HP Network Direr Software Products manual Clouds Unknown Topology

Key Concepts 101

Figure 23 Clouds – Unknown Topology

The switch port cannot be physically connected to two end stations, and as such 3Com Network Director inserts the cloud to indicate that there is something missing. In this case the cloud is where the unmanaged hub should be.

A similar situation can also occur when insufficient topology information has been obtained from one or more switches, possibly because 3Com Network Director lost communication with that switch during the topology process. If the problem device were an edge switch that is actually connected to many end stations, 3Com Network Director would show this as below: