring
Each GbE Interconnect Switch can be configured and monitored remotely from a Simple
Network Management Protocol (SNMP)/Remote Monitoring (RMON)-based network
management station. The GbE Interconnect Switch supports industry-standard SNMP
Management Information Bases (MIBs), proprietary Compaq Switch MIBs, and RMON
groups 1 (Statistics), 2 (History), 3 (Alarm), and 9 (Event) for fault detection, configuration,
and monitoring of switch functionality.
To secure the management interface, the switch administrator can configure community
strings with various levels of access. Access can be restricted to a limited number of
management stations by configuring a list of IP addresses of those stations that can access the
GbE Interconnect Switch. Refer to Appendix E for more information.
Port Mirroring
The GbE Interconnect Switch allows you to mirror a port to another port for network
monitoring and troubleshooting purposes. This technology offers a way for network packet
analyzers to view the traffic moving through the GbE Interconnect Switches by providing a
copy of the traffic that is currently being passed through any other port. The packets are
normally sent to a network packet analyzer or other monitoring device attached to the
mirror port.
Trunking
The GbE Interconnect Switch port trunking feature allows several ports to be grouped
together and act as a single logical link called a trunk. This feature provides a bandwidth that
is a multiple of the bandwidth of a single link. It also improves reliability since a configurable
way of load balancing is automatically applied to the ports in the trunked group. A link
failure within the group causes the network traffic to be directed to the remaining links in the
group.
Trivial File Transfer Protocol Support
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) support allows the GbE Interconnect Switch firmware
to be upgraded by downloading a new firmware file from a TFTP server to the GbE
Interconnect Switch. A configuration file can also be loaded into a GbE Interconnect Switch
from a TFTP server, configuration settings can be saved to the TFTP server, and a history log
can be uploaded from the switch to the TFTP server.
Storage and Forward Switching Scheme
The ProLiant BL p-Class GbE Interconnect Switch provides a storage and forward switching
scheme that allows each packet to be buffered (stored) before it is forwarded to its
destination. While this method creates latency, it improves reliability in a heavily used
interconnect switch. Packets that cannot be forwarded are saved immediately, rather than
dropped, so that packets behind them are less likely to be dropped in periods of heavy usage.