Port Filters Table Information - Enterasys ATX User Manual

Port Filters Table Information

The scrolling window at the top displays the filters defined for each port and
provides the following information about them:
Id (Identifier)
An identifier assigned to each filter entry in the Port Filters table. This identifier is
used to keep track of the number of entries in the Port Filters table, and is
incremented or decremented as necessary when filters are added to or removed
from the table. (Once the filter count has changed, you must refresh the window
to display the new identifiers.)
Type
The traffic direction at which a filter will take effect is determined by whether it is
an Entry filter or an Exit filter. An ENTRY filter is a pre-processing filter that is
applied to packets incoming from a port's attached segment prior to any bridging
action taking place at the port. An EXIT filter is applied at a port to screen packets
outgoing from the port — that is, to screen packets once it has been determined
they should be bridged to other ports on the ATX.
If your ATX supports Port Mirroring, you can also use filters in conjunction with
the mirroring application. By using filters, you can reduce the amount of traffic
being mirrored. This may be especially useful when mirroring traffic to a remote
device. Note that Mirror Filters are not stored in the same location as Port Filters,
so the number of Mirror Filters you create will not affect the number of Port
Filters that can also be created.
To create a Mirror filter, select MENTRY (to filter incoming traffic at a port, as
described above for Entry Filter) or MEXIT (to filter outgoing traffic from a port,
as described above for Exit filter) from the Type list box.
Pseudo
A Pseudo filter can be used for test purposes to gather statistics without actually
filtering packets at the port. YES indicates a Pseudo filter is in effect at the port;
NO indicates the filter in effect at the port is actually screening packets.
Protocol
You can use a Protocol filter to screen traffic based on its protocol type. Pre-
defined protocol types that you can screen on include any-802, any-ethernet,
Appletalk, Banyan, DECnet Phase IV, IP, Novell 1, Novell 2, XNS, Cabletron,
Enterasys, or you can screen on Other (which allows you to specify the protocol
type).
Source
Indicates the starting address of a filter based on a range of source MAC
addresses.
Port Filters Table Information
Using ATX Port Filtering
4-3