5-1

Chapter 5

Bridging
Bridge management overview; the Bridge Status window; enabling and disabling bridging; Bridge
Performance Graphs; bridge detail breakdown; the Bridge Spanning Tree window; changing bridge
Spanning Tree parameters; the Filtering Database window; configuring the filtering database
With SPECTRUM Element Manager’s Bridge Status window, you can view and
manage each bridging interface supported by the 9A128-01. You manage your
bridge by using the following windows:
• The Bridge Status window provides you with basic information about the
current status of each available bridging interface, and allows you to enable or
disable bridging at each interface. The Bridge Status window also provides
access to additional windows which allow you to configure bridging
parameters.
• The bridge-level Duplex Modes option allows you to set Duplex Mode
operation for the FDDI interface; although the window is available, duplex
mode operation is not currently supported for the 9A128-01.
• The Performance Graph and Interface Statistics windows graphically display
the traffic passing between your bridged networks, and let you compare and
contrast traffic processed by each interface; the Source Addressing window
lists the MAC addresses of devices communicating through each interface.
• The Spanning Tree window shows bridge port information and protocol
parameters relating to the Spanning Tree Algorithm (the method of
determining the controlling bridge when a series of bridges are placed in
parallel).
• With the Filtering Database window, you can see the contents of the Static and
Learned databases – the two address databases which construct the IEEE 802.1
Source Address Table. The bridge uses the contents of these databases to make
its packet filtering and forwarding decisions. You can configure entries in these
databases to increase bridging efficiency across your network.
The following sections detail how to use each of the bridge management
windows.