HP TopTools for Hubs and Switches User Manual

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HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

User Guide

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

User Guide

This document contains information which is protected by copyright. Reproduction, adaptation, or translation without prior permission is prohibited, except as allowed under the copyright laws.

Applicable Product

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches J2569R

September 2001

Trademark Credits

Microsoft Windows®, Windows 95®, Windows 98®, Windows 2000®, Microsoft Windows NT®, Microsoft Internet Explorer® and MSIE® are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox Corporation.

Unicenter and TNG are registered trademarks of Computer Associates International, Inc.

IBM Tivoli and IBM NetView are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.

HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH REGARD TO THIS MATERIAL, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

Hewlett-Packard assumes no responsibility for the use or reliability of its software on equipment that is not furnished by Hewlett-Packard.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights

The software and any accompanying documentation have been developed entirely at private expense. They are delivered and licensed as “commercial computer soft ware” as defined in DFARS

252.227-7013 (Oct 1988), DFARS 252.221-7015 (May 1991), or DFARS 252.227-7014 (Jun 1995), as a “commercial item” as defined in FAR 2.101(a), or as “Restricted computer software” as defined in FAR 52.227-19 (Jun 1987)(or any equivalent agency regulation or contract clause), whichever is applicable. You have only those rights provided for such Software and any accompanying documentation by the applicable FAR or DFARS clause or the HP standard software agreement for the product involved.

Hewlett-Packard Company 8000 Foothills Boulevard, m/s 5551 Roseville, California 95747-5551

http://www.hp.com/go/procurve

Warranty

A copy of the specific warranty terms applicable to your HewlettPackard products and replacement parts can be obtained from your HP Sales and Service Office or authorized dealer.

Contents

1 Quick Start

Starting HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

Getting Around in HP TopTools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

Viewing Your Network Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Quality of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Configuration Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5

Examining Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5

Configuring and Monitoring Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6

Viewing Network Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8

Optimizing Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9

How to Get Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10

2 Introduction

Introduction to HP TopTools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

Network Devices Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4

Viewing a List of Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4

Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4

Group Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

Network Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

Network Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

HP Devices Supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

Learning to Use HP TopTools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8

HP TopTools Technical Product Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9

iii

3 System Requirements

Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1

4 Discovering Your Devices

Beginning Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1

Discovery Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2

Selecting Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2

Adding Devices for Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3

Configuring Discovery Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4

Troubleshooting Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4

Inventory of Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5

5 Alerts

Interpreting the Alert Log - Automatic Fault Finding . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1

Launching the Device View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5

Acknowledging Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5

Closing Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5

Sorting Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6

Filtering Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6

Selecting Alert Log Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Custom Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8

Configuring Action on Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9

6 Networking Devices

Listing Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1

Configuring Polling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2

Selecting Actions for Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3

SNMP/Trap Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4

Device Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5

Node Port Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6

Custom Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7

Searching for Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-8

7 Configuration Policies

Creating Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1

Viewing the Devices in a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2

Adding a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3

Modifying a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3

Configuring Group Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-6

General Configuration Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-7

SNMP System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-7

Checking Firmware Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8

Alert Configuration Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8

Setting Fault Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-9

Advanced Switch Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-10

Automatic Broadcast Control (ABC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-11

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-13

The Spanning Tree Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-14

Security Configuration Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-14

Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-14

8 Viewing Your Maps

Displaying Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1

Map Server Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-2

Launching a Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5

Using the Panner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-6

Launching the Device View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-6

Options for Displaying Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-7

Changing Map Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-8

Locating a Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-8

9 Monitoring Network Traffic

Using Traffic Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-1

Reading the Traffic Information Gauges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3

Reading the Segment Histogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3

Selecting Segment Groups and Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4

Setting Thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4

Displaying the Network Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6

Options Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7

Who Are the Top 5 Talkers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7

Other Top Talkers Not in Selected Minute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-9

Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-10

Top5 View Menu Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-10

Locating A Segment or End Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-10

Traffic Data Collector Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-11

Traffic Data Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-14

Traffic Data Collector Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-15

Troubleshooting Traffic Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-16

Connection to Server Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-17

10 Planning for Network Growth

Meeting the Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1

Using Network Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2

Planning with the Network Performance Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2

Starting the Network Performance Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3

Creating a New Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4

Modifying Your Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-5

Viewing a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-7

Reorganize Your Current Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-9

Recommendation Details Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-10

Add or Upgrade Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-12

Recommendation Details Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-12

Top Conversations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-15

Inventory of End Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-17

When There Are No Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-18

Controlling Data Storage—Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-18

How the Network Performance Advisor Collects Data . . . . . . . . . 10-19

Understanding HP Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-19

Traffic Data Collector Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-20

Potential Problems with Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-21

Segments Excluded from Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-22

Segments that do not have Devices with Sampling Capability . . . . 10-22

Segments not Selected for Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-22

11 Quality of Service

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-1

Basic Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-3

Viewing All Currently Configured QoS Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-4

Configuring QoS for Specific Devices (IP Addresses) . . . . . . . . . . 11-4

Adding a Policy for a Specific IP Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-5

Configuring a QoS Policy for IP Type of Service (ToS) . . . . . . . . . 11-6

ToS Configuration Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-6

How To Configure a ToS Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-8

Configuring a QoS Policy for Specific Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-9

Configuring a QoS Policy for a Specific VLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-11

12 Accessing Hub Features

Device Management Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-1

Viewing Device Identity Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2

Interpreting Device Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-3

Reading the Performance Gauges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-3

Global Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-5

Port Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-7

Configuring Your Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-7

Fault Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-8

System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-9

vii

Configuring IP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-9

Port Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11

Bridge Enable/Disable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-12

Backup Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-12

Configuring Load Balancing—Switching Hubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

Support URL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-14

13 Managing Switches

Displaying Switch Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-1

Status - Overview Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-1

Port Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-3

Port Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-3

Switch Identity Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-5

Configuring Switch Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-6

Device View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-6

Fault Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-7

System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-8

IP Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-8

Port Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-9

Class of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-10

Steps for Configuring CoS Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-15

Assigning a Monitoring Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-16

Setting Device Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-17

HP ProCurve Stack Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-18

VLAN Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-20

Support/Management URLs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-23

viii

14 Setting Up Security for a Device

Device Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-1

Manager/Operator Password Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2

The Function of Community Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-3

Configuring for Community Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-5

Hub Port Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-6

Address Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-7

Authorized Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-8

Eavesdrop Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-8

Send Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-8

Disable Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-9

Setting Security Policy for Selected Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-9

The Hub Intrusion Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-10

Switch Port Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-11

Basic Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-11

Configuring Port Security—Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-12

Configuring Authorized IP Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-14

Overview of IP Mask Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15

Configuring Port Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-16

Switch Intrusion Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-18

Notice of Security violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-18

Operating Notes for Port Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-20

Identifying the IP Address of an Intruder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-20

Proxy Web Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-21

Security Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-21

Intrusion Flag Status for Entries Forced Off of the Intrusion Log . 14-21

15 Performing Diagnostics

Performing a Ping/Link Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-1

Rebooting a Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-2

Resetting a Hub to Factory Default Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-3

Resetting a Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-4

Producing a Configuration Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-5

16 Downloading Software

The Software Update Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-1

Starting the Software Update Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-2

Viewing the Software Updates Available on the TopTools Server . . 16-7

The HP Download Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-9

Obtaining New Software from HP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-9

How to Update the Map Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-12

A Appendix A

Agent Firmware Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1

Verifying Device Agent Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1

Preparing Network Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2

Device Network Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2

Globally Assigned IP Network Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-3

Configuring IP Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-3

Index

Quick Start

This chapter provides a quick overview of important tasks that you can perform with HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches.

■ Starting HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

■ Examining Alerts - Find/Fix/Inform

■ Configuring and Monitoring Your Devices

■ Viewing Your Network Traffic

■ Optimizing Your Network

■ How to Get Support

Starting HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

To start HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches:

1. Click on the HP TopTools icon. Your browser will display the home page of the TopTools application.

2. In the TopTools home page, click on the Home button in the navigation frame, or click on the image of the switch.

3. Select Hubs & Switches Home from the Home button menu.

Quick Start

Starting HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

Navigation Frame

Page area

Figure 1-1. Home Page for HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

Getting Around in HP TopTools

The browser-based tabbed presentation of HP TopTools makes it easy to access the page you need to perform management tasks. Click on a button in the navigation frame on the left side of the home page to see a list of tasks and features, then select a task from the list to open that page in the browser.

To go back to a previous page, click on the back arrow at the top of the browser window, or right-mouse-click in the page and select back.

Use the tabs or buttons at the top of a page to go quickly from task to task. Click on the Home button and select Hubs & Switches Home to return to the HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches home page.

The online help provides detailed information on how to perform HP TopTools tasks, as well as information about devices that are not manageable with the browser.

1-2

Viewing Your Network Devices

Quick Start

Viewing Your Network Devices

Devices

To view a list of your network devices, click on the Devices button in the navigation frame and select Devices by Type from the menu. Click on the Networking Devices folder to display each network device showing its type, connectivity status, the number of new and open alerts, and its management capability.

Right-mouse-click o n a hub or switch, and then right-mouse-clic k on Properties to launch the Device View (formerly the Closeup View). You can perform many configuration tasks in the Device View.

See the chapter Networking Devices page.

for more information about the Devices

Maps

To display a graphical representation of your physical network topology, click on the Maps button in the navigation frame, then double-click on a network in the Maps page. The default display is your local network. You can add more networks to be discovered in the Settings - Discovery Settings button in the navigation frame and select Discovery.

Double click on a hub or switch icon in the map to display the Device View where you are able to perform configuration functions.

page. Click on the

1-3

Quick Start

Policies

Panner

Figure 1-2. An Example of a Subnet Map

Using the Panner

The panner lets you easily focus in on a portion of your map. If it is not already displayed in the lower right corner of the map, select the Show Panner button to display the panner. In the Panner window, drag a rectangle around the portion of your network that you would like enlarged in the map view.

Click on the Fit to Window button to restore the map to its original size.

See the chapter Managing Your Maps maps.

for more detailed information on using

Policies

Quality of Service

Quality of Service is a method for classifying and prioritizing traffic in a network. You can establish a traffic priority policy to control and improve the throughput of data. This allows the more important traffic to move through the network at acceptable speeds regardless of the bandwidth usage.

1-4

Quick Start

Examining Alerts

The Quality of Service feature available in HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches allows you to set up consistent traffic prioritization policies across the Procurve switches in your network. The Class of Service features can be configured on an individual switch using the switch’s console or web browser interface.

Click on the Policies button in the navigation frame and select Quality of Service from the menu.

See the chapter Quality of Service

for more detailed information on these

features.

Configuration Policies

Use Configuration Policies to automatically configure several features. To use Configuration Policies, the devices must be capable of management by a browser. The automatic management features include:

■ Automatic checking of device firmware versions

■ Sending all alerts to the HP TopTools management station (enabled by

default)

■ Switch Configuration

• Automatic Broadcast Control

• IP Multicasting

• Spanning Tree Protocol

■ Security Configuration by Group

■ Alert Configuration by Group

See the Configuration Policies

chapter for more information.

Examining Alerts

The bottom half of the HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches home page displays the Alert Log.

Figure 1-3. Alert Log

1-5

Quick Start

Configuring and Monitoring Devices

The Alert Log’s “Find/ Fix/Inform” capability helps you proactively manage your network by displaying network traps and problem conditions in one easily accessible browser page. Click on the Alerts button in the navigation frame and select View Alerts to open the Alerts page. Click on an alert in the list at the top of the Alerts page to view more detailed information about that alert.

