3com 2200 User Manual

This chapter describes how to set up the SuperStack™ II Switch 2200 
system for roving analysis. With roving analysis, you can monitor Ethernet 
port activity either locally or remotely using a network analyzer attached to 
the system. 

Roving analysis is the monitoring of Ethernet port traffic for network 
management purposes. The Administration Console allows you to choose 
any Ethernet network segment attached to a Switch 2200 system and 
monitor its activity using a network analyzer (also called a “probe” or 
“sniffer”).You can monitor port activity locally (when the analyzer and the 
port are attached to the same Switch 2200 system) or remotely (when the 
analyzer and the port are on different systems). 

You can monitor a port to:

■

Analyze traffic loads on each segment so that you can continually optimize 
your network loads by moving network segments

■

Troubleshoot network problems (for example, to find out why there is so 
much traffic on a particular segment)

When you set up an Ethernet port to analyze, port data that is switched 
over Ethernet is copied and forwarded to the port on which the network 
analyzer is attached — without disrupting the regular processing of the 
packets.

To enable the monitoring of ports on a Switch 2200, take these steps:

1 Select an Ethernet port to which you want to attach the network analyzer.

2 Select the Ethernet port that you want to monitor (either local or remote). If 

the port is remote, you must configure it from the Switch 2200 on which