Cisco Network Assistant

Chapter 1

Introduction

Switch Management Options

The switches support the Cisco Network Assistant network management application. Network Assistant offers an enhanced set of features for configuring and monitoring one or more devices, including switches, device clusters, device stacks, routers, and access points.

Catalyst Express 500 features that are available on Network Assistant but not available from the device manager include:

•Levels (Low, Medium, or High) of network security and switch access for devices attached to the switch

•Smartports Diagnostics port role to optimize the connection between a switch port and a network troubleshooting device

•Device inventory to retrieve information such as the IP address, the MAC address, and the port role information of devices connected to the switch

Some general Network Assistant features include:

•Centralized, common services—such as software upgrades, configuration management, inventory reports, network events, alerts, and password synchronization—for Cisco switches, routers, and access points in the network

•Centralized network monitoring using two different views of all connected devices in the network: a physical view (front panel images) and a logical view (network topology image of different network devices, including IP phones)

•Drag-and-drop software upgrade for multiple switches, including backup-and-restore through a switch configuration file

•Security configuration for all the Cisco access points in the network

•Interactive tools (such as wizards) to simplify configuration of complex features

For more information, see the Cisco Network Assistant Introduction at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/go/networkassistant

	User Guide for the Catalyst Express 500 Switches
1-12	OL-8122-01