Busses Never Moved So Fast Running at full speed takes its toll on some remote-access servers and brings others to their knees, but the AS5300 performed well without even a hint of strain. In Network Computing's Syracuse University lab, I loaded the AS5300 with 95 modem connections running at 28.8 Kbps, V.42 compression and no software compression. I stressed the server by running FTP sessions on all 95 modems. For performance testing, I had a Windows95 client make a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connection using Dial-up Networking, and I FTPed three files (a text file, a bitmap file and a zip file) from a central server. The text file and the bitmap ran at nearly 10,000 characters per second (CPS); the zip file clocked in at a little over 3,400 CPS--some of the fastest speeds under load that I have seen in the lab. The AS5300 is so fast that there is less than a 1 percent difference in throughput between r unning under load and running a single FTP session.

A Look Around the Dash For newcomers to Cisco products, the IOS command-line interface can be cryptic and difficult to use. Cisco provides CiscoView, a GUI manager that can be used as a standalone management station or with CastleRock's SNMPc management software. Within CiscoView, you can view the AS5300 and set basic configuration parameters, such as T1 and modem parameters in a point-and-click fashion, but real configuration requires going into IOS working on the command line.

CiscoView provides real-time graphical port status for quick review, letting you examine specific ports on the server and gather information such as traffic counts, usage and errors. This is much more efficient than reading tables of port statistics for monitoring remote-access servers. When coupled with SNMPc, CiscoView not only gathers statistics and reports real-time status, but lets you capture SNMP traps and events.

While not all of the features of CiscoVie w were fully functional in the beta version I previewed, I viewed modem port performance both individually and in groups. Additionally, while configuring the T1, I found the traps useful in determining where I misconfigured the T1 ports.

Mike Fratto can be reached at mfratto@nwc.com.