Extreme Networks ExtremeWare 7.2e, Installation And User Manual

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138 ExtremeWare 7.2e Installation and User Guide
Status Monitoring and Statistics
RMON
Using the Remote Monitoring (RMON) capabilities of the switch allows network administrators to
improve system efficiency and reduce the load on the network.
The following sections explain more about the RMON concept and the RMON features supported by
the switch.
NOTE
You can only use the RMON features of the system if you have an RMON management application, and
have enabled RMON on the switch.
About RMON
RMON is the common abbreviation for the Remote Monitoring Management Information Base (MIB)
system defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) documents RFC 1271 and RFC 1757,
which allows you to monitor LANs remotely.
A typical RMON setup consists of the following two components:
• RMON probe —An intelligent, remotely controlled device or software agent that continually collects
statistics about a LAN segment or VLAN. The probe transfers the information to a management
workstation on request, or when a predefined threshold is crossed.
• Management workstation —Communicates with the RMON probe and collects the statistics from it.
The workstation does not have to be on the same network as the probe, and can manage the probe
by in-band or out-of-band connections.
RMON Features of the Switch
The IETF defines nine groups of Ethernet RMON statistics. The switch supports the following four of
these groups:
• Statistics
• History
• Alarms
•
Events
This section describes these groups and discusses how they can be used.
Statistics
The RMON Ethernet Statistics group provides traffic and error statistics showing packets, bytes,
broadcasts, multicasts, and errors on a LAN segment or VLAN.
Information from the Statistics group is used to detect changes in traffic and error patterns in critical
areas of the network.