HP Switch Monitor port woes

[BEC IT Dept]

We have purchased some HP Procurve 4108gl switches and after the fact found that the whole 41xx series switches have no real usable monitor port capability (ingress only). This is patently unacceptable for an enterprise class switch, and we are really not happy with the "upgrade" from the 4000m's we were using previously. We have attached a hub to our sniffer machine and set up a passthru solution that is.....unreliable. I have heard about a VLAN solution that involves tying up three ports and is a better workaround. Does anyone have specifics that might assist me in setting this up?

On a side note, We are moving to a new building and more or less updating our network from the ground up. In light of the disappointment we have for these new switches, I am close to recommending we just replace them along with the move. Is there a trade in or something to be done to reclaim some of our expense? We have been happy with HP switches for years, but it is just silly to have to cruft together a simple monitor solution like this.....

[Ron Kinner]

I was surprised to when I first read about that. Really stupid.

I think what you have heard about is to make a test VLAN between two ports say 1 and 2. Plug the link to be monitored into port 1 and plug port 2 back into another port on the same switch. Now monitor both Port 1 and Port 2 from Port x (which may have to be part of the test VLAN) You should get both directions at once on the monitoring port.

I'd contact them directly and ask them about a tradein. They may cut you a deal just to keep your business.

http://www.hp.com/rnd/assistance/assistance.htm


Ron
Ron