Element Manager System

The Alteon Element Management System (EMS) provides a graphical user interface for managing networking devices with Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). This document provides an overview of how to use Alteon EMS 1.2.


OPENING THE SWITCH

Initially, Alteon EMS provides a window for opening a switch.

Following are steps to open a switch.

  1. From the menu bar, select Alteon and Open.
    Optionally, a switch can be opened with the Open toolbar button.

  2. In the Device Name field, enter either the name or the address of the desired switch.
    If necessary, enter the Read Community and Write Community strings.


    A previously opened switch can be accessed without entering community strings -- the previously entered strings will be used. To re-open a switch, select Alteon and Open Last, then select the address of the desired switch.

    If the switch is not available an error message will appear.

Physical Appearance

After opening a switch, an image appears. Shown below is an image of Alteon AD4 Web Switch.


Commands are available through pop up menus, the menu bar, and the tool bar.

Pop Up Menu

The pop up menus provide immediate access to commands for the switch and the ports.
To access functions for the switch, right-click any part of the front panel of the switch and the menu appears. Alternatively, you can double-click the front panel.
To access functions for one port, right-click the desired port then select the desired function. Alternatively, you can double-click the desired port.
To select multiple nonadjacent ports, hold the SHIFT key while selecting the desired ports. To select adjacent ports, click and drag the mouse over the desired ports.

Menu Bar

This section describes the drop menus from the menu bar.

The Alteon drop menu provides access to Open, Open Last, Properties, Refresh, Error Log, Telnet, and Exit. The descriptions follow:
Open
Opens a switch. Only one switch at a time can be opened. When a new switch is accessed, the previously opened switch is automatically disconnected from Alteon EMS.
Open Last
Open a previously accessed switch.
Properties
There are two sets of properties: Polling and SNMP.
Polling
Status Interval: Sets the number of seconds before polling the switch for status information. 0 (zero) disables polling for status. Entering a value greater than zero and checking the Enable box enables polling for status. Unless Status Interval of Traps is selected, this is the status information that is displayed.
Status Interval of Traps: Sets the number of seconds between polling.
Hotswap Detect: Notifies if a module has been added or removed. When a hotswap occurs, Alteon EMS determines the new configuration by refreshing the switch.
SNMP
Retry Count: Sets the maximum number of times to repeat sending a SNMP packet when there is no response.
Timeout: Sets the number of seconds to wait for a replay from a message, 3 to 30 seconds.
Trace: Prints out SNMP trace information to standard output. Trace information is enabled when the box is checked.
Max Traps in Log: Sets the maximum number of SNMP traps that can be displayed in Log Trap, 1 to 10,000.
Trap Port: Sets the port that receives traps.
Confirm row deletion: Enables the confirmation dialog window to appear when deleting a row is requested.
Refresh
Polls the switch for status information and updates the front panel view. For more information, see Legend.
Error Log
Records the errors. To view this data, after selecting Error Log at the Menu Bar, select Help and then select SNMP Stats.
Telnet
Provides remote access to the switch via telnet.
Exit
Close and exit Alteon EMS.

The Configure drop men provides access to configure the Switch, Port, Bridge, Virtual LANs (VLANs, IP Routing, Layer 4, Switching, Virtual Routing, and Bandwidth Management (BWM). For more information, see the Configuration section. For details about configuration commands, select Help and Contents in the Alteon EMS menu bar.

The Monitor drop menu provides access to monitor the performance of the Switch, Port, IP Information, Layer 4, Virtual Routing, BWM, and the Trap Log. For more information, see the Monitor section. For detailed information about the commands, select Help and Contents in the Alteon EMS menu bar.

The Actions drop menu provides access to Open Home Page, Apply Configuration, Save Configuration (backup), Save Configuration (no backup), Revert, Revert Apply, and Reset Switch. The descriptions follow:
Open Home Page
Opens the home page of the opened switch.
Apply Configuration
Applies the configurations that have been set.
Save Configuration (backup)
Saves the current configuration in backup memory, then saves the active configuration by overwriting the current configuration.
Save Configuration (no backup)
Saves the current configuration in flash memory.
Revert
Reverts the switch to the current active configuration. This is available if the new configuration settings were not applied.
Revert Apply
Reverts the switch to the current saved configuration. This is available if the new configuration settings were applied but not saved.
Reset Switch
Reloads and saves the current RAM memory. This is similar to recycling the power of the switch.
The Help drop menu provides access to Contents, Online Support, Legend, and SNMP Stats. The descriptions follow:
Contents
Provides detailed information about configuring and monitoring the switch.
Online Support
Provides contact to technical support by connecting to the Alteon WebSystems Web page.
Legend
Defines the colors of the ports.
green: Up
red: Down
black: No Link
SNMP Stats
Used with Error Log to show data. To view the data, select Alteon and Error Log at the menu bar, then select Help and SNMP Stats.

Tool Bar

This section describes the features of the tool bar.

