Remote Monitoring (RMON)

RMON (Remote Network Monitoring) provides standard information that a network administrator can use to monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot a group of distributed local area networks (LANs) and interconnecting T-1/E-1 and T-2/E-3 lines from a central site. RMON specifically defines the information that any network monitoring system will be able to provide. It's specified as part of the Management Information Base (MIB) in Request for Comments 1757 as an extension of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). The latest level is RMON Version 2 (sometimes referred to as "RMON 2" or "RMON2"). RMON can be supported by hardware monitoring devices (known as "probes") or through software or some combination. For example, Cisco's line of LAN switches includes software in each switch that can trap information as traffic flows through and record it in its MIB. A software agent can gather the information for presentation to the network administrator with a graphical user interface. A number of vendors provide products with various kinds of RMON support. RMON collects nine kinds of information, including packets sent, bytes sent, packets dropped, statistics by host, by conversations between two sets of addresses, and certain kinds of events that have occurred. A network administrator can find out how much bandwidth or traffic each user is imposing on the network and what Web sites are being accessed. Alarms can be set in order to be aware of impending problems. Remote Monitoring (RMON) is a standard monitoring specification that enables various network monitors and console systems to exchange network-monitoring data. RMON provides network administrators with more freedom in selecting network-monitoring probes and consoles with features that meet their particular networking needs. The RMON specification defines a set of statistics and functions that can be exchanged between RMON-compliant console managers and network probes. As such, RMON provides network administrators with comprehensive network-fault diagnosis, planning, and performance-tuning information.

Packets Definitions Good Packets Good packets are error-free packets that have a valid frame length. For example, on Ethernet, good packets are error-free packets that are between 64 and 1518 octets long. They follow the form defined in IEEE 802.3. Bad Packets Bad packets are packets that have proper framing and are therefore recognized as packets, but contain errors within the packet or have an invalid length. For example, on Ethernet, bad packets have a valid preamble and Start of Frame Delimiter (SFD), but have a bad Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) or are either shorter than 64 octets or longer than 1518 octets. RMON Groups The following are the four RMON groups: Statistics History Alarms Events

The Ethernet Statistics Group The Ethernet Statistics group contains statistics of packets, bytes, broadcasts, multicasts, and errors, measured by the probe for each monitored Ethernet interface on the switch. Information from the Statistics group is used to detect changes in traffic and error patterns in critical areas of the network. The History Group The History group provides historical views of network performance by taking periodic samples of the counters supplied by the Statistics group. The group is useful for analyzing traffic patterns and trends on an Ethernet interface on the switch and for establishing baseline information indicating normal operating parameters. The Alarms Group The Alarms group periodically takes statistical samples from variables in the probe and compares them to previously configured thresholds. If the monitored variable crosses a threshold, an event is generated. Both rising and falling thresholds are supported, and thresholds can be specified on the absolute or delta value of a variable. In addition, alarm thresholds can be set manually or automatically. Alarms inform you of a network performance problem and can trigger automated action responses through the Events group. The Events Group The Events group controls the generation and notification of events from the switch. The Events group creates entries in an event log and/or sends SNMP traps to the management workstation. An event is triggered by an RMON alarm. The action taken can be configured to ignore the event, to log it, to send an SNMP trap to the receivers listed in the trap receiver table, or to both log the event and send a trap. The RMON traps are defined in RFC 1757 for rising and falling thresholds. Effective use of the Events group saves you time. Rather than having to watch real-time graphs for important occurrences, you can depend on the Events group for notification.

Through the SNMP traps, events can trigger other actions, which provide a mechanism for an automated response to certain occurrences. Dax Product Offering : Few Dax products that provide Remote Monitoring (RMON) support: DXMP-801: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Router/DXMP-801.htm DXMP-1700 : https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/router/dx1704.htm DXMP-1761 / DXMP-1762: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/router/DXMP-1760.htm DXMP-2691 / DXMP-2692: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/router/dx2690.htm DXMP-3640B-MF: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/router/DXMP%203640B.htm DX-508MS: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DX-508MS.htm DX-5026MF: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DX5026MF.htm Dax Megastack: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DaxMegastack.htm DX-5044GS: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DX5044GS.htm DX-5726GT: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DX5726GT.htm DX-5744GS: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DX5744GS.htm DX-5726T: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DX5726GT.htm DX-5744GS: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/ Switch/DX5744GS.htm DX-5018MG: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DX-5018MG.htm DX-5026MG: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DX-5026MG.htm Dax BTI-0524GT / Dax BTI-0524G/ Dax BTI-0524G-D: https://www.daxnetworks.com/ Dax/Products/Switch/DTS_T5C_24G_24GT.htm Dax BTI-0524T-L3 / Dax BTI-0548T-L3/ Dax BTI-0548T-L3-D: https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax /Products/Switch/DTS_T5C_24T_48T.htm BTI-0530RN-L3 : https://www.daxnetworks.com/Dax/Products/Switch/DTS_T5R.htm Dax BTI-T6 Pro (Classic & Compact): https://www.daxnetworks.com /Dax/Products/Switch/T6%20Pro%20Routing%20Switch.htm

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