BoSS v3.1 features
BoSS version 3.1 is currently downloadable from the Web for free and includes support
for the following features:
• 802.3ad link aggregation
• Unit replacement feature
• User-based policies
• Copper GBIC and other GBIC support
• Custom Autonegotiation Advertisements (CANA)
• ASCII configuration generator
• Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP)
• Enhanced message logging
These features are explained in detail later in this brief.
802.3ad link aggregation
IEEE 802.3ad provides an industry-standard method for bundling multiple links together
to form a single trunk between two networking devices. BoSS 3.1 supports both Dynamic
Link Aggregation Group (LAG) trunks and MLT trunks. Once configured, the Link
Aggregation Group or trunk group is managed by the Link Aggregation Control Protocol
(LACP). BayStack supports both Link Aggregation and MLT groups. Up to six LAG or
MLT groups are supported. The maximum number of active links per group is four. The
Link Aggregation allows more than four links to be configured in one Link Aggregation
group (LAG). The first four high priority links will be active links and the lower priority
link will be a standby link. When one of the active links goes down, the standby link will
become active. This feature can be implemented by using Command Line Interface,
Device Manager, or SNMP.
Unit replacement feature
In the unlikely event that a switch fails in a stack, the affected switch can easily be replaced
without disrupting the stack. This feature provides the capability of upgrading a new unit
with the configuration of the affected unit off-line, before adding the new unit to the
stack. The configuration of the affected switch may be copied from the Trivial File Transfer
Protocol (TFTP) server to the new switch. The new switch can then be inserted into the
stack without requiring a reboot of the entire stack. This feature can be implemented by
using menu, Web interface, or CLI commands.
User-based policies
This feature enables network services—i.e., QoS—to follow the user regardless of the PC
logged into or the port connected to. The way this feature works is the switch asks a user
to authenticate using EAP and passes username/password information to the RADIUS
server. The RADIUS server provides the user’s role/group attributes to the switch that
allows user access to the port with the default configuration. The switch then passes
role/group/port information to the Optivity* Policy Services (OPS) server that configures
the user port based on the specific policy information.
Custom Autonegotiation Advertisements (CANA)
This feature enables the network manager to tune the capabilities that a particular
Ethernet port can advertise via autonegotiation. The capabilities include half-duplex and
full-duplex modes with speeds of 10, 100, and 1000 Mbps. Autonegotiated Ethernet ports
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