Extreme Networks Ridgeline 3.0, Manual

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15
Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
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Through the MAC Polling Server Properties, you set the amount of load, which determines the amount
of elapsed time between sets of FDB polling requests. A complete MAC address polling cycle consists of
multiple groups of requests, until all devices with MAC address polling enabled have been polled.
A setting of Light (recommended) means the elapsed time between groups of MAC address polling
requests will be calculated to place a lighter load on the Ridgeline server. As a result, it will take longer
for the server to accomplish a complete polling cycle. Moving the load indicator towards Heavy will
shorten the elapsed time between groups of MAC address polling requests, at the cost of a heavier load
on the Ridgeline server.
You can use the Ridgeline Server State Summary Report to see the MAC address polling frequency
based on the current setting of the MAC Polling server properties. The Server State Summary report
tells you how long it took to complete the most recent polling cycle, as well as the average time it has
taken to perform a complete polling cycle. Based on this data you can determine if you need to adjust
the MAC Polling System Load factor.
Telnet Polling
Telnet polling is used for MAC address polling, for retrieving Netlogin information, and for retrieving
Alpine power supply IDs. You cannot modify its frequency other than as discussed for MAC polling in
the previous section. You can disable Telnet polling entirely, however, in the Devices area of Server
Properties in the Ridgeline Administration.
If you disable Telnet Polling, MAC address polling is also disabled.
Performance of the Ridgeline Server
Performance of the Ridgeline server itself is affected by the number of devices you are managing as
well as the resources of the system on which the Ridgeline server is running.
You can use the Windows Task Manager or a tool such as
top
in Solaris (available as downloadable
Freeware) to determine how much memory and processor the Ridgeline server is consuming. The larger
the set of devices Ridgeline tries to manage, the more resources it will require. You should ensure that
you have adequate processing power and enough memory to allow Ridgeline to run without extensive
swapping.
The Ridgeline Release Notes provide information on the system requirements for the Ridgeline server.
If Ridgeline server performance is slow, you can look at the Thread Pool Statistics using the Ridgeline
Server State Summary Report. Specifically, if the Percentage Wait per Request statistic is high (greater
than 20%) you can consider increasing the maximum thread pool size.
To do this, go to Ridgeline Administration, and select Scalability under the Server Properties tab. Then
increase the Thread Pool Size by between 25% to 50%. It should not be increased beyond 100 as an
upper limit.
Tuning the Alarm System
Alarm activity (processing traps and executing alarm actions) can consume a fairly significant amount
of system resources if you have a large number of devices in your network, with many alarms enabled