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  HP AdvanceStack Switch Tackles VLAN Hassles |
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By Jeremy Impson
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s AdvanceStack line of network infrastructure devices, including many of its managed hubs and switches, has been enhanced by a new embedded Web server feature that enables management and monitoring of virtually every aspect of network devices. The HP Web-based Management feature strives to remedy VLAN (virtual LAN) management difficulties of geographically dispersed groupings. To test the feature, I looked at a shipping version of HP's AdvanceStack 800T, a Fast Ethernet-capable switch that partitions itself into VLANs. In tests, the interface impressively monitored traffic on individual ports, as well as on VLANs.
If you own HP AdvanceStack Switch 800T and 2000 products, don't fret. Once th e feature is released, updates will be available on HP's Web site. Mega Management The Web agent's interface is a mixture of HTML frames, Java and JavaScript and is especially useful for dealing with switches' VLAN capabilities. Other than a Web browser, no special software is required. In the lab, the Web agent's response time was initially decent and improved once the browser cached the images locally. In order to set up VLANs, I needed to configure the device. First, I hooked up a terminal to the switch's serial port, which let me assign an IP address for switch management. Because any further management could be done remotely, I shut down the terminal and packed it back up, Once the switch had an IP address, I fired up a Web browser and pointed it at the switch. I was immediately greeted by the Web agent. The Web management interface enables a range of management options. With it, I saw the level of utilization, the number of errors and percentage of collisions and the percentage of broadcasts on each port via speedometer graphs. I disabled and re-enabled ports and controlled various protocols, including ABC (Automatic Broadcast Control), which limits the number of broadcasts; IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) for IP Multicasting; and the Spanning Tree Protocol, which enables redundant physical connections between nodes. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to create VLANs through the Web interface. I needed a telnet client for this task and was greeted by a text-based menu similar to that of the terminal. Next, I used the Web interface to assign different ports to one of two VLANs. In theory, traffic on one VLAN should not show up on another unless they are physically connected by a wire. This proved true, as the network analyzer attached to the VLAN with active ports reported traffic. When the analyzer was moved to a port on the other VLAN, which had no active ports on it, the traffic disappeared. For troubleshooting, you can designate one port as a monitoring port and configure it to mirro r the traffic's comings and goings on one or more other ports, or on a VLAN. Using the Web management interface, I designated the network analyzer's port as a VLAN monitor. I performed a similar test that monitored a port for a single host, and the analyzer picked up all of the traffic on the VLAN, as well as on the port. Jeremy Impson is a freelance writer based in Syracuse. He can be reached at jdimpson@syr.edu. |
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