Its not a good answer, but last time I set up a switched network, I made the IP
address of the local switch be on the same subnet as the users it supports.  
Then
when the switch goes down, you know who has a connectivity problem.

Doesn't help a lot if you have many vlans present on a closet switch, though..

Brad Martin wrote:

> We are beginning to implement several VLAN's within our environment using
> Cisco's 5000, 5500, and 6500 switches. It appears that NetView creates a 
> network
> icon for every VLAN, but a switch that participates in multiple VLANs will 
> only
> appears in one of them. Since we are primarily using VLAN's to segment our 
> user
> population, it would be nice to have the network (VLAN) icon turn yellow if 
> the
> switch was unavailable.
>
> Prior to implementing VLAN's, the switch was the only icon in the user's 
> network
> segement because desktops are not included in our maps. In the new 
> environment,
> we have multiple network icons for the user population, but all the switches 
> are
> in one network and the other network icons are empty.  Thus, it is difficult 
> to
> understand which users are impacted if the switch becomes unavailable.
>
> Can anyone give recommendation on how to manage the VLAN's?
>
> Brad Martin
> MetLife.