[mrtg] Re: Must Switch have an IP address?

[Jay Hennigan]

On Fri, 4 May 2001, Wes Owen wrote:

> I am reading though the new MRTG stuff (version 2.8.12 did not have this),
> and I'm seeing that you can run cfgmaker with --ifref=eth.
>
> I am wondering if there is any way under the sun I can get away with not
> assigning my switch an IP address, but yet still allowing MRTG to monitor
> its traffic?  Is that possible at all?  If so, how?

You would still need some type of layer 3 protocol over which to
run SNMP.  I don't know if SNMP is supported ofer IPX, but would
suspect not.  Some Catalysts have a separate management interface
that is not part of the switching fabric.  You could run IP to that
interface on a separate network from the switch ports which you are
monitoring, or create a management VLAN with a single port isolated
from the rest of the switch in any case.

You need a means of transmitting the SNMP data from the monitored
switch to the server on which MRTG is running.  IP seems to be the
protocol of choice.  However, this does not mean that the IP network
used for monitoring needs to be associated with or to communicate
with the network being monitored.  A separate LAN or simply a
crossover cable if you're monitoring a single switch will suffice.

In other words, the switch probably needs an IP address in order
to process MRTG queries.  But that IP address can be a private
address on a private network not associated with the traffic being
monitored, and the traffic being monitored doesn't even need to
be IP traffic.

-- 
Jay Hennigan  -  Network Administration  -  jay at west.net
NetLojix Communications, Inc.  NASDAQ: NETX  -  http://www.netlojix.com/
WestNet:  Connecting you to the planet.  805 884-6323


--
Unsubscribe mailto:mrtg-request at list.ee.ethz.ch?subject=unsubscribe
Archive     http://www.ee.ethz.ch/~slist/mrtg
FAQ         http://faq.mrtg.org    Homepage     http://www.mrtg.org
WebAdmin    http://www.ee.ethz.ch/~slist/lsg2.cgi