Cisco ESW-540-8P Administration Guide - Page 138

Configuring Device Security Defining Traffic Control 5 • Defining Storm Control • Defining Port Security Defining Storm Control Storm Control enables limiting the amount of Multicast and Broadcast frames accepted and forwarded by the device. When Layer 2 frames are forwarded, Broadcast and Multicast frames are flooded to all ports on the relevant VLAN. This occupies bandwidth, and loads all nodes connected on all ports. A Broadcast Storm is a result of an excessive amount of broadcast messages simultaneously transmitted across a network by a single port. Forwarded message responses are heaped onto the network, straining network resources or causing the network to time out. Storm Control is enabled per all ports by defining the packet type and the rate the packets are transmitted. The system measures the incoming Broadcast and Multicast frame rates separately on each port and discards the frames when the rate exceeds a user-defined rate. NOTE Storm Control is enabled per port on GE devices, and per system on FE devices (not applicable to ESW 520-8P devices). The Storm Control Page provides fields for configuring Broadcast Storm Control. To define storm control: ESW 500 Series Switches Administration Guide 127