6509 Port monitor

[leonardo-antonio]

Hello everyone

My Server farm is located in Catalyst 6509, Also some of its port I use in trunk configuration where my Vlan networks are connected.

I'm planning to monitor my network using network snnifer, and im planning to install the equipment in Catalyst 6509 port . (so I can monitor server or Vlan networks activity)

My question...

"How many ports I can monitor in 6509? Is there a limit in doing this?"

Since I heard from other network administrator that the Catalyst 6509 is limited to monitor up to only two (2) ports i would like to confirm my information is correct. Please advise.

[rjackson]

Two at a time, but that is only necessary if you have two sniffers. You can also span vlans which will monitor all traffic in the vlan but it gets tricky as some packets are seen two times , if they enter and leave the vlan.

[leonardo-antonio]

thanks for the reply but i want to clarify if its real that the

"Catalyst 6509 could only SPAN two port ? I intend to use only one sniffer.

[t.baranski]

The limitation of 2 refers to the number of SPAN ports you can have that monitor bi-directional traffic. A given SPAN port, however, can monitor any number of ports on the switch.

See http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a0080121d34.html for more information.