See the chapter Alerts

See Configure Action on Alerts

for more detailed information about the Alert page.

for information on configuring actions to

take when certain types of events occur.

Configuring and Monitoring Devices

The Device View displays a graphical representation of a device. The Device View of an HP hub or switch can be accessed in the following ways:

■ Click on the Devices button in the navigation frame and select Device by

Ty pe . Select Networking Devices. Double-click on a device in the Devices

page.

■ Double-click on a device in the Topology list.

■ Double click on a device in the topology map.

■ Click on a device in the Device page, then select Properties (Device View)

from the Actions menu at the top left of the Devices page.

■ Right-mouse-click on a device in a map and select Properties (Device View)

from the menu.

1-6

Figure 1-4. List of Networking Devices

Configuring and Monitoring Devices

Quick Start

Note Double-clicking on a device in the Devices page that is not a hub or switch

will display information about the device’s identity and status.

Note Double-clicking on an HP device that does not support a browser interface

will launch the Closeup View of the device in a separate window if you are at the management station.

Figure 1-5. Device View - Status Page

The tabs in the Device View page provide access to various configuration features for the device. You can enable and disable individual ports (click on the port to select it), or click on the Select All Ports button to enable or disable all the ports of a device in one step.

See Configuring Your Device View. To obtain generic SNMP information about devices that cannot be managed with a browser, select Properties the Devices page.

Use the online help to obtain more information about configuring devices that cannot be managed in a browser.

for more information about using the Device

from the Actions menu at the top of

1-7

Quick Start

Viewing Network Traffic

To look at the traffic bottlenecks in your network in real time, click on the Performance button in the navigation frame and select Traffic Monitor from the menu.

1-8

Figure 1-6. Traffic Monitor Page

The performance gauges at the top of the page display measurements of five important attributes affecting the performance of your network for a selected segment. The histogram below the gauges displays the value of an attribute, such as broadcasts/sec, for the segments in a selected segment group.

Network Meter

Use the Network Meter to display an “at-a- glance” look at the most severe traffic problem on the network being monitored. Click on the Show Net Meter button at the bottom of the Traffic Monitor page to start the Network Meter. You can keep the Network Meter on your PC desktop to give you a continuous view of the status of your network traffic. Click on Show Worst 5 Segments at the bottom of the Network Meter to see the segments with the most traffic problems.

Top Talkers

You can quickly determine who the top talkers are in your network. Click on the Show Details button below the gauges on the Traffic Monitor page to display the Top5 browser window. The graph identifies the top five nodes causing the most network activity on the segments for the selected minute. The graph presents realtime information and is updated every minute.

Optimizing Your Network

Quick Start

See the chapter Monitoring Network Traffic the Traffic Monitor features.

for more information about

Optimizing Your Network

The HP Network Performance Advisor performs automatic traffic analysis and displays the results in easy-to-understand tables and charts. The reports make useful recommendations on how to improve network performance. The Advisor provides proactive analysis of a network, in contrast to the real-time, reactive analysis provided by Traffic Monitor.

To begin proactive analysis of your network, click on Network Performance Advisor in the HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches home page.

1-9

Quick Start

How to Get Support

The Welcome page provides you with a brief description of the purpose of the three reports. Select the How to Improve Performance tab to begin creating a report.

To view a completed report, select the Explore Report tab. Select the report and click on the View Report button at the bottom of the page.

See the chapter Planning for Network Growth

for more detailed informa-

tion on planning reports.

How to Get Support

Product support is also available on the World Wide Web. The URL is:

http://www.hp.com/go/procurve

Click on Technical Support. The information available at this site includes:

■ HP network device MIBs

■ HP network device firmware

■ Software updates

■ Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

In addition, you can call your HP Authorized Dealer or the nearest HP Sales and Support Office.

1-10

Introduction

Topics covered in this chapter include:

■ Introduction to HP TopTools

■ HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

■ Network Device Features

■ HP Devices Supported

■ Learning to Use HP TopTools

■ HP TopTools Technical Product Support

Introduction to HP TopTools

By using standards-based management with a browser interface, HP TopTools provides you with an easy way to manage all your network devices from one application. HP TopTools diagnoses problems quickly and automatically, then corrects the problem or gives clear directions on how to fix it.

HP TopTools runs alone or with popular management platforms such as HP NNM-NT (HP OpenView), CA Unicenter TNG, IBM Tivoli, and IBM NetView, providing an integrated solution that ranges from small workgroups through large enterprises.

Introduction

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

Figure 2-1. HP TopTools Home Page

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches is a device management and network optimization application. You can access the HP TopTools features with a browser anywhere on the network. HP TopTools gives you the ability to monitor your network traffic on one workstation while using another workstation to configure devices, examine alert messages or run optimization reports.

2-2

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

Introduction

Figure 2-2. HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches Home Page

Browser-based management of devices combines network management with the simplicity of using a browser to view device performance and configuration information. You can easily access, configure and monitor your network with devices that support the browser interface. HP TopTools Group Configuration and diagnostic features provide quick solutions to network problems.

Note Your devices must have an IP address in order to be managed by HP TopTools

with a browser. The management station must have an assigned IP address.

This User Guide will help you get started with HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches. We assume that you have supervisory access to your network system and devices. Your system should be fully operational. You should know what an “IP” (Internet Protocol) or “IPX” (Internetwork Packet Exchange protocol) network is. You should already have the appropriate network software running and know how to use your network utilities.

For more information on other HP TopTools functions, see the online HP TopTools Administrator’s Guide or online help.

See HP Devices Supported.

2-3

Introduction

Network Devices Features

Viewing a List of Devices

To view a list of your networking devices, click on Devices, Devices by Type and select Networking Devices. The Networking Devices folder contains the hubs, switches and routers discovered in your network. Double click on a device in the list to launch the Device View for configuring the device.

Double click on a device to launch the Device View.

Figure 2-3. The Networking Devices List

See the chapter Networking Devices devices.

See the chapter Accessing Hub Features hubs.

See the chapter Managing Switches switches.

for more information on managing

for information about configuring

Maps

The Maps page displays a graphical representation of the devices in your network. You can launch the Device View for an HP device by double-clicking on a device in the map or right-mouse-clicking on a device and selecting Properties (Device View) from the popup menu.

2-4

See the chapter Managing Your Maps

for more information on maps.

Introduction

Network Traffic

Group Policies

Use the Group Policies feature to establish settings for all of your devices at one time. For example, you can set up Automatic Broadcast Control your switches.

for

See the chapter G

roup Policies for more information on these features.

Network Traffic

The Tra ff i c Mo n it or presents real-time information about the status of your network. You can set thresholds for five important measures, which when exceeded trigger an event that appears in the Alert Log. Use the Top5 View to determine who the Top Talkers are in a segment.

Network Growth

The HP Network Performance Advisor is an intuitive, intelligent interpretation tool that provides you with information about the entire network. The Advisor performs automatic traffic analysis and displays the results in easyto-understand tables and charts. The reports created by the Advisor make useful recommendations on how to improve network performance. The Advisor also provides inventory information for each segment in the network. The analysis and data provided by the Advisor assist the system administrator in making a sound business case for changes to the network.

The Network Performance Advisor creates reports that make recommendations about reducing utilization on the network segments to increase network performance. It provides proactive analysis of a network, in contrast to the real-time, reactive analysis provided by Traffic Monitor.

HP Devices Supported

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches provides Device Views (manageable by browser) or Closeup Views to fully manage the following HP devices. The devices that can be managed with a browser are indicated.

Table 2-1. HP Hubs and Bridges Supported

Product Number Description Browser-

manageable

28673A HP 10:10 LAN Bridge No

28674A HP Remote Ethernet Bridge No

2-5

Introduction

HP Devices Supported

Product Number Description Browser-

manageable

28674B HP Remote Bridge RB No

28682A HP Fiber-Optic Hub Plus No

28688A/B HP EtherTwist Hub Plus No

28692A HP ThinLAN Hub Plus No

28699A HP EtherTwist Hub Plus/48 No

J2355S HP EtherTwist Hub Plus/24 S No

J2410A

J2413A

J2415A

J2600A

J2601A/B

J2602A/B

J2610A/B

J2611A/B

J2630A

J2631A/B

J2632A/B

J3200A

Note 1

Note 2

Note2

Note 3

Note 4

Note 3

Note 5

HP AdvanceStack 100VG Hub-15 No

HP AdvanceStack 100VG Hub-7M No

HP AdvanceStack 100VG Hub-14 No

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Hub-12 No

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Hub-24 No

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Hub-48 No

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Hub-8U No

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Hub-16U No

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Hub-12 w/

SNMP

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Hub-24 w/

SNMP

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Hub-48 w/

SNMP

HP AdvanceStack 10BT S Hub-12R Yes (firmware

A.03.xx)

2-6

J3201A

J3202A

J3203A

Note 5

HP AdvanceStack 10BT S Hub-12R w/ Mgmt

Yes (firmware A.03.xx)

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T S Hub-24R Yes (firmware

A.03.xx)

HP AdvanceStack 10BT S Hub-24R w/ Mgmt

Yes (firmware A.03.xx)

HP Devices Supported

Introduction

Product Number Description Browser-

manageable

Note 5

J3204A

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T S Hub-24T Yes (firmware

A.03.xx)

Note 5

J3205A

Note 6

J3288A

Note 6

J3289A

Note 6

J3301A

Note6

J3303A

Note 1

Requires J2414A or J2414B HP AdvanceStack 100VG SNMP/Bridge Module.

Note 2

Requires J2414B HP AdvanceStack 100VG SNMP/Bridge Module.

Note 3

Requires J2603A/B HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T SNMP Module. HP

HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T S Hub-24T w/Mgmt

Yes (firmware A.03.xx)

HP Procurve 10/100 Hub 12M Yes

HP Procurve 10/100 Hub 24M Yes

HP Procurve 10Base-T Hub 12M Yes

HP Procurve 10Base-T Hub 24M Yes

AdvanceStack 10Base-T hubs provided with SNMP module preinstalled include: HP J2630A (12-port), HP J2631A/B (24-port), HP J2632A/B (48-port).

Note 4

Requires J2612A/B HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T DMM Module for J2610A and

J2611A. Requires J3133A HP AdvanceStack 8U/16U SNMP Module for J2610B and J2611B.

Note 5

Requires J3210A HP AdvanceStack 10BT Management Pack. HP AdvanceStack 10Base-T Switching hubs provided with Management. Pack preinstalled include: HP J3201A (12R), HP J3203A (24R), HP J3204A (24T).

Note 6

No IPX Network Management Support.

