3Com 3C16685 User Manual - Benefits Of Rmon
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A
PPENDIX
C: RMON
Benefits of RMON
Using the RMON features of the Dual Speed Hub 500 has three main
advantages:
■
It improves your efficiency
Using RMON probes allows you to remain at one management
station and collect information from widely dispersed LAN
segments. This means that the time taken to reach a problem site,
set up equipment, and begin collecting information is largely
eliminated.
■
It allows you to manage your network in a more proactive
manner
If they are configured correctly, RMON probes deliver information
before problems occur. This means that you can take action
before they impact on users. In addition, probes record the
behavior of your network, so that you can analyze the causes of
problems.
■
It reduces the load on the network and the management
station
Traditional network management involves a management station
polling network devices at regular intervals to gather statistics and
identify problems or trends. As network sizes and traffic levels
grow, this approach places a strain on the management station
and also generates large amounts of traffic.
An RMON probe, however, autonomously looks at the network
on behalf of the management workstation without affecting the
characteristics and performance of the network. The probe
reports by exception, which means that it only informs the
management workstation when the network has entered an
abnormal state.
RMON and the Dual Speed Hub 500
RMON requires one probe per LAN segment, and stand-alone RMON
probes have traditionally been expensive. Therefore, 3Com’s
approach has been to build an inexpensive RMON probe into the
SmartAgent
®
of each Dual Speed Hub 500. This allows RMON to be
widely deployed around the network without costing more than
traditional network management.