Remote Monitoring

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Remote Monitoring
Remote Monitoring (RMON) provides a cost-effective way to monitor large netw orks
by placing embedded or external probes on distributed network equipment (hubs,
switches or routers). Network management software can access the probes
embedded in recent Alcatel network products to perform traffic analysis,
troubleshoot network problems, evaluate historical trends, or implement proactive
management policies. RMON has already become a va luable tool for network
managers faced with a quickly changing network landscape that contains dozens or
hundreds of separate segments. RMON is the only way to retain control of the
network and analyze applications running at multi-megabit speeds. It provides the
tools you need to implement either reactive or proactive policies that can keep your
network running based on real-time access to key statistical information.
This switch provides support for basic RMON which contains the four key groups
required for basic remote monitoring. These groups include:
Statistics: Includes all the tools needed to monitor your network for com mon errors
and overall traffic rates. Information is provided on bandwidth utilization, peak
utilization, packet types, errors and collisions, as well as the distribution of packet
sizes.
History: Can be used to create a record of network utilization, packet types, errors
and collisions. You need a historical record of activity to be able to track down
intermittent problems. Historical data can also be used to establish normal baseline
activity, which may reveal problems associated with high traffic levels, broadcast
storms, or other unusual events. Historical information can also be used to predict
network growth and plan for expansion before your network becomes too
overloaded.
Alarms: Can be set to test data over any specified time interval, and can monitor
absolute or changing values (such as a statistical counter reaching a specific value,
or a statistic changing by a certain amount over the set interval). Alarms can be set
to respond to either rising or falling thresholds.
Events: Defines the action to take when an alarm is triggered. The response to an
alarm can include recording the alarm in the Log Table or sending a mess age to a
trap manager. Note that the Alarm and Event Groups are used together to record
important events or immediately respond to critical network problems.