Is there an SNMP mib or IOS command to tell me how much average
bandwidth is utilized across a whole Catalyst switch's backplane?

I need to make a purchase decision on a PCI-X NIC for doing packet
capture and it depends a lot on how much bandwidth I would need to
capture.  The switches are a 6509 and 4506, both native IOS.  We
aren't even close to using all the backplane bandwidth on those
things, but I do need a real number.

Thanks,
Bob

Bob wrote:
> Is there an SNMP mib or IOS command to tell me how much average
> bandwidth is utilized across a whole Catalyst switch's backplane?
>
> I need to make a purchase decision on a PCI-X NIC for doing packet
> capture and it depends a lot on how much bandwidth I would need to
> capture.  The switches are a 6509 and 4506, both native IOS.  We
> aren't even close to using all the backplane bandwidth on those
> things, but I do need a real number.
>
> Thanks,
> Bob

Bob,

Check out this link
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/477/SNMP/cat-switch_backplane_util.html

CJKoch@gmail.com wrote:
> Bob wrote:
> > Is there an SNMP mib or IOS command to tell me how much average
> > bandwidth is utilized across a whole Catalyst switch's backplane?
> >
> > I need to make a purchase decision on a PCI-X NIC for doing packet
> > capture and it depends a lot on how much bandwidth I would need to
> > capture.  The switches are a 6509 and 4506, both native IOS.  We
> > aren't even close to using all the backplane bandwidth on those
> > things, but I do need a real number.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Bob
>
> Bob,
>
> Check out this link
> http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/477/SNMP/cat-switch_backplane_util.html

That reference is OK for the 5000/5500. Check it out carefully for the
6500. I suspect that what you will get is that
sysTraffic OBJECT-TYPE  will return the 32/16Gbps bus value
and not the value pertaining to the "Fabric" of for example the SE720.
Remember that a single 6500 can have both Bus and fabric
and that therefore a single mib cannot do both.

The document itself is not too clear to me, the headline says
it refers to the 6000/6500 and then inside there are two key
paragraphs but the headline on those say that they apply to
one of 5000/5500. No mention of 6500!

Good luck, you may need it.

You could always get the values for all of the ports
and add them up. If you go that route watch the CPU
that the snmp requests use up.

Remember what goes in and what comes out are not
necessarily the same.
Broadcasts/multicasts/(unicasts) may get multiplied
Unicasts may get black holed.

Open TAC case.