Cabletron Systems CSX400, CSX200 manual Viewing and Managing Bridging Interfaces

Bridging

Viewing and Managing Bridging Interfaces

With SPECTRUM Element Manager, you can view and manage each bridging interface supported by your device, including any installed interface modules, such as BRIMs (Bridge/Router Interface Modules) and HSIMs (High Speed Interface Modules).

You can manage your bridge by using the following windows:

¥The Bridge Status window provide you with basic information about the current status of the deviceÕs bridging interfaces, and allow you to enable or disable bridging at each interface of the bridge. The Bridge Status window also lets you access further windows to conÞgure bridging at the device (see The Bridge Status Window, page 4-8).

¥Bridge statisticsÑincluding the Performance Graph, Interface Statistics, CSMACD Statistics, PPP Link Statistics, Dot5 Error Statistics, and Source Route Statistics windowsÑgraphically display the trafÞc passing between your bridged networks, and let you compare and contrast trafÞc and errors processed by each interface (see Bridge Statistics, page 4-15).

¥The Spanning Tree window shows bridge port information and protocol parameters relating to the Spanning Tree AlgorithmÑthe method of determining the controlling bridge when a series of bridges are placed in parallel (see Bridge Spanning Tree, page 4-35).

¥With the Filtering Database window, you can see the contents of the Static and Learned databasesÑthe two address databases which construct the IEEE 802.1 Source Address Table. The bridge uses the contents of these databases to make its packet Þltering and forwarding decisions. You can conÞgure entries in these databases to increase bridging efÞciency across your network (see Filtering Database, page 4-42).

¥The Ethernet Special Filter Database and Token Ring Special Filter Database windows let you conÞgure a special Þltering scheme at your bridge. With this scheme, you can enter Þlter parameters for a frame based on the contents of its source or destination address Þeld, type Þeld, or data Þeld (with offset)Ñthen specify the bridging action to take place at each port when a frame matching your speciÞcations is encountered (see Ethernet and Token Ring Special Filter Databases, page 4-49).

¥The Duplex Modes window lists each interface on your device and whether or not it is using Full Duplex mode. The window allows you to switch full duplex mode on and off for each interface on the device. Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (FDSE) mode allows the interface to transmit and receive information simultaneously, effectively doubling the available bandwidth (see Duplex Modes, page 4-66).

¥The Broadcast Suppression window enables you to monitor the number of broadcast packets received by each interface of a selected device, and conÞgure the maximum number of broadcast packets that will be forwarded to other interfaces (see ConÞguring Broadcast Suppression, page 4-82).

4-6 Viewing and Managing Bridging Interfaces