Open: Opens a switch. This requires the address or the domain name of the switch and the community strings.
Refresh: Polls the switch for status information and update the front panel view. For more information, see Legend.
Telnet: Provides remote access to the switch via telnet.
Help: Access to the help file that provides detailed information about configuration and monitoring.
Configure: Provides access to configuration commands for either the port or the switch.
Switch: To configure the switch, click the Configure button.
Port: Single or multiple ports can be configured. To configure one port, select the desired port and click the Configure button. To select multiple nonadjacent ports, hold the SHIFT key while selecting the desired ports, then click the Configure button. To configure adjacent ports, click and drag the mouse over the desired elements, then click the Configure button. The ports that are inside the rectangle will be selected.
Monitor: Monitor the performance of either the port or the switch.
Switch: To monitor the switch, click the Monitor button.
Port: Single or multiple ports can be monitored. To monitor one port, select the desired port and click the Monitor button. To select multiple nonadjacent ports, hold the SHIFT key while selecting the desired ports, then click the Monitor button. To monitor adjacent ports, click and drag the mouse over the desired elements, then click the Monitor button. The ports that are inside the rectangle will be selected.
Browse Home Page: Accesses the home Web page of the opened switch.
Trap Log: Displays the contents of the trap log.
Apply Configuration: Applies the configurations that you have entered.


SWITCH CONFIGURATION

This section provides an overview of configuration tools.

Information of how to access the device for configuration is available in the Pop Up Menu, Menu Bar, and Tool Bar sections. For detailed information about configuration commands, select Help and Contents in the Alteon EMS menu bar.

Edit Configuration

Following are descriptions of the editing tools.

Copy

Data that is manually entered can be copied from one cell to another. To do so, use CTRL-C and CTRL-V or the following icons:
Copy Paste

To edit a group of cells, use the Marquee selection. Hold the left mouse button and drag across the desired cells. The selected cells can be copied or pasted. The following screen shows data being copied to a group of cells.

Drop Down Menu

A drop down menu is available for items that have a fixed set of parameters. The drop down menu appears then the cell is clicked. To configure the setting, select the desired feature. The following screen shows selecting enabled for the State of IP Routing Interface Number 1.

Insert

In most cases, data fields are available to enter data for configuration. Other cases, such as IP Routing Interface, VLANs, Gateways, and Layer 4 Filters, require that data be inserted in a separate window. Insert data by clicking the Insert button. A dialog box appears.

After entering the data, click the Insert button to save the configuration. If you do not want to save the changes, click Close.

Refresh

To cancel the changes and revert to the previous configuration, click the Refresh button.

Delete

A row of data can be deleted. To do so, select the Index Number of the desired row and click the Delete button.

Sort

To sort a column of data, click the title of the desired column. To change the sorting order, ascending or descending, click the column title again.


MONITOR PERFORMANCE

This section provides an overview of performance monitoring. For detailed information, about commands, select Help and Contents in the Alteon EMS menu bar.

Information of how to access the device for performance monitoring is provided in Pop Up Menu, Menu Bar, and Tool Bar sections.

View Data

Monitored data is displayed in tables. The data is active -- information is updated and displayed. The polling intervals can be adjusted from 1 second to 60 minutes. To do so, select the desired rate at Poll Interval. Refer to the bottom panel of the following screen.

The following screen shows the data of one selected port. In this example, the data is displayed as Absolute, Cumulative, Average, Minimum, Maximum, and Last Value.

When multiple elements are selected the information is displayed in rows of elements and columns of data. The following screen shows data for ports 1 through 3.


Because more than one element was selected, only one type of average value can be displayed. The averaging method can be selected in the Show drop down menu.

Export Data

Data can be exported to a text file in tabular format. To export data, select the desired data fields and click the Export button, then specify the location and the name of the file. The selected data will then be exported to the specified file.

Print Data

To print the displayed data, click the Printer icon.

Graph Data

The data can be viewed as a graph. As with data tables, because the displayed data is active, the measurement interval can be set. Following are instructions for viewing the data in a chart.

  1. Select the desired data.

    NOTE: After the data has been selected, the graph buttons on the bottom of the window are available -- they are no longer greyed out, as compared to the screens shown under View Data.

  2. Select one of the chart styles and the graph will appear.
    The available styles are Line Chart, Area Chart, Bar Chart, and Pie Chart. Following is an example of a horizontal bar chart with a logarithmic scale.

  3. The display of the charts can be altered. The options are Stacked, Horizontal, Log Scale, and Vertical (Bar Chart). Which options are available depends on the type of chart that has been selected.
    Line Chart
    Horizontal, Log Scale, Vertical
    Area Chart
    Stacked, Horizontal, Log Scale, and Vertical
    Bar Chart
    Stacked, Horizontal, Log Scale, and Vertical
    Pie Chart
    None
    NOTE: A Pie Chart can only accept one dataset, such as a single row or a single column of data.