How to Monitor Bandwidth

[buhrock]

So, I just started my job and I'm pretty new to bigger sized networks. Sorry if this network isn't big, but it is to me. :sigh:

Anyways, I show up at this business. They have about 40-50 systems. They have a 2003 AD server with a router, and 4 switches. There is also a dvr system on the network for cameras.

Each switch is daisy chained together. Everything is working correctly except for the fact that the network drops about 5 times a day. Before they called us, they would just unhook one switch and plug it back in and it would work.

At first, we took that switch and exchanged it with another switch in a computer lab to see if just the computer lab goes down. If it did, then that switch was bad. That wasn't the case, the whole network still went down.

We had already left, but when we go back, our first choice will to see if there is a loop anywhere within the switch that will flood the network. Then, we were going to see if there was a switch that was getting a lot of traffic on the network to try to track it down.

How can u monitor the bandwidth on the switches? They are 24 port switches. The switch is fs750/24 switch.

Or are there any tools that would help?

 

[Law]

I've never work with the device you mention so I do not know if you can do it with those switches, but there are a few software that can monitor a LAN for broadcast storms, one of my favorite is Ethereal. You can capture and filter out packets and narrow it down just to show broadcasts that are going around.

I would definitely check to see if there are any loops, get some info like was there anything new added (computers, bad patch cables), did a computer get infected with some malicious software.

Forgot to mention that Ethereal is an older version, they changed the name to Wireshark now.