Explanation of the remote network monitoring proxy for the Gigabit Ethernet switch (1)

We are very interested in the explanation of the remote network monitoring proxy for the Gigabit Ethernet switch RMON proxy. Before giving you a detailed description of how to use remote network monitoring proxy, let's first understand the basic knowledge of RMON and then compare the advantages and disadvantages of the following methods.

Remote network monitoring RMON) is the most important enhancement to SNMP. This article introduces the implementation of a Gigabit Ethernet switch RMON agent in the real-time embedded operating system of Nucleus us. The architecture of network management software for Gigabit Ethernet switches is discussed. The hardware and software platform of RMON proxy is briefly introduced, the task processes of the four groups of functions including statistics, history, events, and alarms of the rmon agent are discussed in detail.

Currently, the most widely used Network Management Protocol in computer networks is Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP. Remote network monitoring RMON is the most important enhancement to SNMP. It uses a typical client/server model, and the client is the Network Manager Management site.) The RMON agent assumes the role of the server. The management site collects and configures data on the RMON agent. The agent collects data on this site and reports important information and events to the management site.

There are two methods to implement the RMON Proxy:

Use an independent device with a complete hardware and software system as a remote monitor. embedded into key devices in the network, such as hubs and Gigabit Ethernet switches, is called an embedded proxy. As a part of system functions, embedded proxy uses processor and memory resources dedicated to monitoring.

At present, the computer network is growing and widely used, and the network manageability requirements are getting higher and higher. Network administrators must have a comprehensive and timely grasp of network activities. Therefore, it is very important to arrange the RMON agent that can intelligently collect data on important network nodes. More and more network devices are now added to the embedded RMON Agent module to provide powerful support for network management. The Design and Implementation of the embedded RMON agent in the Gigabit Ethernet switch are discussed below.

I. System Interface

The embedded RMON agent designed in this article is a module of network management software for Gigabit Ethernet switches. It needs to work collaboratively with the following modules from the bottom up.

◆ Ethernet underlying driver

The work of the RMON agent is basically to monitor the packets on the network segment. The underlying work of the network is completed by the port control chip. The underlying Driver provides two interfaces for the upper-layer software: obtaining data packets and obtaining the Ethernet statistical count.

◆ SNMP, UDP, and IP

RMON is only an enhancement to SNMP. A basic SNMP proxy and each layer protocol under SNMP are essential. RMON interacts with SNMP through MIB. The management site configures the RMON agent and obtains the data collected by the agent through SNMP. When some exceptions occur, the agent must report to the Management site. Therefore, SNMP also provides an interface for sending SNMP Trap messages.

◆ Management Information Library

To implement the RMON function, the management information library should contain all objects defined by MIBII. The MIB used by RMON must be identified by SNMP. The Management Information Library provides read/write interfaces for SNMP and RMON.

Ii. underlying hardware support and operating system

RFC1757 defines the nine functions of RMON and the corresponding MIB structure. In this paper, the embedded RMON agent is designed to achieve the four functions of statistics, history, alarm and event. It is a Gigabit Ethernet Switching port control chip GT-48320A using Galileo Techniology, developed on the embedded operating system Nucleus Plus.

The GT-48320A provides support for the four basic functions of RMON, and maintains a 32-bit MIB counter on its Ethernet, which counts the Ethernet traffic passing through the port. These counters are in the read-only Port Counter Block of the GT-48320A at 0x0100-0x0163.