Planning for Network Growth
Top Conversations
| Converting Segments to Desktop Switching |
| If a workgroup has high network utilization and cannot be divided, the |
| Network Performance Advisor may recommend converting the segment’s |
| topology to desktop switching, giving each node a dedicated port.When two |
| nodes need to exchange data, the switch makes a connection with the dedi- |
| cated segments of each node. Extraneous traffic to the nodes is eliminated |
| and each node uses the full capacity of the network. Converting a segment to |
| desktop switching is most effective when the nodes can be placed on higher |
| speed ports to offset the latency of the switch. |
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N o t e | If your network has a lot of multimedia or multicast traffic, or if you have |
| configured VLANS, a desktop switching environment is the recommended |
| solution. |
| Upgrading Segments to Faster Speed Media |
| |
| The Advisor may recommend that a shared segment’s speed be increased |
| when: |
| 1. The segment is capable of being upgraded to a faster speed, and |
| 2. There are no nodes that can be placed on higher speed ports of a desktop |
| switch. Higher speed ports help offset the switch’s latency. |
| Dedicating Bandwidth to Top Talkers |
| Nodes that create a large amount of traffic on a segment are referred to as |
| “top talkers”. Network performance can be improved by dedicating bandwidth |
| to a top talker. A switch allows the top talker to use the full capacity of the |
| network. Other nodes on the network will not have to contend for bandwidth |
| with the top talker, improving their access to applications accessed across the |
| network. |
| If a segment with high utilization has a node that talks equally among all |
| segments, the Network Performance Advisor will recommend that the node |
| be on a dedicated port in a desktop switching environment. If utilization for |
| that segment continues to be high, the Network Performance Advisor will |
| recommend that the segment with that node be upgraded to 100 Mbps or a |
| Gigabit, depending on the segment’s current speed. |
| Top Conversations |
| The Top Conversations section of the report displays a table listing the most |
| active nodes during the time period examined. The table is sorted by utilization |
| percent. This section only appears if you have checked it in the Modify Report |
| Settings page (checked by default). Enter the number of top conversations |
| that you would like to see. |