Table 2-2. HP Switches Supported

Product Number Description Browser-

manageable

Note 1

J2980A

J3100A/B HP AdvanceStack Switch 2000 Yes (J3100B w/

Note 2

J3125A

Note 2

J3126A

Note 3

J3175A

HP AdvanceStack 10/100 LAN Switch No

firmware B.04.xx)

HP AdvanceStack Switch 200 No

HP AdvanceStack Switch 100 No

HP AdvanceStack Switch 208T No

2-7

Introduction

Learning to Use HP TopTools

Product Number Description Browser-

manageable

Note 3

J3177A

HP AdvanceStack Switch 224T No

J3245A HP AdvanceStack Switch 800T Yes (Firmware

B.04.xx)

J3298A

J3299A

J4093A

Note 2

HP Procurve Switch 212M Yes

HP Procurve Switch 224M Yes

HP Procurve Switch 2424M Yes

J4120A HP Procurve Switch 1600M Yes

J4110a

J4121A

J4122A

J4138A

J4139A

Note 2

HP Procurve Switch 8000M Yes

HP Procurve Switch 4000M Yes

HP Procurve Switch 2400M Yes

HP Procurve Routing Switch 9308M Yes

HP Procurve Routing Switch 9304M Yes

J4840A HP Procurve Routing Switch 6308M-SX Yes

J4841A HP Procurve Routing Switch 6208M-SX Yes

J4812A HP Procurve Switch 2512M Yes

J4813A HP Procurve Switch 2524M Yes

2-8

J4865A HP Procurve Switch 4108gl Yes

Note 1

HP J2980A 10/100 LAN Switch is not supported on IPX networks. To discover this device on an IP network, the SNMP community name “public” must be configured on the device.

The J2981A HP 100VG Switch Module and J2984A HP 100TX Switch Module are available for the HP J2980A.

Note 2

No IPX Network Management Support.

Note 3

Requires J3178A HP AdvanceStack Switch 208/224 Management Module.

Learning to Use HP TopTools

The following information is available for learning HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches:

HP TopTools Technical Product Support

■ This User Guide—helps you become familiar with the application.

■ Online help information—provides information through Help buttons in

Introduction

dialog boxes, and through a table of contents with hypertext links to procedures and reference information.

HP TopTools Technical Product Support

Product support is also available on the World Wide Web. The URL is:

http://www.hp.com/go/hpprocurve

Click on Technical Support. The information available at this site includes:

■ HP network device MIBs

■ HP network device firmware

■ Software updates

■ Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Figure 2-4. HP Procurve Switches & Hubs Technical Support Page

In addition, you can call your HP Authorized Dealer or the nearest HP Sales and Support Office.

2-9

Introduction

HP TopTools Technical Product Support

2-10

System Requirements

Hardware and Software Requirements

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches runs on Windows NT and Windows 2000. The system requirements are listed in the following table.

Table 3-1. System Requirements

Item Requirements

Computer System IBM PC-compatible computer, 266 MHz processor; 400

Minimum RAM 128 Mbytes; 192 Mbytes or higher recommended

Free Disk Space 175 Mbytes

Paging File Size 150 MB

MHz or higher recommended

Note: At least 400 MB is needed to install all the required Microsoft components on a computer that has only the Windows NT operating system installed.

Disk Drive CD-ROM drive

Hardware Video Monitor and Interface

Card

LAN Adapter Any LAN adapter supported by the system

Other A mouse or other pointing device that is supported by the

Note: Dual-homed or multi-homed PCs are not supported. DHCP clients are supported. The IP address of the management station cannot be static or dynamic DHCP.

Software Supported Management

Platforms

Browsers Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) 5.0 with Task

Operating System Microsoft® Windows NT version 4.0 with Service Pack 6a

Web Server Windows NT 4.0 Options Pack from Microsoft

SVGA (32,768 colors minimum)

system

TopTools HP OpenView Network Node Manager

Scheduler, supplied on the TopTools CD-ROM

(workstation or server) or Windows 2000

System Requirements

Hardware and Software Requirements

Note Be sure to obtain an assigned IP address for the management station before

installing TopTools. Do not use either a static or dynamic IP address.

3-2

Discovering Your Devices

This chapter contains information about:

■ Beginning Discovery

■ The Status Page

■ The Networks Page

■ Adding a Device to a Network

■ The Settings Page

■ Troubleshooting Discovery

■ Device Inventory

Beginning Discovery

Discovery is the process of identifying the devices in your network and determining how these devices are connected. The discovered devices are displayed in the Devices page and added to a devices database maintained by HP TopTools to represent your network. HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches can discover network devices that have valid IP or IPX addresses. Such devices include:

■ HP's manageable hubs, bridges and switches that have valid IP or IPX

addresses.

■ Third-party (“multivendor”) devices that have valid IP or IPX addresses

and support SNMP (for example, hubs and bridges from other vendors). These nodes may not be mapped or managed with HP TopTools.

■ Devices that have IP or IPX addresses, even if they do not support SNMP.

(For example, IPX workstations and fileservers).

■ Other devices, including HP JetDirect printers and plotters (IP or IPX).

Note Discovery is a resource-intensive process and may take some time.

To begin discovering the devices in your network, click on the Settings button in the navigation frame and select Discovery from the menu. The Settings Discovery page displays.

Discovering Your Devices

Beginning Discovery

Figure 4-1. Status Page of Settings for Discovery

Discovery Status

The Status page shows the following information about network discovery:

• The date and time the last discovery finished

• The number of network objects that have not been processed yet

• If discovery is scheduled, how often it is set to run, and when

You can manually start discovery by clicking on the Start Discovery button at the top of the page.

Save your settings by clicking on the Save Settings button.

Selecting Networks

Click on the Networks tab to select the networks whose component devices you want to add to the device database. You can specify a range of subnets, for example, 10.4.8.0 - 10.4.15.0. You can also specify a particular network and subnet mask. The subnet mask is used to determine the range of addresses in your network.

To select a network, double click on it in the list of Known Networks. The box to the right will be checked and the network added to the list of networks to search.

4-2

To remove a network, double click on the network in the Known Networks list.

Discovering Your Devices

Beginning Discovery

Figure 4-2. Networks Page of Settings for Discovery

To add a new network to be discovered that does not appear in the Known Networks list, enter the IP or IPX address of the network and its subnet mask in the Add One New Network area on the left side of the page. The IP subnet mask should be the same as the mask you specified when you configured your TCP/IP protocol stack. HP TopTools uses the subnet mask to calculate the address range for your network. Click on >> to include it in the Networks list.

Click on the Find More Networks button to discover other networks for which you do not have the address. The Discovery process needs to know the READ password for the routers connecting your network to other networks. If the router is not marked with an asterisk indicating that the password is known to HP TopTools, double-click on the network and enter its password.

When the list of networks is complete, select the Status tab and click on Start Discovery.

Adding Devices for Discovery

To add a specific device to a network for discovery, click on the Additional Devices tab in the Settings - Discovery page. Enter the IP or IPX address and the Community name of the device. The Community name will default to “public”. Click on Add Device.

4-3

Discovering Your Devices

Beginning Discovery

Configuring Discovery Settings

You can configure the types of protocols and methods of discovery that you want to use. For example, you may want to discover only IP networks. The types are:

■ IP—Discovers all IP devices in your network.

• Ping Discovery—Ping packets are sent to discover every device on

the subnet.

• Web Server Discovery—All IP addresses are checked to discover if the device contains a Web Server. Management Stations are also discovered.

• WMI (WBEM) Discovery—Checks for PCs that support WMI.

■ IPX—Locates all IPX devices in your network.

■ Segment and Hub Topology—Discovers how the segments are connected

in the network.

4-4

Figure 4-3. Settings Page of Settings - Discovery

Select the Settings tab in the Settings - Discovery page and check the appropriate boxes. Click on Save Settings to save your discovery settings.

Discovering Your Devices

Troubleshooting Discovery

Figure 4-4. Additional Community Names

Troubleshooting Discovery

If you do not see certain devices in the Networking Devices list after discovery, click on the Others folder (Devices - Device Types) to see if the devices are listed there. If so, perform these steps to have them discovered:

1. Right mouse click on the device or devices with type “unknown” in the list of devices contained in the Others folder.

2. Select Security -> Set SNMP Passwords (Communities) from the menu.

3. Enter a READ password (twice) for the device.

4. Enter a WRITE password (twice) for the device.

5. In the navigation frame, click on the Actions button and select Update Discovery.

You must do the Update Discovery so that HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches will re-read the configuration of the device for which you added the passwords. The device should now appear in the Networking Devices list and the topology map.

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Discovering Your Devices

Inventory of Devices

HP TopTools creates several inventory reports listing basic information about your devices. Inventory listings for the devices on your local network are the default. To view the Inventory list, select the Inventory button in the navigation frame. To add more devices, select the Additional Devices tab in the Settings Discovery page. You can print or email these reports.

See the HP TopTools online help for more detailed information.

4-6

Alerts

This chapter contains information on:

■ Interpreting the Alert Log

■ Filtering Alerts

■ Configuring Actions on Alerts

Interpreting the Alert Log - Automatic Fault Finding

The Alert Log is displayed in the lower area of the HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches home page, the Alerts page, and the lower area of the device’s Status

- Overview page. Its “Find/Fix/ Inform” capability helps you proactively

manage your network by displaying network traps and problem conditions in one easily accessible browser page. It displays messages about events that have occurred on the device, such as loss of link, a problem cable, or a broadcast storm. When a new alert occurs, an icon indicating its severity appears on the Alerts button. The alert is also added to the device description in the Devices page. You can access the Alert Log by selecting View Alerts from the Alerts button menu the navigation frame or by clicking on the alert.

To ensure that you are seeing the latest alerts, click on the Refresh Alert List button.

Closing an alert indicates that it is no longer a problem. Closed alerts are stored in the alerts database for a time period specified in the Configure Actions on Alerts page.

Alerts

Interpreting the Alert Log - Automatic Fault Finding

Figure 5-1. Alerts Page

The Alerts page displays more information about the alert as well as some suggestions for fixing the problem. When you have reviewed an alert, the “New” icon is no longer displayed.

The following table shows the common faults and how they are indicated.

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Table 5-1. Common Faults

Fault Description, Cause and Actions

Interpreting the Alert Log - Automatic Fault Finding

Alerts

Too many undersized/giant packets

Excessive jabbering

Excessive CRC/ alignment errors

Description: A device on this port is transmitting packets shorter than 64 bytes or longer than 1518 bytes (longer than 1522 bytes if tagged), with valid CRCs.

Possible Causes: a misconfigured NIC or a malfunctioning NIC, NIC driver, or transceiver

Actions:

1. Check the NIC for a misconfiguration.

2. Update the NIC driver software.

3. Replace the malfunctioning NIC or transceiver.

4. Check for a short-circuit in the cable patch connected to this port.

Description: A device on this port is continually transmitting packets (jabbering). This is detected as oversize packets with CRC errors.

Possible causes: A misconfigured NIC, or a malfunctioning NIC or transceiver. It could also be caused by a short-circuit in the network cable path.

Actions:

1. Check NIC for a misconfiguration.

2. Update the NIC driver software.

3. Replace the NIC or transceiver.

4. Check for a short-circuit in the cable path connected to this port.

Description: A high percentage of data errors was detected on this port.

Possible Causes:

• Faulty cabling or topology

• Half/full duplex mismatch

• Misconfigured NIC

• Malfunctioning NIC, NIC driver or transceiver

Actions:

1. If the port is 100Base-T, make sure the cable, connectors, punch-down blocks, and patch panels connecting to the port are Category 5 or better. Verify the installation with a Category 5 test device.

2. Check the directly-connected device for mismatches in half/full duplex operation (half duplex on the switch and full duplex on the connected device, or the reverse).

3. Update the NIC driver software.

4. Verify that the network topology conforms to IEEE 802.3 standards.

5. Replace or relocate the cable.

6. Check the wiring closet components, transceivers, and NICs for proper operation.

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Alerts

Interpreting the Alert Log - Automatic Fault Finding

Table 5-1. Common Faults

Fault Description, Cause and Actions

Excessive late collisions

High collision or drop rate

Description: Late collisions (collisions detected after transmitting approximately 64 bytes) were detected on this port.

