Security & Monitoring
with Universal TAP
Whether you need to troubleshoot a server, adhere to compliance or secure your network, tapping is an indispensable toolfor any company. For the uninitiated, a network TAP is similar to a phone TAP
Security & Monitoring with Universal TAP
Whether you need to troubleshoot a server, adhere to compliance or secure your network, tapping is an indispensable toolfor any company. For the uninitiated, a network TAP is similar to a phone TAP
TAP Basics
In its most basic form, tapping a network device involves capturing the transmit/receive traffic and redirecting it to a monitoring device.
TAP Basics
In its most basic form, tapping a network device involves capturing the transmit/receive traffic and redirecting it to a monitoring device.
Traditionally, tapping is accomplished via one of the following methods:
Specialty Boxes
Hardware build specifically for tapping
Port Mirroring (SPAN)
Copies data from one port to another
Agent Software
Software that runs on network devices to redirect traffic
Tap Pain Points
One of the biggest challenges with TAP is the overhead of the setup. Today you may only need to TAP servers in one rack, but tomorrow you may need to TAP a router on your edge and a year from now you may need to TAP switches in building two.
Setting up TAP for all these devices with specialty boxes, software agents or port mirroring would be time-consuming and expensive for any large network. Even for those organizations with the time and resources to do so, management of the solution requires a small army of admins. But what if TAP could be available as soon as you plug in a new network device, with built-in functionality?
Fiber Mountain’s Glass Core
In a Glass Core network, all physical connectivity is centrally managed. All physical network connections from all devices are tied into the Glass Core via Fiber Port Aggregators (FPAs) and Optical Path Exchanges (OPXs), and from there connections are dynamically managed by the AllPath Director (APD) orchestration software. This allows an admin to route any physical network connection to any number of other devices in the network. This includes TAP of any connection for diagnostic, security or compliance purposes.
Glass Core TAP
The OPX is designed to regenerate the received optical signals when it forms the cross-connection. This introduces the option of multicasting the regenerated signal to up to 160 ports on one OPX. Using a handful of OPX ports to TAP network traffic passing through the other ports is easy for the network manager to configure, with no need for additional equipment or software.
The diagram shows a network with various network and monitoring devices connected via the Glass Core. Using APD, network operators can set up TAPs as needed, and can also configure the cross connects to form any desired network architecture, whether leaf-spine, hierarchical or a hybrid.
Tap Pain Points
One of the biggest challenges with TAP is the overhead of the setup. Today you may only need to TAP servers in one rack, but tomorrow you may need to TAP a router on your edge and a year from now you may need to TAP switches in building two.
Setting up TAP for all these devices with specialty boxes, software agents or port mirroring would be time-consuming and expensive for any large network. Even for those organizations with the time and resources to do so, management of the solution requires a small army of admins. But what if TAP could be available as soon as you plug in a new network device, with built-in functionality?
Fiber Mountain’s Glass Core
In a Glass Core network, all physical connectivity is centrally managed. All physical network connections from all devices are tied into the Glass Core via Fiber Port Aggregators (FPAs) and Optical Path Exchanges (OPXs), and from there connections are dynamically managed by the AllPath Director (APD) orchestration software. This allows an admin to route any physical network connection to any number of other devices in the network. This includes TAP of any connection for diagnostic, security or compliance purposes.
Glass Core TAP
The OPX is designed to regenerate the received optical signals when it forms the cross-connection. This introduces the option of multicasting the regenerated signal to up to 160 ports on one OPX. Using a handful of OPX ports to TAP network traffic passing through the other ports is easy for the network manager to configure, with no need for additional equipment or software.
The diagram shows a network with various network and monitoring devices connected via the Glass Core. Using APD, network operators can set up TAPs as needed, and can also configure the cross connects to form any desired network architecture, whether leaf-spine, hierarchical or a hybrid.
Tap Pain Points
One of the biggest challenges with TAP is the overhead of the setup. Today you may only need to TAP servers in one rack, but tomorrow you may need to TAP a router on your edge and a year from now you may need to TAP switches in building two.
Setting up TAP for all these devices with specialty boxes, software agents or port mirroring would be time-consuming and expensive for any large network. Even for those organizations with the time and resources to do so, management of the solution requires a small army of admins. But what if TAP could be available as soon as you plug in a new network device, with built-in functionality?
Fiber Mountain’s Glass Core
In a Glass Core network, all physical connectivity is centrally managed. All physical network connections from all devices are tied into the Glass Core via Fiber Port Aggregators (FPAs) and Optical Path Exchanges (OPXs), and from there connections are dynamically managed by the AllPath Director (APD) orchestration software. This allows an admin to route any physical network connection to any number of other devices in the network. This includes TAP of any connection for diagnostic, security or compliance purposes.
Glass Core TAP
The OPX is designed to regenerate the received optical signals when it forms the cross-connection. This introduces the option of multicasting the regenerated signal to up to 160 ports on one OPX. Using a handful of OPX ports to TAP network traffic passing through the other ports is easy for the network manager to configure, with no need for additional equipment or software.
The diagram shows a network with various network and monitoring devices connected via the Glass Core. Using APD, network operators can set up TAPs as needed, and can also configure the cross connects to form any desired network architecture, whether leaf-spine, hierarchical or a hybrid.
Benefits of Glass Core TAP
Plug and Play
Glass Core networks are TAP-ready by default
Non-intrusive
All TAPs are
passive
Security
All TAP connections are auditable
Documentation
All end-to-end connections are automatically documented
Future-Proof
Can be configured via software for any physical network design
Benefits of
Glass Core TAP
Plug and Play
Glass Core networks are
TAP-ready by default
Security
All TAP connections are auditable
Non-intrusive
All TAPs are
passive
Documentation
All end-to-end connections are automatically documented
Future-Proof
Can be configured via software for any physical network design
Network visibility has never been
easier or more secure
Network visibility has never been easier or more secure
Non-intrusive Wire
TAP
Low Latency
Protocol Agnostic. Sweet!
Software Managed with
AllPath® Director
When deployed with the Fiber Mountain AllPath Director (APD) orchestration software, your whole data center can be discovered and managed by software. The software provides network-wide visibility and automatic documentation of your physical layer.
Fiber Mountain’s
Product Catalog
From software to hardware that can transform your physical layer, we have it all! Look through our product catalog to find what suits you best.
And More for All of Your Intelligent Data Center Needs...Fiber Mountain’s
Product Catalog
From software to hardware that can transform your physical layer, we have it all! Look through our product catalog to find what suits you best.
Sensus Patch Panel
Passive patch panel with active intelligence. Imagine if your patch panels can detect cable presence. How would that change your network?
Optical Path Exchange
An optical MUX except its software-controlled, low latency, protocol agnostic and scalable. What would you do with this ability?
