HP TopTools - Manual (Page 13)

toptools user guide
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Recommendations for Managing Large Networks
If you are managing large networks (greater than 5000 devices) you should increase the capabilities of the Toptools
server. An Intel Pentium 4 with a processor speed > 1.3 GHz and an additional 256 MB of RAM for every 10,000
nodes (e.g. HP Vectra VL800). The faster the processor and more RAM the better your performance will be.
If you do not require the Hubs and Switches component, do not install it. If you need to install the Hubs and
Switches component, the following is recommended:
Set Traffic Data collection to Manual mode. The traffic monitoring capabilities of the HP TopTools Traffic Monitor
application can require a lot of system resources. Therefore, in large network environments, it is suggested that you
manually select the points at which you would like to collect traffic data. Usually, you will want to collect traffic
data on your network backbone segments and on segments with heavily utilized servers.
Traffic Monitor can use the HP X-RMON functionality built into HP Procurve and HP Advancestack and even HP
Ethertwist network devices to provide detailed information on who is using network segments. It also uses standard
traffic counters to provide basic traffic levels on network segments. Traffic Monitor can realistically monitor up to
200 network segments using the HP X-RMON technology. It can monitor up to 1800 additional segments using
standard traffic counters. You should use the following instructions to turn on Manual traffic data collection and
configure which network segments will be monitored with HP X-RMON and which additional segments will be
monitored using standard traffic counters.
On the Toptools page, select Performance ->Traffic Data Collector Settings
On the Performance – Traffic Data Collector Settings page select the “User Selected Switch and Hub
Ports (Manual)” setting
Use
the Add Device(s) button to add the devices on which you would like to collect Traffic Data 3.
4. On each device, select the ports on which you would like to collect Traffic Data by expanding the device
and then selecting either the Traffic Stats or the HP X-RMON check box for the desired ports.
Consoles
Because Toptools is a web-based application, any system running a supported web browser may act as a Toptools
console. For this reason, it is important to consider security when configuring console access to Toptools.
When installing the Toptools server, the installation wizard will install Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 if absent or
an earlier unsupported version is detected. You may use the Microsoft Internet Explorer installation files on the
Toptools CD to install a supported browser on additional systems on your network.
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