Possible Causes:

• An overextended LAN topology

• Half/full duplex mismatch

• Misconfigured or faulty device connected to the port

Actions:

1. Verify that the network topol ogy conforms to IEEE 802.3 standards. Insert bridg es or switches, if needed, to extend the network topology.

2. Check the directly-connected device for mismatches if half/full duplex operation (half duplex on the switch and full duplex on the connected device).

3. If this port is 100Base-T, make sure the cable connecting to the port is Category 5 or better.

4. Check for faulty cabling, transceivers, and NICs.

Description: A large number of collisions or packet drops have occurred on the port.

Possible Causes:

• an extremely high level of traffic on this port

• Half/full duplex mismatch

• A misconfigured or malfunctioning NIC or transceiver on a device connected to the port

• A topology loop in the network

Actions:

1. Use a network monitoring device or application to determine the traffic levels on the affected segment. If needed, consider subdividing that segment with switches or bridges, or moving high-traffic devices to their own switch ports.

2. Check the directly-connected device for mismatches in half/full duplex operation (half duplex on the switch and full duplex on the connected device).

3. Check for a misconfigured NIC or t ransceiver (for example, a transceiver config ured for “loopback test” or “SQE test”).

4. Verify that there are no topology loops in your network. If not enabled, you may also enable spanning tree. See the Switch Configuration menu.

Excessive broadcasts

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Description: An excessively high rate of broadcast packets were received on the port. This degrades the performance of all devices connected to this switch.

Possible Causes: This is usually cause d by a network topology loop, but can also be due to a malfuncti oning device, NIC, NIC driver, or software application.

Actions:

1. Verify that there are no topology loops in your network.

2. Find and correct any malfunctioning devices or NICs on the segment.

3. Find and correct any malfunctioning applications on devices on the segment.

Interpreting the Alert Log - Automatic Fault Finding

Alerts

The Find/Fix/Inform function runs continuously in the background at a sensitivity threshold level that you select. Sensitivity threshold settings control the severity of the alerts that are displayed. The settings internally adjust the counter thresholds automatically.

Sensitivity settings are selected in the Configuration page for the device. Select the Fault Detection button. For hubs, you can set the sensitivity for logging network problems and disabling ports. Switches only have a sensitivity setting for logging network problems. Switches are more capable than hubs of isolating problems occurring on a single port.

The sensitivity settings are:

■ High Sensitivity: The device will act when a network problem of any

severity occurs. Network problems are automatically detected and entered into the Alert Log (located under the Status Tab).

■ Medium Sensitivity: The device will act when serious network problems

occur.

■ Low Sensitivity: the device will act only when severe network problems

occur. These are problems that may bring the network down.

■ Never: The device will never take any actions regardless of the severity

of the problem.

Only serious and persistent problems that impact other users on the network will cause a hub to disable a port. These problems include:

■ A problem XCVR or NIC

■ A broadcast storm

■ Excessive Auto Partitions

■ A network loop

A warning is entered in the Alert Log shortly before the port is disabled. Another entry is made indicating that the port has been disabled.

Launching the Device View

Click on the hyperlink “Device Properties” to display a page with Identity and Status information about the device.

Acknowledging Alerts

Click on the Ackn owledge Alerts button to indicate that you have seen the alert. Acknowledging an alert changes its state from new to open.

Closing Alerts

To close an alert and remove it from the Alert Log, select the alert and click on the Close Alerts button. You can set a filter to display closed alerts in the Alerts page.

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Alerts

Filtering Alerts

Sorting Alerts

There are four column title buttons that can be used to sort the alerts:

■ According to severity

■ A description of the alert,

■ The name of the device

■ The date and time of the alert

First Time Installation Information

There will be an entry in the Alert Log for first time installation information for the device.

Filtering Alerts

Selecting Alert Log Filters

You can choose to display only certain types of alerts in the Alerts page by setting alert filters. Click on the Choose Filters button in the Alert Log area to display the Select Alert Log Filters page.

Select the alert state

View alerts for only these devices.

Figure 5-2. Select Alert Log Filters Page

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Filtering Alerts

Alerts

Filtering by Alert State

To view only certain alert states in the Alerts page, for instance, only new and open alerts, check the appropriate boxes in the Filter by Alert State area of the browser window.

Filtering by Alert Severity

Select an alert severity, for instance, critical, to view only the critical alerts in the Alerts page.

Filtering by Device

Select one or more devices from the list and click on the >> button to add them to the Filter by these Devices box. Only the alerts for these devices are displayed in the Alerts page. If you have also selected an alert state and severity, for example, New alerts that are Critical, only those alerts are shown for the selected devices.

To remove a device, select the device in the list and click on the << button. To clear all the devices from the box, click on the Clear device list button below the box.

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Topology

You can set filters for an entire segment or network. Select the Topology tab, then select the segment or network to filter. Click on the >> button to add the segment or network to the Filter by these Devices box.

Use the Show field at the top of the page to control the display of the folders. See Device Topology tion about the Show field.

in the Networking Devices chapter for more informa-

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Alerts

Filtering Alerts

Show List

Figure 5-3. Select Alert Log Filters — Topology Page

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Custom Groups

If you have created any Custom Groups of devices, you can apply filter criteria to these groups.

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Search

You can obtain a list of all of your devices with certain characteristics by using the Search feature. To find one or more devices, select the parameters, such as “Ping Status is Critical” or “Device Type is PC”, or any other combination that is available in the drop down lists. Click on the Start Search button.

Click on the + or - boxes to add or remove search criteria.

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Figure 5-4. Search Page

Configuring Action on Alerts

Click on Searches button and select Save to save parameters globally.

Alerts

To save your search parameters, select Save from the Searches drop down list and enter a name for the search. These parameters are saved globally so that you can use the same parameters again by clicking on the Searches button and selecting the name you saved.

If you want to rename or delete your saved search parameters, click on the Searches button and select Manage. Highlight the name that you want to rename or delete and click the appropriate button.

Configuring Action on Alerts

You may want to have certain actions executed when an event occurs, such as executing a program. Click on the Alerts button in the navigation frame and select Configure Action on Alerts from the menu.

Use the Alerts - Configure Actions on the Alerts page to enter the path of the desired program for each alert severity. You can launch several programs by using a batch file in this field.

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Alerts

Configuring Action on Alerts

Figure 5-5. Configure Actions on Alerts Page

If your program requires information

about the event (for example, device

name and alert severity for inclusion in an e-mail message to you), use one of the following substitution parameters within the command line:

■ $(dev) - Substitute the name or IP/IPX address of the device that generated

the event. The name is usually the domain name.

■ $(addr) - Address (IP or IPX) of the device that generated the event.

■ $(desc) - Short description text generated for the event that describes the

event.

■ $(xdesc) - Long description text generated for the event that describes the

event.

■ $(stat) - Severity of the event as one of the following strings: “Informa-

tional”, “Warning”, or “Critical”.

■ $(evtid) - Identifier string for the event, for example, the trap OID of an

SNMP trap.

■ $(name) - Name of the event. Event names are assigned to each type of

event as a way to uniquely identify events instead of using event identifiers.

■ $(url) - URL generate for the event.

Click on Save Settings. The program(s) run whenever an alert of the specified severity is logged to the Alerts page.

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Configuring Action on Alerts

Alerts

Deleting Closed Alerts

The field at the bottom of the Configure Actions on Alerts page allows you to enter the number of days after which you would like closed alerts deleted from the alerts database.

5-11

Alerts

Configuring Action on Alerts

5-12

Networking Devices

This chapter contains information on:

■ Listing Devices

■ Configuring Polling

■ Selecting Actions for Devices

■ Device Topology

■ Node Port Table

■ Custom Groups

■ Searching for Devices

See the chapter Group Policies for information on automatic configuration.

Listing Devices

The Devices page lists alphabetically all the devices that have been discovered in your network. The default display is your local network.

To view a list of your network devices, select Devices, Devices by Type in the navigation frame. Click on the Networking Devices folder to display each network device in the right frame showing its type, connectivity status, the number of new and open alerts, and its management capabilities (SNMP and/ or Web browser).

Networking Devices

Configuring Polling

Figure 6-1. List of Networking Devices

Check the box at the bottom right to have the page always open in a separate window.

Note If the device is not manageable by browser, you must launch the Device View

from the Management Station where HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches is installed.

Configuring Polling

Polling a device involves sending a request to the device and waiting for a response. If the device does not respond to a request within a certain time interval, it is considered down and an alert is entered in the Alert page. You can set a number of polling parameters in the Settings - Device Communication page.

To start configuring polling for devices:

1. Click on the Devices button in the navigation frame.

2. Select Devices by Type from the menu.

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3. Click on a device in the right frame.

4. Click on the Settings button in the navigation frame and select Device

Communication from the list.

Networking Devices

Configuring Polling

Figure 6-2. Device Communication Settings

The settings are:

■ Polling State—On or Off for selected devices. Select Do Not Change to keep

the previous settings.

■ Retries—The number of times a device will be polled before entering an

alert in the Alert page.

■ Polling Interval —The amount of time in seconds between requests for a

response.

■ Timeout—The amount of time in seconds that HP TopTools will wait for

a response from a device before sending another request.

■ Management URL—If http discovery has found a management station, its

address will appear in the Management URL field. You can override this URL if you want to change it.

Click on the Suspend All Polling button to stop polling. The button now reads Resume Polling. Click on it to start polling again.

6-3

Networking Devices

Selecting Actions for Devices

After you select a device, click on the Actions button at the top left of the page to select an action to perform. Alternatively, right-click on a device in the list and select an action from the menu. Depending on the device, the Actions include:

■ View Alerts—Displays the Alerts page with any alerts that have occurred

for the device.

■ Check Connectivity (Ping)—Use ping to test the network connection to

a device.

■ Set Friendly Name—Create an easy-to-remember name for a device.

■ Update Discovery—Re-reads the configuration of the selected network

device or devices to see if changes have occurred.

■ Add to Custom Group—Add a device to a custom group.

■ Delete—Delete the selected device from the devices page.

■ Find in Topology View—Locate a device in the Topology View.

■ Security (Set SNMP Passwords - Communities)—Set up device security

by entering passwords.

■ SNMP/Trap Configuration—Set the thresholds for SNMP traps. Only

appears for switches with browser interfaces.

■ Update Firmware—Download the latest device firmware (see Down-

loading Firmware for instructions).

■ Telnet—Start a telnet session with a device (available only for devices

that support telnet).

■ Node Port Table—View a table showing the devices attached to each port

of the selected device.

■ Management Home Page—Displays the Status page for the selected

device.

■ Properties—Display some generic SNMP information about the device

including the system name, IP/IPX address, uptime, device description and status.

■ Export—For printing HTML to a spreadsheet (CSV)

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You can perform actions on up to 100 devices at a time. Use Ctrl-click to select more than one device from the list.

SNMP/Trap Configuration

In order for traps to function, you must set the trap in the Thresholds dialog box. You must be at the management station to set traps. This menu selection only appears for switches that are browser-manageable. Do the following:

1. Select SNMP/Trap Configuration from the Actions menu.

2. In the Device Configuration dialog box select the Thresholds tab and set the thresholds for the traps you are interested in receiving.

