User's Manual

7
MONITORING THE NETWORK
Overview This chapter describes how 3Com Network Director can be used to
monitor the status of the devices and links within your network.
Monitoring the status of devices and links within your network allows you
to identify possible bottlenecks or trouble spots in the network before
they cause a major impact, and can be used to assist in troubleshooting
when issues arise.
This chapter covers the following topics:
■ Key Concepts
■ Components
■ Configuration
■ Examples
■ Key Considerations
Key Concepts This section describes the key concepts associated with monitoring your
network using
3Com Network Director.
Monitor A monitor is a counter or status indicator for a device or link that collects
data about one of its attributes, such as the number of packets a device
has been sent, or whether a link is up or down.A device or link may have
multiple monitors that provide a complete picture of the network
conditions that it is experiencing.
Some monitors, for example, the Link Availability monitor, only indicate
whether an attribute is in a good state or a bad state. These are termed
bi-state monitors. All other monitors can indicate a large range of values
for the attribute they monitor, and are termed multi-state monitors.