[c-nsp] IRB and station blocks

[Steven Pfister]

We're in the middle of a project involving a server at each of several
remote sites that is being virtualized at a central location. The
virtual machine at the central location is in the same vlan as the
remote site. The network looks something like:
 
(remote side) 4506 -> AT&T CSME -> 4507R (central side) -> 8540 (set up
for IRB) -> 3550 -> vmware servers
 
Right now, mac addresses are being passed from the remote site straight
through to the 3550 where the vmware servers are. I'm starting to wonder
about capacity issues along the way. For example, the 8540 in "show
bridge" says "2730 station blocks, 452 free". 
 
- Does that mean the 8540 can only learn 2730 mac addresses? It seems
to go down every time more addresses are learned.
- Is there an alternative to sending large quantities of mac addresses
around? Some sort of tunnel from the remote 4506 to the 3550 on the
central side? We wouldn't want to send all traffic from the remote site,
just the traffic to and from the server. 
 
 
Steve Pfister
Technical Coordinator
Office of Information Technology
Dayton Public Schools
115 S Ludlow St
Dayton, OH 45402-1812
Phone: 937-542-3149
Cell: 937-673-6779
spfister at dps.k12.oh.us ( mailto:spfister at dps.k12.oh.us )