Automatic Broadcast Control (Procurve 4000/4108)

[Super Play]

Hi Folks

We use ABC across our HP4000 switches located in our environment to reduce broadcast traffic. We also have 2 central hub switches which are both Procurve 4108.

I have the following 2 queries

1) Can ABC be enabled on the Procurve 4108?

2) If you can not enable ABC on a 4108 switch is it recommended to leave it enabled on the 4000 switches or to disable it?

Regards

[Matt Hobbs]

The 4100 does not have ABC, it does however have a 'broadcast-limit' feature which will drop broadcasts over a user defined percentage.

If you are suffering from excessive broadcast related issues, I would probably recommend you create smaller VLAN's instead of using the broadcast-limit.

Also I'd recommend enabling spanning-tree to block any redundant links (loops). Without spanning-tree, relying on broadcast-limit or ABC to control a broadcast storm does not work very well in my experience.

As for enabling or disabling ABC on the 4000's.. it's really up to you. If everything is working okay I'd leave it as it is.