65
Enabling Storm Control
When Layer 2 frames are forwarded, Broadcast, Multicast and Unknown Unicast frames are
flooded to all ports on the designated VLANs on the switch. When the switch experiences an
excessive amount of Broadcast/Multicast/Unknown Unicast frames on network links, Storm
Control mechanism controls the amount of frames entering the switch.
The
Storm Control
page is used to configure the settings of packet Storm Control. Storm Control
can be enabled or disabled per port. The
Storm Control
page displays the type of packets, and the
rate at which packets are received.
Configuring Storm Control on the PowerConnect 2708
The PowerConnect 2708 switch measures the incoming Broadcast/Multicast/Unknown Unicast
packet rate
per port
, and discards excess packets when the rate exceeds the defined threshold value.
In addition to the count definition per port, the Broadcast rate threshold is configured to exclude
certain values.
The PowerConnect 2708 switch users can do the following:
• Set the threshold value for Broadcast packets on a
per-port
basis, to prevent Broadcast storms.
•Enable Storm Control
per port
, with limitations based on: Unknown Unicast, Multicast and
Broadcast frames, Multicast and Broadcast frames, or Broadcast frames only.
Figure 6-16. Storm Control (PowerConnect 2708 Configuration)
Port
— The port from which the Storm Control is enabled.
Broadcast Control
— Enables or disables forwarding Broadcast packet types on the switch.
Broadcast Mode
— Sets the mode of Broadcast Storm Control based on the types of traffic
selected. The possible options for types of traffic are Unknown Unicast, Multicast & Broadcast, and
Broadcast only.