Networking Devices

Device Topology

• Threshold—the value of the event at which the trap or alarm is

triggered

• Tolerance—the device does not send another event to the manager

until the value goes below the tolerance value and the threshold value is reached again. The default is 80% of the threshold value.

• Time Interval—the time elapsed while HP TopTools examines speci-

fied traffic for threshold and tolerance violations. If the threshold is reached with the time interval specified, an event is triggered.

3. Select the Trap Receivers tab and set the management stations that should receive traps.

4. Select the Authorized Managers tab and set the management stations that can send and receive SNMP requests for the device.

Figure 6-3. Thresholds Dialog Box

Device Topology

The Topology view displays a hierarchical representation of your network device connections. If HP TopTools is not able to associate a device with a segment, the device is listed as unmapped.

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Networking Devices

Device Topology

Note Your hubs and switches must have the Community Name “public” set to READ

and WRITE in order for your devices to be mapped.

Figure 6-4. The Topology of Networking Devices

You can choose how to display the topology hierarchy by selecting from the Show drop down list at the top of the page:

■ Network—Displays folders representing networks. All the devices in the

network are displayed. Double-click on a router to view all the networks connected to that router.

■ Networks, Segments—Displays folders representing networks. The

network folders contain folders representing segments in the network. Click on a segment folder to see the devices in that segment.

■ Networks, Segments, Connections—Displays network folders containing

segment folders. Segment folders contain folders representing connections. Connection folders list the devices associated with that connection.

Double-click on a hub or switch in the list to launch the Device View for device configuration.

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Networking Devices

Node Port Table

To view the devices attached to the ports of a device, right-click on the device in the networking devices list (Devices, Device Types, Networking Devices). Select Node Port Table. The Node Port table for the selected device displays. The table shows the following:

■ Node address

■ Port number of the selected device

■ Type of port, for example, 10Base-T

■ The address of the device connected to the port

■ The port number connected to on the device

Devices that are underlined (linked) have more devices connected to them. Click on the device address; a new table with that device’s connections displays.

Figure 6-5. Node Port Table for device 15.37.32.130

When a link has been clicked on, it is no longer blue.

Custom Groups

You may want to perform certain maintenance tasks on a group of devices, for example, downloading devices that you want in the Custom group by clicking on the device in the list, then selecting Add to Custom Group from the Actions menu. You can select multiple devices at one time by using Ctrl-click on each device that you want to include. Enter the name of the Custom Group and click OK.

the latest firmware for a type of hub. Select the

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Networking Devices

Searching for Devices

Figure 6-6. Custom Groups Page

A quick way to create a Custom Group uses the Search function. Select the Search tab in the Devices page. Enter the type of device that you want as members of your group. Save the results of the search, this becomes your Custom group. You can add and delete devices from the group.

Searching for Devices

6-8

Figure 6-7. Search Page

Networking Devices

Searching for Devices

Click on the + or - boxes to add or remove search criteria.

If you want to rename or delete your saved search parameters, click on the Searches button and select Manage. Highlight the name that you want to rename or delete and click the appropriate button.

6-9

Networking Devices

Searching for Devices

6-10

Group Policies

With HP TopTools Group Policies feature, you can specify which devices are being configured for a particular policy.

This chapter includes information on:

■ Creating Groups

■ General Group Policies

■ Advanced Switch Features

■ Security Configuration Policies

■ Alert Configuration Policies

Creating Groups

You can create up to 30 groups of devices for management by policy. There are two additional groups already created, “Unconfigured” and “Default”.

To begin creating groups for policy management, click on the Policies button in the HP TopTools navigation frame and select Group Configuration. The Group Configuration page displays the groups that have been configured. Initially only the Unconfigured group and the Default group will be listed.

Group Policies

Creating Groups

Figure 7-1. Main Page of Group Configuration

If you check the box labeled Move newly discovered devices into Default group, your new devices can have policies applied as soon as they are discovered. If you do not check this box, newly discovered devices are moved to the Unconfigured group, which does not have any policy settings. The default setting is to move newly discovered devices to the Default group.

Note Only devices that support Policy Management will be listed for selection as

members of a group.

Viewing the Devices in a Group

To view a list of the devices that are members of a group, select the group and click on the View Devices button. The View Group Members page lists the devices in that group. Click on OK to return to the main Group Configuration page.

7-2

Group Policies

Creating Groups

Adding a Group

To create a new group and add it to the group list, click on the Add Group button. In the Group Configuration - Add Group page, enter a name for the group in the New Group Name field. Click on OK to add the group. Click on Save Group

Settings in the main Group Configuration page.

Note You must click on Save Group Settings for your changes to take effect.

Figure 7-2. Add Group Page

If there are already 32 groups configured (including the Default and Unconfigured groups), a message will inform you that the maximum number of groups has been created.

Modifying a Group

To perform functions such as adding devices to a group, removing devices from a group, or renaming a group, select a group to be modified and click on the Modify Selected Group button in the main Group Configuration page. The Group Configuration - Modify Group page displays the current devices in that group.

7-3

Group Policies

Creating Groups

Figure 7-3. Group Configuration - Modify Group Page

Adding a Device to a Group

To add a device to a group, click on the Add Device button. Select a group from the Source Group list box. All the devices in that group will be displayed in the box below. Select a device in the Source Group list box, then click the Add--> button. The device appears in the Target Group list box. Repeat for as many devices as you want to move.

Note All the devices displaying the same friendly name but a different IP address

should be added to the same group. For example, if you see two devices with the friendly name of “Switch1” but one has an IP of 200.1.1.1 and one has an IP address of 200.1.1.2, they should both go in the same group.

When you are finished with your changes, click the OK button. Click on Save Group Settings in the main Group Configuration page.

Clicking Cancel removes all your changes.

Note A device can only be a member of one group.

7-4

Group Policies

Creating Groups

Figure 7-4. Adding a Device to a Group

Removing a Device from a Group

To remove a device from a group, select a device in the Group ConfigurationModify Group page and click on Remove Device. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. Select Yes to delete the device from the group. The device is moved to the Unconfigured group.

Click on Save Group Settings in the main Group Configuration page.

Changing the Group Name

To change a group name, click on the Change Group Name button in the Modify Group page. Edit the existing group name in the Group Name field and click on OK. Click on Save Group Settings in the main Group Configuration page.

7-5

Group Policies

Configuring Group Policies

Start configuring Group Policies by clicking on the Policies button in the HP TopTools navigation frame. Select Configuration Policies from the menu. The Policies - Automatic Configuration Management of Hubs & Switches page displays the following buttons:

■ General—Displays SNMP system information and allows modification of

that information

■ Alerts—Allows selection for delivery of alerts to the TopTools server,

removal of trap receivers from a displayed list, and setting fault sensitivity for alerts

■ Advanced Switch Features—Turn on or off:

• Automatic Broadcast Control (ABC) for a selected protocol

• Multicasting (IGMP)

• Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

■ Security—Displays and allows addition or modification of community

names and authorized managers

Figure 7-5. Main Configuration Policies Page

Note The devices must have management by browser capability.

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General Configuration Policies

Group Policies

General Configuration Policies

SNMP System Information

To configure SNMP Information for a group, click on the General button in the Configuration Policies main page. The General Polices page for that group displays.

Three SNMP variables for the selected group are listed in the SNMP System Information box:

■ sysContact—The person to contact about this group of devices

■ sysLocation—The location of this group of devices.

■ sysName—The name for the group of devices.

If <keep device setting> is selected, the current value stored in the switch is not modified.

Figure 7-6. General Policies Page Showing SNMP System Information

To modify a field, select the field in the SNMP system Information box, then check the Enabled check box below if it is not currently checked. Enter the new information in the field to the right of the Enabled check box and click

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Group Policies

Alert Configuration Policies

Update. The new information appears in the box above. Click on OK to return to the main Configuration Policies page, then click on Apply Policies to save your changes.

Clicking on Cancel discards all your changes.

Checking Firmware Versions

When TopTools discovers a device in your network, the firmware version of the device is retrieved and compared against a list to determine if there is a newer firmware version available. If a newer firmware version is available, a message is entered in the Alerts page (click on the Alerts button in the navigation frame). See

Downloading Firmware for instructions on

downloading the newer firmware.

Alert Configuration Policies

To configure group policies for alert notification and fault sensitivity, click on the Alerts button in the Configuration Policies main page. The Alert Policies page for that group displays.

Use the Trap Receivers list box to specify the management stations that can capture traps for web-enabled HP hubs and switches in your network.

Enter the IP addresses of the hosts that should receive traps. The maximum number of additional trap receivers that you can add is nine. The HP TopTools management station is a trap receiver by default.

See

SNMP Configuration for information about setting traps.

The device will automatically send traps to the trap receivers entered in the trap receivers list box. You can configure actions to take when traps occur, such as paging a network administrator, by using the Configure Actions on Events feature listed in the Alerts button in the HP TopTools home page.

Traps will be sent for all standard SNMP events, as well as some additional fixed events. The fixed events for hubs and switches include:

■ coldStart: The device reinitialized itself and its configuration may have

changed.

■ warmStart: The device reinitialized itself but its configuration is not

changed.

■ linkDown: Communication was lost on a device interface.

■ linkUp: Communication was regained on a device interface.

■ authorizationFailure: The device received an SNMP packet that was not

authenticated.

■ entConfigChange: A change, such as the addition of a card, was made to

the device.

■ hpicFaultfinderTrap: A possible error condition was detected by the fault

finder.

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Alert Configuration Policies

Group Policies

Sending Alerts to the HP TopTools Management Station

When you check this box, all alerts will be sent to the HP TopTools Server in addition to any other trap receivers that you have designated. This feature is enabled by default.

Removing Trap Receivers

If the Remove trap receivers not listed below check box is checked, any trap receivers configured that are not displayed in the trap receivers list box will be removed as trap receivers.

Figure 7-7. Alert Policies Page

Setting Fault Sensitivity

The Fault Sensitivity field allows you to set the sensitivity levels for the actions to be taken when a fault is detected on a port in your network. Switches only have a sensitivity setting for logging network problems. The sensitivity settings are:

High Sensitivity: The device will make an entry in the Alert Log (located in the Status tab of the Device page) when a network problem of any severity occurs.

Medium Sensitivity: The device will make an entry in the Alert Log when serious network problems occur.

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Group Policies

Advanced Switch Features

Low Sensitivity: The device will make an entry in the Alert Log only when severe network problems occur. These are problems that may bring the network down.

Off: The device will never make any entries in the Alert Log regardless of the severity of the problem.

<keep device setting>: The current value stored in the switch is not modified

If you make any changes, you must click on Apply Policies in the main Configuration Policies page for your changes to take effect.

Advanced Switch Features

To configure Advanced Switch Features for a group, click on the Advanced

Switch Features button in the Configuration Policies main page. The Advanced Switch Features page for that group displays.

The following features can be set for the selected group of switches:

■ Automatic Broadcast Control (ABC)

■ IP Multicasting (IGMP)

■ Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

The possible settings are:

■ On - Turns the feature on for all switches in the selected group. On for

ABC has more options:

• On for IP only - Turns on ABC for IP devices only.

• On for IPX only - Turns on ABC for IPX devices only.

• On for IP/IPX - Turns on ABC for IP and IPX devices.

