Datacom Systems SS-1210SX-SFP

Full Duplex Aggregation

Monitoring network traffic from two different sources is an important and frequent requirement in network analysis, commonly referred to as data “aggregation.” For example, in order to properly troubleshoot most network problems, network professionals need to receive traffic from both sides of a full duplex conversation.

While traditional taps might enable full-duplex monitoring of all traffic on a network link, they transmit the data to the connected monitoring device in two separate half-duplex streams (one for Tx and one for Rx). Not only does this require the monitoring device to have two network interface cards, it also requires that the device be capable of combining and processing both streams of data in order to monitor both sides of the conversation. Not all monitoring systems, including the most popular software solutions, have the required hardware to aggregate traffic.

The SINGLEstream™ Link Aggregation Tap combines both directions of a full duplex data stream and allows any connected monitoring device, including those with only one NIC, to receive a copy of all the data - even in a single trace file.
 

Dual Stream Mode

For dual-receive capable tools and times when there is no substitute for full line rate data capture (e.g. network attacks), the SINGLEstream™ can be configured to work exactly like a traditional full duplex tap, providing a copy of full-rate Gigabit data to connected tools in two separate streams (Tx and Rx).
 

Totally Passive and Power Fault Tolerant

Fiber taps are completely passive devices and are not a point of failure on the network. Even if power is lost to the tap, the network traffic will not be affected. While some copper Gigabit taps prevent the operation of redundant routing and failover systems because they keep both sides of the network invisible to the other, the passive nature of optical fiber also eliminates this possibility of network failure. If one side of the link fails for any reason, the device on the other side of the link will recognize this outage immediately, so routers and switches can engage redundant protocols and failover systems. Because both sides of the link are always open, the network will automatically re-establish the primary link as soon as both sides of the network and the endpoint devices become operational.
 

Regeneration

One-to-Many configurations replicate copies of identical network traffic to provide multiple tools monitoring access to the same links. In addition to eliminating contention for access to critical links, multiple tools can be connected to the same link for redundancy, testing, or advanced monitoring applications.
 

Any-to-Any

Any of the SS-1210SX-SFP’s eight (8) any-to-any ports can be configured as input (network) or output (monitoring) ports on the fly through easy to use command line interface (CLI). Any monitoring port can receive traffic from any of the other ports, eliminating the need for network managers to change complex network configurations or move tools around their network. Additionally, the any-to-any ports can be configured to receive data from a switch’s SPAN port providing the flexibility of a combined in-line and out-of-band monitoring solution.