Switch Network View Software

This chapter describes the Cisco Switch Network View software, hereafter called the network view, an application that extends web-based network management to the other devices in your network. By exchanging Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) messages with attached CDP-capable devices, the network view graphically displays the surrounding star topology that consists of Catalyst 2900 series switches and Cisco edge devices.

The center node of the star is the primary switch; up to three directly connected Catalyst 2900 series switches can be stack members. These switches can be displayed in a consolidated physical view called the visual stack for easy management. You can access network information from the Network View page and the Visual Stack page.

If more than three switches are connected, only the three connected to the lowest port numbers of the primary switch are displayed as stack members. All other devices are considered edge devices. A star topology with the primary switch in the center ensures the most complete view of the network.

Note All stack members must be running the Cisco IOS Release SA4 or later and the corresponding Cisco Visual Switch Manager Software release. You must enable SNMP and set the community string to public on all stack members.

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Displaying the Network View page
• Using the network view interface
• Displaying device information
• Displaying link information
• Displaying the visual stack

Displaying the Network View Page

The Network View page (Figure 5-1) displays a map of the devices and links that make up your network. You can display switch connection information, device reports, and link reports. This page also displays Cisco routers, switches, hubs and Cisco Micro Webservers, but these devices must be directly attached to a Catalyst 2900 series switch. Other devices that run CDP display as generic edge devices.

Note Before launching the network view, make sure you are using a supported browser. For more information, see the "Configuring the Browser for Web Management" section.

Follow these steps to display the Network View page:

Step 1 On the Switch Manager home page, click Network View.

Step 2 When prompted, enter the enable password for each Catalyst 2900 series switch in the stack.

You do not need to enter a user name.

Figure 5-1: Switch Network View Page

Using the Network View Interface

On the Network View page (Figure 5-1), devices with blue labels are stack members. Devices with yellow labels are generic edge devices connected to stack members.

You can right-click icons and links to display pop-up menus as described
in the "Displaying Device Information" section and the
"Displaying Link Information" section.

You can left-click the buttons listed in Table 5-1.

Figure 5-2: Visual Switch Manager Connection Information

Note If the primary switch is connected to three Catalyst 2900 series switches, these devices appear first in the table. If the primary switch has redundant links or port groups configured to another Catalyst 2900 series switch, each port connection is listed in a separate row.

Displaying Device Information

From the Network View page, you can generate reports about a switch and its ports. Follow these steps to display the Device Report:

Step 1 Right-click a stack member icon (blue labels).

The device pop-up menu displays as shown in Figure 5-3.

Figure 5-3: Device Pop-up Menu

Step 2 Select Device Report.

Figure 5-4 shows the Device Report with configuration information displayed. The drop-down list in the right corner displays the three versions of the report.

Step 3 Select one of the three options from the drop-down list:

• Configuration information (See Figure 5-4.)
• Port information (See Figure 5-5.)
• System information (See Figure 5-6.)

Figure 5-4: Device Report Configuration Information

Figure 5-5 shows the device port information. Click a port button to see the port number, MAC address, administrative status, speed, and duplex mode. A green port button indicates the link is up; a blue port button indicates no link is present.

Click List learned addresses to see the MAC addresses learned on the port.

Figure 5-5: Device Report Port Information

Figure 5-6 shows the device system information: current software version, Flash memory space, NVRAM buffer size, address capacity, and so forth.

Figure 5-6: Device Report System Information

Refreshing Device Report Information

Click the Device Report button (see Figure 5-6) to refresh the report.

Accessing the Manager Software

Click the Switch Manager button (see Figure 5-6) to display the Cisco Visual Switch Manager Home page in a separate browser window.

Displaying Link Information

From the Network View page, you can display information about all ports that connect two switches.

Follow these steps to display the Link Report:

Step 1 Right-click the link on the Network View page.

The link pop-up menu displays as shown in Figure 5-7.

Figure 5-7: Link Pop-Up Menu

Step 2 Select Link Report from the link pop-up menu.

The Link Report shown in Figure 5-8 lists all ports that connect two switches in the list box for each end of the connection. The report provides port group (and redundant link), VLAN, and network port information.

When you select a port from the list box by clicking it, the report displays the port to which that port is connected. When you select a port in an EtherChannel port group, the report also displays the port numbers of other ports in the group. The VLAN field displays the VLANs that the selected port belongs to, and the Network Port field is green if the port has been defined as the network port. The Link Report also displays the following information:

• IP addresses of the connected switches
• Speed setting of the link
• Duplex setting for each port
• STP state of each port
• Linkbeat on the port

Figure 5-8: Link Report

Refreshing Link Report Information

Click the Link Report button (see Figure 5-8) to refresh the report.

Displaying the Cisco Visual Stack

The visual stack is an image of up to four Catalyst 2900 series switches (Figure 5-9) with the primary switch at the top. This stack contains the same switches as those on the Network View page, which displays the primary switch in the middle and stack members (blue labels). The stack displays real-time information about the switches and their ports. You can use the stack to monitor port status, check port speed and duplex settings, configure switch ports, and start the manager software.

Follow these steps to display the Visual Stack page:

Step 1 Display the Network View page as described in the "Displaying the Network View Page" section.

Step 2 Click Visual Stack in the upper-left corner of the page.

The visual stack displays in a separate browser window (see Figure 5-9).

Figure 5-9: Visual Stack

Monitoring Port Status

The visual stack shows LED colors to depict the port status:

• Green: port is active.
• Blue: port is inactive.
• Amber: port is disabled administratively or by STP.

For complete descriptions of the switch LEDs, see the "LEDs" section.

Checking Port Speed and Duplex Settings

To check the transmission speed settings for all switch ports, click MODE, and highlight SPD (speed). Blue means 10 Mbps; green means 100 Mbps.

To check the duplex setting, click MODE and highlight FDUP (full-duplex). Blue means half-duplex mode; green means full-duplex mode.

Configuring Switch Ports

To configure a port, click one on the visual stack. The Port Configuration pop-up window shows the port settings and status. Select Enable to enable or disable the port, and select a speed and duplex setting from the drop-down lists. This window is the same as the one described in the "Configuring Ports" section. See Figure 4-3.

Accessing the Manager Software

The visual stack displays the IP address of each switch next to the switch image. Click the IP address to display the manager software home page for that switch in a separate browser window. End the browser session when you want to return to the visual stack.

Note If you access the manager software to configure a stack member and then relaunch the network view, this stack member becomes the primary switch. The network view displays devices in a different arrangement (a stack member could become an edge device) than if the browser is pointed at the original center node of the star topology.

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