■ Off - Turns the feature off for all switches

■ <keep device setting> - The feature is not on or off. The device conforms

to what has been set in the device console.

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Advanced Switch Features

Group Policies

Figure 7-8. Advanced Switch Features Page

The problem of broadcast control is addressed in part by the use of two features, Automatic Broadcast Control (ABC) and Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP).

Automatic Broadcast Control (ABC)

Automatic Broadcast Control (ABC) is a feature that controls broadcasts through IP/IPX Broadcast Reduction. IP/IPX Broadcast Reduction reduces the number of broadcasts propagated through the network.

Using ABC, the switch acts as a proxy server, replying to Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests, Nearest Server Query (NSQ) requests, and GetLocalTarget requests on behalf of the destination node. An ARP cache (learned address table) is created for each subnet allowing the switch to proxy reply with the resolved MAC address instead of forwarding the requests out all ports. This limits the broadcasts within the switching domain. The Service Advertising Protocol (SAP) table performs the same function in an IPX network. By using these tables, the switch can resolve addresses for any node in the network that it already knows about.

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Group Policies

Advanced Switch Features

Routing Information Protocol

The switch also intercepts Routing Information Protocol (RIP) and SAP broadcasts and forwards these only to ports where routers and servers have been detected. This also reduces the number of broadcasts on the network.

For example, if User A sends out a broadcast message to connect to its server, the request is sent out of all ports on the switch. When the server responds to User A, the switch intercepts the response and learns that the server is on that port. When User B sends a request to the same server, the switch already knows which port that server is on and sends that information to User B, just as if the server had responded to the request. User B’s request is not broadcast out any of the switch ports.

Enabling Broadcast Control for IP

The IP protocol uses Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) packets to find the MAC address of a node that corresponds to the network layer address. When Broadcast Control is enabled, the switch intercepts the ARP packet on its way to the destination node. If this destination is unknown to the switch, the switch floods the ARP request to all ports. When the destination port responds, the switch stores information about the source and destination MAC addresses and layer 3 addresses in its ARP cache. This information allows the switch to proxy a reply containing the MAC address of a destination to the source of an ARP request. The source can then send a unicast packet directly to the destination. The amount of broadcast traffic has been decreased.

Automatic IP RIP Control

To further reduce broadcast traffic, you can check Automatic IP RIP Control. IP RIP packets are sent out periodically (every 30 seconds) to distribute routing information. By enabling Automatic IP RIP Control, the switch will only forward RIP packets out the ports on which RIP packets have been received. Since routers are the only devices that generate RIP packets, this ensures that RIP packets are only sent out ports with routers attached to them. When this feature is not enabled, IP RIP packets are forwarded to all ports.

Enabling Broadcast Control for IPX

The IPX protocol broadcasts all of its known routes and services every minute by using IPX, RIP and Service Advertising Protocol (SAP) packets. When servers are booted up, they advertise their services using SAP. These frames must be forwarded by routers, which maintain a database of this information, allowing clients on the network to obtain the internetwork addresses of the servers where they can access services.

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Advanced Switch Features

Group Policies

Automatic IPX RIP/SAP Control

To further reduce network traffic, you can check the Automatic IPX RIP/SAP Control check box. The switch will intercept RIPs and SAPs, broadcasting them only to ports where IPX routers or servers have been detected, or to ports that have been configured to transmit RIPs or SAPs. When this feature is not enabled, IPX RIP/SAP packets are forwarded to all ports.

Automatic IP Gateway Configuration

When Automatic IP Gateway Configuration is enabled, the switch will modify replies from the DHCP server so that the Default Gateway IP address of client becomes the client’s own IP address. This is useful in a multinetted environment (where more than one IP network is configured in a single broadcast domain).

See

Routing Information Protocol.

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)

Multimedia and email a pplications need the ability to communicate to multiple destinations efficiently. IP multicasting allows hosts to dynamically register for sending or receiving multicast traffic.

The Internet Group Management Protocol is a method for automatically controlling multicast traffic through the network. Using multicasting, applications can send one copy of a packet addressed to a group of computers that wish to receive it. This method is more efficient than sending a separate copy to each node. Other advantages of multicasting include:

■ information delivered in a timely, synchronized manner because all desti-

nation nodes receive the same packet

■ information can be sent to destinations whose addresses are unknown

■ reduces the number of packets on the network because only one multicast

packet is sent.

IGMP uses multicast queriers and hosts that support IGMP to manage multicast traffic on the network. It specifies how the host informs the network that it is a member of a multicast group. A set of queriers and hosts that send and receive data from the same set of sources is a multicast group.

The HP switches have a standards-based IGMP implementation. The switches process IGMP packets by learning which of the switch’s interfaces are linked to hosts that are members of multicast groups and multicast routers. It limits multicast traffic by monitoring the IGMP traffic to learn which hosts are in which multicast groups, then allowing IP multicast traffic to be sent only to ports with valid host group members.

When a switch receives an IGMP packet, it updates the internal IP multicast forwarding table with the IGMP membership read from that packet. The switch then sends the packet to the ports with members of the destination multicast group.

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Group Policies

Security Configuration Policies

Special multicast routers/queriers communicate by using three message types - query, report, and leave group. The query message, sent by a querier, is used to discover which network interfaces belong to a multicast group. Each host responds to the query message with a report message that tells the querier the host is a member of the multicast group. The host also can send a report message to join a group or a leave message to leave a group.

Note Using the console you can designate specific ports to always or never forward

multicast packets.

Forward with High Priority

When Forward with High Priority is checked, any IGMP packets received by the switch will be forwarded in a prioritized manner, preceding packets with normal priority.

The Spanning Tree Protocol

The Spanning Tree Protocol (IEEE 802.1d) maintains a loop-free topology in networks with redundant bridges or switches. The spanning tree devices determine which devices will be active and which will be backups so that no two nodes in a network have more than one active path between them at any time. The Spanning Tree Protocol uses the most efficient path between segments. If a bridge or switch fails, the other bridges and switches reconfigure the network automatically. When the problem is repaired, the bridges and switches automatically return to the original network configuration.

Security Configuration Policies

To configure Security policies for a group, click on the Security button in the Configuration Policies main page. The Security Policies page for that group displays.

Communities

You can create up to five communities for each group. The default community is “public”.

Caution Do not delete the “public” community.

The Read Access and Write Access choices are:

■ None—Provides access to no tasks in HP TopTools

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Security Configuration Policies

■ Discovery—Enables a device to be discovered by HP Toptools for Hubs

Group Policies

and Switches for mapping in a Topology view. The only tasks allowed are Link Test and Discovery.

■ Restricted—Provides partial access to HP TopTools features (not

Community Name settings or Authorized Managers)

■ User—Provides almost complete access to HP TopTools features

■ Full—Provides complete access to all HP TopTools features

Figure 7-9. Security Policies Page

Adding a Community

To add a community for a group:

1. Click on the Add button. A blank field for the new community name appears below the Communities box.

2. Enter the name of the new community. Then select the Read Access and Write Access for that community.

3. Check the Enable Authorized Managers check box if you want to allow the addition of Authorized Managers to manage this community.

4. Click on OK.

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Group Policies

Security Configuration Policies

Modifying a Community

To modify an existing community:

1. Select the community to be modified and click on the Modify button. The selected name appears in a field below the Communities box. You can change the name in this field.

2. If desired, change the Read Access and/or Write Access.

3. Check or uncheck the Enable Authorized Managers check box if you want to change the permission for an Authorized Manager to manage this community.

4. Click on OK.

5. Click on Apply Policies in the main Configuration Policies page.

If you enable Authorized Managers, this message appears below the check box: “The TopTools Server will automatically be added as an Authorized Manager”.

Deleting a Community

To delete a community for a group, select the community and click on the Delete button. Click on Apply Policies in the main Configuration Policies page.

Configuring Authorized Managers

The Authorized Managers box lists the managers that are authorized to manage the selected community in the Communities box. You can configure nine authorized managers; one additional manager is the HP TopTools server by default.

Adding or Deleting an Authorized Manager

To add an authorized manager for a community:

1. Select the community in the Communities box, then click on the Add button next to the Authorized Managers box. A blank field appears below the box.

2. Enter the host name or IP address of the new authorized manager in the field.

3. Click on the OK button.

4. Click on Apply Policies in the main Configuration Policies page.

To delete an authorized manager:

1. Select the community in the Communities box.

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2. Select the authorized manager that you want to delete in the Authorized Managers box, then click on the Delete button.

3. Click on Apply Policies in the main Configuration Policies page.

Viewing Your Maps

This chapter contains information on:

■ Displaying Topology Maps

■ Using the Panner

■ Launching the Device View

■ Options for Map Control

■ Locating a Node

Displaying Maps

When HP TopTools is started, the discovery process discovers the devices on your network. This information is used by the topology process to create a network topology and the physical maps. Two maps are created automatically:

■ A map showing just the bridges, switches and segments

■ A map showing the entire network.

Note Your hubs and switches must have the Community Name “public” set to READ

and WRITE in order for your devices to be mapped.

Click on the Maps button in the navigation frame to display the Maps-View Maps page. This page lists the IP subnets that have been discovered by HP TopTools. The following information is provided for each map:

■ Name—The name of this map

■ Typ e—Either a Network or Segment map

■ Create Date—The date the map was created

■ View—The style of the map, for example, hierarchical

■ Owner—System (default maps created) or the User Id of the person who

created the map

Maps appear in the list only after topology is complete. To display the map in a separate browser window, check the Map in Separate Window box at the bottom of the page, then double-click on a map in the list.

Click the Full Network button to generate a map of the entire network.

Select the Delete button to remove a map from the list and the map file on the server. It may take a minute for the map list to reflect the deletion.

Viewing Your Maps

Displaying Maps

Figure 8-1. Network List for Displaying Map Views

Map Server Settings

Click on the Preferences button in the Maps-View Maps page to launch the Server Settings page. The Server Settings page lets you select the display characteristics for maps. These settings control how maps appear to all clients. An individual client can override some of the settings for the map being displayed by using the View button in the map window.

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Viewing Your Maps

Displaying Maps

Figure 8-2. Map Settings

The Map Factory Service generates your topology maps after discovery is complete. You must stop and restart this service for your new map settings to take effect. Select the Settings button in the HP TopTools navigation frame and click on Services.

Automatic Map Generation

Select what devices you would like displayed in your map:

■ Switches—Maps for switches and bridges are automatically created.

■ Switches & Hubs—Maps for switches, bridges and hubs are automatically

created. This is the default.

■ All Nodes—Maps displaying all end nodes are automatically created.

Default View

You can choose the style of map layout that you prefer. The four styles are shown in the following table.

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Viewing Your Maps

Displaying Maps

Table 8-1. Map Styles

Hierarchical—The devices are presented in a treelike structure, from a top-level device such as a switch, to its connecting hubs and end nodes.

Circular—The network map is displayed with devices connected in a circular pattern. Segments connect the circles.

Symmetric—The devices are spaced along an axis on the page, in a symmetrical fashion.

Orthogonal—The devices are displayed along the x and y axis. This map resembles a circuit board layout.

Cluster Size

Use the Cluster Size option to adjust the size of the clusters in your map. The options are:

■ Enable Max Nodes—Check this box to select a maximum number of

nodes to be displayed in a cluster. Enter the number of nodes in the Max Nodes field. If a cluster has more nodes than the specified maximum, that cluster is divided into two clusters of approximately the same size, unless the resulting cluster has fewer nodes than the specified minimum. This process continues until all clusters have fewer nodes than the maximum value, and more nodes than the minimum value.

