Enterasys Networks 6H308-24 - Manual (Page 20)

SmartTrunk
1-4 Introduction
1.4 SmartTrunk
Traditional 802.1D Spanning Tree Bridges only allow one active data path between any two
switches; all other parallel data paths are in Standby or Blocking mode. If one interface or path
should fail, then the other interface automatically comes out of Blocking mode and forwards all of
the traffic. This is fine for redundancy purposes. However, it is not the most efficient use of
resources.
SmartTrunk, also referred to as SmartTrunking, is Enterasys Networks’ terminology for load
balancing or load sharing. SmartTrunk provides the ability to take full advantage of the network’s
redundant bandwidth. SmartTrunk divides network traffic across multiple ports in parallel to
provide additional throughput. The SmartTrunk application can be used with any of Enterasys
Networks’ switch modules (except ATM modules).
For more information about SmartTrunk and how to configure the SmartSwitch module, refer to
the MATRIX E7 Series and SmartSwitch 6000 Series Modules Local Management User’s Guide.
1.5 REMOTE MONITORING (RMON)
The module supports all nine Ethernet RMON groups. The Statistics, Alarms, Events and History
groups are enabled on all ports by default.
Enterasys Networks RMON Actions is a vendor-specific extension of RMON and provides the
ability to set an “Action” on any SNMP MIB variable. The Action can be triggered by any RMON
Event and/or Alarm. An example of an Action would be to turn off a MIB-2 interface if a
broadcast threshold is crossed.
1.6 BROADCAST SUPPRESSION
Broadcast Suppression enables a user to set a desired limit of receive broadcast frames per port/per
second to be forwarded out the other ports on the module. Any broadcast frames above this
specified limit are dropped. In the event that broadcast frames are being suppressed, multicast and
unicast frames continue to be switched.