The 3Com® Transcend® dRMON (distributed remote monitoring) Edge Monitor System allows full-time enterprise-wide monitoring of network traffic, segments, and devices for switched, high-speed, and shared environments.
Remote monitoring (RMON) of network traffic flowing on one or more LAN segments is often accomplished with a network probe or similar functionality embedded in a hub or switch. Some probes are managed by a software application, which can also gather the statistics and data collected by the probe. The management software can then manipulate or store the data as desired.
In general, RMON probes are constantly active and communicate with the management software upon request from the network administrator. With an active RMON probe, you can:
The Transcend dRMON Edge Monitor System (TdEMS) is like a probe but allows you to collect real-time information on multiple LAN segments within a single multicast domain. Spreading the RMON data collection process across multiple devices and network interface cards (NICs) minimizes the network management workload at any one device. This distribution allows for full-time RMON analysis even in high-speed LAN environments such as Fast Ethernet and switched Ethernet where probes do not function well. RMON data is gathered from these multiple agents and collated by a dRMON Edge Monitor device, which then makes it available via the same SNMP MIB-based mechanisms employed by conventional RMON probes. This distributed architecture is highly scalable and has these benefits:
Having a complete picture of traffic patterns on the network helps network managers determine how to best segment their networks and ultimately lower the total cost of ownership. For example, RMON can readily identify heavy bandwidth users. The network manager can then decide to place those users on a new or different segment to minimize their impact on other users.
The Transcend dRMON Edge Monitor System (TdEMS) collects RMON data and presents an aggregated view of network statistics using a collector (the Edge Monitor) and intelligent agents (dRMON SmartAgent PC software, hereafter called the dRMON SmartAgent) that reside on the NICs. One Edge Monitor is required for each broadcast/multicast domain or VLAN.
Each dRMON SmartAgent analyzes the directed traffic flowing on its 3Com NIC. The Edge Monitor analyzes its own directed traffic locally. Broadcast and multicast traffic is also monitored by the Edge Monitor. The Edge Monitor merges the RMON statistics, tables, and capture streams from the SmartAgent end nodes with the statistical data of its own traffic to provide a thoroughly integrated view of all the monitored traffic. Figure 1-1 depicts the activity and architecture of the Transcend dRMON Edge Monitor System.
Figure 1-1 Transcend dRMON Edge Monitor System Traffic Overview
The nine groups of RMON data that the Edge Monitor collects in concert with the dRMON SmartAgents are shown in Table 1-1.
The Edge Monitor software runs on a Windows NT® workstation. Most RMON-compliant network management applications (ones that can be configured to use a network RMON probe) can be used to view the collected data from a network management station.
Additionally, with the Edge Monitor web view feature and any Java-enabled web browser, you can remotely access a subset of the statistics from the nine RMON groups aggregated by the Edge Monitor. The data is dynamically updated in graphs or tables. For details about the Edge Monitor web view, see Chapter 4.
The Transcend dRMON Edge Monitor System features an automatic file update capability, the Auto-Update utility. This feature permits all dRMON-equipped nodes to be remotely refreshed with new software versions without user intervention, other than first installing or transfering the new software to the Edge Monitor.
In addition to collecting and collating data, the Edge Monitor informs the dRMON end node of the date of the NIC driver and dRMON component software stored in its update directory. When the dRMON SmartAgent end node receives this notification, the dRMON SmartAgent compares the version levels of the components it is currently using with the date in the notification. If necessary, the Auto-Update utility on the Edge Monitor updates the end nodes with current software versions, as described in Chapter 5.
The TdEMS has the following minimum hardware and software requirements and works with the 3Com NICs listed in Table 1-2.
The CD shipped with the TdEMS contains a MakeDisk utility that allows you to make installation diskettes for the Edge Monitor, the dRMON SmartAgent software, and the Auto-Update utility. Although you can install the TdEMS from the CD, you may prefer using diskettes.
To create installation diskettes with the MakeDisk utility:
1 . Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2 . Open an MS-DOS® prompt window and change to the CD drive.
3 . After inserting a clean formatted diskette into the floppy drive for each software module, enter one of the following commands in the MS-DOS window:
makedisk /s95 (for Windows 95 SmartAgents)
makedisk /sNT (for Windows NT SmartAgents)
makedisk /e
makedisk /a
Some network administrators may need to guarantee that only an authorized Edge Monitor is allowed to capture packet data or update all of its SmartAgent end nodes. These administrators can use the SetKey security feature, which is described in detail in Chapter 2. During the make disk operation for the SmartAgents and the Edge Monitors, the dialog box shown in Figure 1-2 appears.
Figure 1-2 SetKey Utility
For the Edge Monitor and the SmartAgent diskettes, the name of the executable file is automatically supplied in the File Path field. You can either:
Only the first 16 characters of the password are used and stored in encrypted form in the executable file created in the make disk operation. The password is case-sensitive. You must use the identical password for both the Edge Monitor and the dRMON SmartAgent diskettes.
4 . Remove the diskettes and label them, including the date.
3Com NIC drivers may have been updated since the release of the TdEMS product to enhance them for dRMON.
Upload only the most recent files to your Edge Monitor(s) for distribution to the end nodes. For the latest file versions, be sure to check the 3Com World Wide Web site at:
Alternatively, access the BBS at any of the numbers listed in the section "3Com Bulletin Board Service" in Appendix A.
Continue to Chapter 2 for details on setting up the Edge Monitor, the dRMON SmartAgent end nodes, and the Auto-Update utility.
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