■ Enable Min Nodes—Check this box to select a minimum number of nodes

to be displayed in a cluster. Enter the number of nodes in the Min Nodes field. If a cluster has fewer nodes than the specified minimum, that cluster is merged with a neighboring cluster.

■ Cluster By Degree—The Degree of a node is the number of ports on the

device connected to the node. A node with a degree value greater than or equal to the value entered in Cluster By Degree will become the starting node of a new cluster.

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Viewing Your Maps

Displaying Maps

Spacing

Spacing controls the amount of distance between nodes in the topology map so that they do not overlap each other. There are three spacing options:

Level Frame%—To increase the amount of space between node levels in a map, increase the percentage. Used in hierarchical map styles.

Level Node%—Sets the amount of space around each node. Increase this value to increase the amount of space around a node. Decrease this value to pull the nodes closer to each other. Used in hierarchical map styles.

Node Spacing Multiplier [1.0 - 10.0]—Used to calculate the node spacing between adjacent nodes in circular clusters. Increase this value to increase the spacing between adjacent nodes. Decrease this value to decrease the spacing between adjacent nodes. Used in circular map styles.

Launching a Map

Double-click on a subnet in the Maps-View Maps page to display a map of the subnet.

Figure 8-3. Subnet Map

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Viewing Your Maps

Using the Panner

The IP subnet map shows all the segments and managed routers, switches and bridges that form the subnet boundaries. IPX managed bridges that are located in the source IP network are also displayed. To drill down to the end node level, double-click on a segment.

Move your cursor over a device to display a tooltip with information about the name, IP address, and status of that device. Right-mouse click on the device to display the device popup menu. The Properties (Device View) selection launches the Device View. The SNMP/Trap Configuration menu item lets you configure traps and trap receivers for the device.

When you right-mouse-click on a segment you can select Show Segment Map.

The buttons at the bottom of the map are:

■ Options—see below for a description of this feature.

■ Views—see below for a description of this feature.

■ Locate—see below for a description of this feature.

■ Show/Hide labels—Displays or hides the address of the represented

device.

■ Refresh—Redraw the map. If new devices have been discovered, they will

appear in the updated map.

■ Parent—Show the map one level above the displayed map (unless you are

already at the network level).

■ Show/Hide Panner—Displays or removes the panner from the map

window.

■ Fit to Window—Displays the entire map view.

You can also access these parameters by right-mouse-clicking on the map background. The background popup menu also includes menu items for hiding the legend, disabling the map tool tips, and disabling the panner tool tips.

Using the Panner

The panner lets you easily focus in on a portion of your map. Click on Show Panner to display it in the lower right corner of your map. Using your mouse, drag a rectangle in the panner over the section of the network that you would like enlarged in your map. To restore the map to its original size, click on Fit to Window.

Launching the Device View

To configure a device, double-click on the device in the map or right-mouseclick on the device and select Properties (Device View) from the device popup menu. The Status - Overview page of the device is displayed in the browser. Use the tabs to view or change device settings, or to display device counters.

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Viewing Your Maps

Options for Displaying Maps

Note You must display the Closeup View for older HP devices that do not support

a browser interface from the management station where HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches is installed. See the online help for specific instructions about configuring older HP devices.

SNMP/Trap Configuration

See SNMP/Trap Configuration in the Networking Devices chapter for more information about configuring SNMP thresholds.

Options for Displaying Maps

There are several parameters you can set to control how your map looks and how often it is refreshed. Click on the Options button at the bottom of the page displaying a map and make your selections. Click on the Apply button to save them. To close the window without making any changes, click on OK. The Cancel button cancels any changes that you have not yet applied.

Options— Refresh Maps

If you select the

Automatic Map Refresh option your

map will refresh its display of devices automatically for a selected time period. If you want your map to refresh upon command only, select the Manual Map Refresh option.

Options—Labeling

Choose how you would like your device labels to display in the map, by name or by device address. If you do not want to display labels, uncheck the Show Label Names box. Check the Show Segment Names box to display the names of segments in your map. Click on Apply to save your choices.

Note Label options are only applicable when the Show Labels button on the Map is

selected.

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Viewing Your Maps

Locating a Node

Options—Legend

Select this option to display the legend for the map. Check the box Show on Map to have the legend display on the map. Click on Apply to save your choices.

Changing Map Views

Click on the Views button to select the style of map layout that you prefer. See Default

View for an explanation

of the four styles.

Locating a Node

To locate a particular end node, click the Locate button at the bottom of the page displaying a map. In the Locate browser window, select the network that the node is in, then select the node. Click on the Locate button to locate the node. A dialog box displays stating that the node has been found and the appropriate map is opened (if it not open already).

Select Pan in the dialog box to set the panner window so that the located item is enlarged and centered in the map. If Show labels is turned on, the label under the located device is displayed in reverse video.

8-8

Figure 8-4. Locate a Specific Node in a Map

Viewing Your Maps

Locating a Node

Note You also can locate a specific node from the Top5 browser window in Traffic

Monitor.

8-9

Viewing Your Maps

Locating a Node

8-10

Monitoring Network Traffic

This chapter describes the tools for monitoring your network using Traffic Monitor. It contains the following topics:

■ Using Traffic Monitor

■ Reading the Segment Histogram

■ Setting Thresholds

■ Displaying the Network Meter

■ Who Are the Top 5 Talkers?

■ The Traffic Data Collector

■ Troubleshooting Traffic Monitor

Using Traffic Monitor

The Traffic Monitor presents real-time information about the status of your network. When you select Network Traffic, Examine Details from the home page (or select Traffic Monitor from the Performance button menu), the page displays five gauges in the top half of the browser window and a histogram in the bottom half of the window. Each gauge displays the worst measurement in the entire network for that statistical attribute. The histogram below the gauges displays the value of an attribute, such as broadcasts/sec, for the segments in a selected segment group.

Monitoring Network Traffic

Using Traffic Monitor

Figure 9-1. Traffic Monitor Main Page

The five statistical attributes sampled by Traffic Monitor are:

Utilization%: Represents the traffic on the selected network or segment as a percentage of a segment's bandwidth (based on the theoretical maximum for the type of connection) which is currently being utilized. Monitoring the utilization gives a measure of how much of the network capacity is being used on a particular segment. For example, if you are examining a 10 Mbps or a 100 Mbps segment, utilization can tell you how much of the 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps segment's bandwidth (in percentage such as 20%, 35%, 50%, etc.) is being used by the devices on the segment.

Frames/sec: Represents the number of frames per second being transmitted over the network or segment. Each protocol (such as Ethernet, IP, IPX, etc.) has a different frame or packet specification.

Broadcasts/sec: Represents the number of broadcast packets being transmitted over the network or segment per second. Broadcast packets are addressed to, and must be processed by, all nodes on the network. This indicator gives an estimation of the amount of bulk communications taking place over the network. In general, this type of activity should be kept to a minimum as point-to-point messages use bandwidth much more efficiently.

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Monitoring Network Traffic

Using Traffic Monitor

Multicasts/sec: Represents the number of multicast packets being transmitted per second over the network or segment. Multicast packets are special forms of broadcast packets where copies of the packets are delivered to a subset of all devices on the network. This indicator gives an estimation of the amount of bulk communications which are taking place over the network. As with broadcast packets, this type of activity should be kept to a minimum as unicast messages use bandwidth much more efficiently.

Errors/sec: Represents the number of errors that have occurred for the network or segment. The number of errors can help you determine whether the network is functioning properly.

Reading the Traffic Information Gauges

The gauges display the network traffic information for the current minute. The colors on the gauges are:

■ green: value for the attribute is within the normal range

■ yellow: value has exceeded the normal range, but is not critical

■ red: value is in the critical range. Corrective action may be needed.

■ blue inner band: The “high water mark”, which shows you the highest

value for that segment in the last hour. This indicator can help you determine if there are any transient or intermittent problems for the segment, even though the current minute indicator shows normal activity.

The amount of green, yellow and red displayed in each gauge corresponds to the threshold settings for that segment. For example, if Segment A is a 10Base-T segment, and the current Threshold settings for Utilization% are as follows,

green: OK, 0-50% utilization

yellow: warning, 51-75% utilization

red: critical, 76-100% utilization

then the gauge for Utilization% for Segment A would display a green area up to 50%, a yellow area from 51% to 75%, and a red area from 76% to 100%. Click on the Thresholds button to set segment thresholds.

The number in the rectangular box below the gauge indicates the attribute value for the current minute.

Reading the Segment Histogram

Each bar in the histogram represents a segment. The segments are displayed left to right in worst to best order, the worst segment being the one with traffic that most exceeds any threshold value for that segment. If there are more than 30 segments to be displayed, a scroll bar will allow you to scroll horizontally in order to view all the segments.

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Monitoring Network Traffic

Using Traffic Monitor

The six tabs across the top of the histogram display the values for the segments for the selected segment group, or for the entire network if “All Segments” is selected in the Segment Groups list box. The Worst Overall tab displays in sorted order left to right the segments that have the most problems in the selected segment group. For example, if the histogram displays 10 segments in red, this indicates that these segments have exceeded at least one of the thresholds set for them. For one segment that might be the Errors threshold, for another it might be the Utilization% threshold. Holding the mouse over the segment bar will display a tool tip with the segment name and the measurement represented, for example, “Utilization: Shared Segment 001”.

Clicking on the segment bar highlights that segment and displays it in the Selected Segment list box. If you have checked the “Link gauges to selected segment in histogram” check box (located in the Options button), the gauges change to reflect the attribute values for that segment.

Comparing Segments Across Different Medias

The yellow warning threshold line and the red critical threshold line are displayed across the histogram at the same level for all segments. Because the actual threshold values for various types of media are different, the segment bar heights are “normalized” to the threshold lines so that they can be compared visually. For example, if Segment A is a 10Base-T segment, its warning threshold for Frames/sec might be 3,000 frames/sec. For Segment B, a 100Base-T segment, the warning threshold for Frames/sec might be 30,000 frames/sec. In order to make a comparison, the height of the segment bar is a percentage above a threshold value, for example, 50% over the warning threshold. Both segments can have the same percentage above the warning threshold settings even though the actual value of Frames/sec is different for each segment.

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Selecting Segment Groups and Segments

To display the segments for a specific segment group, select the segment group from the Segment Groups drop-down list at the bottom of the Traffic Monitor page. The segments for that subnet will be listed in the Selected Segment list box.

If you want to see the gauges reflect the values of attributes for a particular segment, click on Options and check Link Gauges to selected segment in histogram.

Setting Thresholds

When you click on Thresholds at the bottom of the Traffic Monitor page, a separate Thresholds browser window appears. A set of default thresholds is provided for each network attribute and is specific to a segment and its type. The values shown for the Ethernet tab are for a media speed of 10 Mbps. If your Ethernet is 100 Mbps or Gigabit, or if the segments are trunked, the threshold values are adjusted automatically. The thresholds for other types are also adjusted automatically when appropriate, for example, if the

Monitoring Network Traffic

Using Traffic Monitor

segments are trunked. This will not be visible in the Thresholds window. For example, if four ports on a switch are trunked, a 10 Mbps Ethernet segment would now be four times as fast, or 40 Mbps. The threshold values are adjusted automatically to be appropriate for this speed. You can still set the threshold values for a specific segment by selecting that segment from the list in the Segments tab.

