IBM 4986B LanProbe manual

Introduction

The Ethernet LanProbe has 16 MB of memory (optionally 32 MB), and uses FLASH EPROM. Future upgrades to LanProbe’s firmware are easily downloaded over the LAN to multiple probes simultaneously. You can also download firmware using LanProbe’s serial port.

LanProbe maintains a variety of statistical measurements on network performance, continuously keeping track of traffic levels, errors, and other important trends. Alarm thresholds can be set on any of these parameters, immediately alerting the network manager or initiating a packet trace to capture the details of the event for later analysis. Traffic and error levels are also monitored per node for each station on the segment.

Private MIB extensions give LanProbe additional capabilities beyond RMON. Multiple SNMP trap addresses, or groups of addresses, can be defined for event notification. The probe maps MAC addresses to IP addresses for node identification, and provides duplicate IP address detection. A real time utilization variable has been added, which provides the ability to alarm on instantaneous peaks of network load. An additional Out-of-Band connection to the probe can be established using Serial Link Internet Protocol (SLIP), either directly, using a modem, or by using a data switch.

You can configure the LanProbe to perform Echo Test Monitoring (tests to verify communications) of network nodes from your network management station. LanProbe allows the network manager to select one or several nodes to perform a one-time test or specify an interval for periodic testing. You can view the results of the Echo Test Monitoring from your NetMetrix management console. This can be very useful for monitoring critical nodes to verify connectivity. This test can also be performed from several points on the network (using several LanProbes) to verify connectivity from each point. When a node becomes unreachable an alert can be sent from LanProbe to your management station. To provide testing of a large range of nodes, Echo Test Monitoring supports ICMP, IEEE 802.2, and IEEE 802.3 for Novell IPX. This extension is supported by the NetMetrix software.

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