HP Network Direr Software Products manual When issues arise, Network using 3Com Network Director

7 MONITORING THE NETWORK

Overview	This chapter describes how 3Com Network Director can be used to
	monitor the status of the devices and links within your network.
	Monitoring the status of devices and links within your network allows you
	to identify possible bottlenecks or trouble spots in the network before
	they cause a major impact, and can be used to assist in troubleshooting
	when issues arise.
	This chapter covers the following topics:
	■	Key Concepts
	■	Components
	■	Configuration
	■	Examples
	■	Key Considerations
Key Concepts	This section describes the key concepts associated with monitoring your
	network using 3Com Network Director.
Monitor	A monitor is a counter or status indicator for a device or link that collects
	data about one of its attributes, such as the number of packets a device

has been sent, or whether a link is up or down.A device or link may have multiple monitors that provide a complete picture of the network conditions that it is experiencing.

Some monitors, for example, the Link Availability monitor, only indicate whether an attribute is in a good state or a bad state. These are termed bi-state monitors. All other monitors can indicate a large range of values for the attribute they monitor, and are termed multi-state monitors.