Figure 9-2. Thresholds Window

As a network attribute reaches a certain threshold, a corresponding color (either green, yellow, or red) is used to indicate the current state (normal, warning, or critical, respectively.) Changing the threshold ranges to better represent your network's normal activity will be a relative decision. For example, a normal threshold range for traffic utilization will vary from network to network, and segment to segment. It is recommended that you use the default threshold values first and adjust them to fit the traffic patterns on your network. By fine tuning the threshold levels, you can find the optimum operating conditions for each segment on your network, which makes it easier to see problems as they occur.

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Monitoring Network Traffic

Using Traffic Monitor

To change your threshold settings, select a network type such as Ethernet. The threshold values for the attributes for Ethernet segments are displayed. You can either move the sliders to the left or right to increase or decrease a threshold value, or click on the up/down controls underneath the sliders to fine tune the threshold values. As you move the sliders, these values will change accordingly. To save your changes, click on Apply at the bottom of the Threshold window. The changes are applied to all segments of that type, for example, all Ethernet segments. When you are finished making changes, click on OK to exit the window.

Note If you click on OK, any changes that you have made and not yet applied will

be applied. If you click on Cancel, any changes that haven't been applied are not applied. If you have applied changes before clicking on Cancel, those changes remain applied.

If you want to change the thresholds for a single segment, select the Segments tab at the top of the window. Select a segment from the list box. The Thresholds window now reflects the attribute threshold values for that segment. Click on Apply to save any changes.

Note If you select a different segment from the list box before you have applied

your changes, a message will appear asking you if you want to apply your changes.

Initially, default values are in effect for all segment types. The Defaults button returns the threshold values for that segment or segment speed to the original default values.

Note Traffic Monitor will send a trap to the configured trap receivers when a

threshold has been exceeded. The Traffic Monitor page does not need to be open for Thresholds traps to be sent.

Displaying the Network Meter

The Network Meter provides an “at-a-glance” look at the most severe traffic problem on the network being monitored during the current minute. To launch the Network Meter, click on the Net Meter button below the histogram on the Traffic Monitor page. Clicking on the Show Worst 5 Segments button displays a window showing the top five thresholds that have been exceeded and the associated segments.

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Monitoring Network Traffic

Who Are the Top 5 Talkers?

You can keep the Network Meter window anywhere on your PC desktop. It will continue to monitor the status of your network while you use your browser for other tasks. Click on Hide Net Meter to close the window. When you close your browser, the Network Met er will also close.

Options Button

Clicking on the Options button at the bottom of the Traffic Monitor page displays the Link Gauges to selected segment in histogram check

box. Clicking on this check box causes the gauges in the Traffic Monitor page to display statistics for the segment that you have selected in the histogram.

Note You may see the Network Meter needle indicating a warning or critical

situation when the gauges in the Traffic Monitor page do not. The Network Meter displays the worst measurement for any segment in the network, but the gauges in the Traffic Monitor page display the traffic for the segment or groups of segments that you have selected. If you select All Segments and the segments are not linked to the gauges (Options), the Network Meter and the gauges will reflect the same conditions.

Who Are the Top 5 Talkers?

The Top5 View helps answer the question, “Who is causing the problem (who are the top talkers) on the segment?” by displaying a graph identifying the top five nodes causing the network activity on the segment for the selected minute. Click on the Show Details button below the gauges or at the bottom of the page to display the Top5 View window.

Note If the segment has no devices that are sampling-capable, the Show Details

button below the gauges is grayed out. You can select the segment in the histogram, then click the Show Details button at the bottom of the page to launch the Top5 view, but the only data displayed is “Other”.

9-7

Monitoring Network Traffic

Who Are the Top 5 Talkers?

Figure 9-3. Top 5 Talkers

You can display graphs for each of the measured attributes showing:

■ Top Sources (default)

■ Top Destinations

■ Top Connections

■ Top Protocols

More than one graph can be displayed at a time, so you can look at the values for multiple attributes for each segment.

Since Traffic Monitor presents real-time information, the data will be “moving” on your graph. Data is graphed and updated every minute. The Top5 View displays up to 60 data points, that is, you can view the most recent hour of activity.

The right-most bar in the graph represents (up to) the top five nodes for the latest minute graphed. This bar is selected by default and is indicated with a black “tick” and the time sampled above it. The color-coded stacked bars represent the activity for up to the top five nodes and “other” nodes for the selected attribute and segment. The non-selected bars in the graph show how these top talkers have behaved over the past hour. This lets you view trends over the last hour for the five top talkers of the selected minute.

9-8

The yellow and the red horizontal lines on the background of the graph represent the warning and critical values, respectively, for the selected segment. These lines only appear when the graph scale is high enough.

Monitoring Network Traffic

Who Are the Top 5 Talkers?

The colors are in the same order as they appear in the legend, that is, the node with the greatest activity is represented by the color at the bottom of the stacked bar. The white portion of the stacked bar represents the top talkers in minutes who are not top talkers in the selected minute; the dark gray portion of the stacked bar represents all other activity. You can visually trace the same color across the graph to see trends of activity over the past hour.

Information for the top five colors in the legend identifies the source and destination nodes of the top five connections for every data point on the graph. The information in the color legend will change as the data points are graphed. Depending on the parameters you have selected, the information provided by the legend can include:

■ The layer 3 or layer 2 (MAC) address

■ The network protoc ol or service being used. The highest n etwork protocol

for the communication path is displayed.

■ The direction of data flow (the source and destination nodes)

Here is an example of information that you might see in the legend:

ETHER 00:00:10:44:36:12 (DOD IP)

The first item displayed (ETHER) is the highest (in the network stack) decoded network protocol used for this destination. The number to the right (00:00:10:44:36:12) is the IP address of the destination. The last item displayed in parentheses (DOD IP) is the network service this source node is using to communicate in this network connection. If the network service is a wellknown service such as telnet or ftp, then the service name appears inside the parentheses. If the network service is not well-known, then its socket number is displayed in the parentheses.

Other Top Talkers Not in Selected Minute

You may get more information from the Top5 View by clicking on a stacked bar that contains a white stack. The white stack represents the top talkers that occurred in a minute other than the selected minute. For example, if the selected minute is 2:01, but you notice that there is a tall bar with a large white portion that occurred at 1:30, you can click on the 1:30 bar to see who the top talkers were during that minute. The stacked bar and the legend change to represent the top talkers that occurred at 1:30.

Note If your graph is displaying stacked bars with large portions of white, it is

possible that the selected minute is not displaying the most active nodes.

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Monitoring Network Traffic

Who Are the Top 5 Talkers?

Others

The dark gray portion of the stacked bar represents a summation of all of the other activity that occurred during that minute. There is no additional information contained in this portion of the bar. It can be a useful indicator of an overloaded network when what you see on the graph is large areas of dark gray with no particular user causing a problem.

If your graph displays large portions of gray, selecting another parameter, such as “Top Destinations”, may show different results. For example, if a large number of nodes begin backing up to a single server, displaying the Top Destinations graph would show the server as the “top talker”.

Note If your graph is only displaying “Other” data, there may be a problem with the

data sampler for this segment.

Top5 View Menu Items

The Top5 View has three menu selections. The functions of each are described in the following table.

Table 9-1. Functions of the Top5 Menu

Menu Item Function

File Close: Closes the Top5 View window

View Displays a new graph for each attribute:

• Utilization%

• Frames/sec

• Broadcasts/sec

• Multicasts/sec

Locate • Locate End Node: Opens the Locate End Node dialog box.

• Locate Segment: Opens a topology map with the selected segment

highlighted.

Locating A Segment or End Node

The Locate menu item lets you select a specific node or segment. Select an end node or segment from the list or enter the IP address of the node you want to locate.

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Monitoring Network Traffic

Traffic Data Collector Settings

The located end node or segment will be highlighted in royal blue in the topology map.

Traffic Data Collector Settings

Starting with HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches version 5, you can collect data from all segments in your network automatically, or collect data from selected ports of a device (manual mode). With manual selection, you can also choose the type of data to be collected, for example, Extended RMON (X-RMON) data or just traffic data.

Setting the Traffic Data Collector to manual mode is advantageous if you have a large network and don’t want to monitor every segment. You don’t have to wait for a lengthy Topology process to complete in manual mode; you can configure the specific segments you want to monitor, up to a total of 2000 segments.

To access the Traffic Data Collector Configuration, click on the Performance button in the navigation frame. Select Traffic Data Collector Settings from the menu. The Performance - Traffic Data Collector Settings page appears with the Configuration tab displayed.

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Monitoring Network Traffic

Traffic Data Collector Settings

Figure 9-4. Traffic Data Collector Configuration Page

Nothing is displayed in the Traffic Data Manual Configuration table if Use Discovery/Topology Data (Automatic) is checked.

Automatic Monitoring

If you want to enable Automatic monitoring, check the radio button labeled Use Discovery/Topology Data (Automatic). The Traffic Data Manual Configuration table will be removed and manual selection disabled. The Traffic Data Collector automatically restarts and retrieves the segments to be monitored from the information gathered during the Topology process.

Manual Monitoring

To use Traffic Data Collector in manual mode, check the radio button labeled Use Selected Switch and Hub Ports (Manual). The Traffic Data Collector automatically restarts and retrieves the segments to monitor from a topologyindependent database. The retrieved segments are displayed in the Traffic Data Manual Configuration table.

Begin adding devices to the table by clicking on the Add Devices button at the bottom of the page.

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HP TopTools for Hubs and Switches User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Quick Start

Starting HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

Getting Around in HP TopTools

Viewing Your Network Devices

Devices

Maps

Policies

Quality of Service

Examining Alerts

Configuration Policies

Configuring and Monitoring Devices

Viewing Network Traffic

Optimizing Your Network

How to Get Support

Introduction

Introduction to HP TopTools

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches

Network Devices Features

Viewing a List of Devices

Maps

Network Traffic

Group Policies

Network Growth

HP Devices Supported

Learning to Use HP TopTools

HP TopTools Technical Product Support

System Requirements

Hardware and Software Requirements

Discovering Your Devices

Beginning Discovery

Discovery Status

Selecting Networks

Adding Devices for Discovery

Configuring Discovery Settings

Troubleshooting Discovery

Inventory of Devices

Alerts

Interpreting the Alert Log - Automatic Fault Finding

Launching the Device View

Acknowledging Alerts

Closing Alerts

Filtering Alerts

Sorting Alerts

Selecting Alert Log Filters

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Topology

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Custom Groups

Selecting Alert Log Filters - Search

Configuring Action on Alerts

Networking Devices

Listing Devices

Configuring Polling

Selecting Actions for Devices

SNMP/Trap Configuration

Device Topology

Node Port Table

Custom Groups

Searching for Devices

Group Policies

Creating Groups

Viewing the Devices in a Group

Adding a Group

Modifying a Group

Configuring Group Policies

General Configuration Policies

SNMP System Information

Alert Configuration Policies

Checking Firmware Versions

Setting Fault Sensitivity

Advanced Switch Features

Automatic Broadcast Control (ABC)

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)

Security Configuration Policies

The Spanning Tree Protocol

Communities

Viewing Your Maps

Displaying Maps