Owner manual

10/100 to Triple-speed Port Aggregator
1
Introduction
Net Optics 10/100 to Triple-speed Port Aggregator provides ultra-efcient
access to critical links. This pioneering technology enables any monitoring
device to simultaneously monitor a full-duplex link - using only one NIC per
device.
Typically, full-duplex monitoring with a network tap requires two NICs (or
a dual channel NIC) – one interface for each side of the tapped full-duplex
connection. The Port Aggregator Tap combines and regenerates these streams,
sending all aggregated data out two separate passive monitoring ports.
Triple-Speed Monitoring Ports
The 10/100 to Triple-speed Port Aggregator features triple-speed 10/100/1000
ports for monitoring tools, enabling faster tools to capture both sides of a
fully-utilized 100 Mbps full-duplex link without relying on the Tap's buffering
capability.
Buffering Prevents Lost Data
The 10/100 to Triple-speed Port Aggregator is designed to handle the com-
bined trafc of a single full-duplex link. When the trafc queue exceeds the
capacity of a 10 or 100 Mbps NIC, the Tap buffers the overow of up to one
gigabyte of data for both sides of the full-duplex connection. The buffer clears
automatically when the trafc volume falls below the receiving capacity of the
NIC. For example, if there is a trafc burst on a 100 Mbps network port and
a 100 Mbps monitoring device is now receiving 140 Mbps of trafc, the Tap
buffers data until the burst is over. The Tap then sends the buffered data to the
monitoring device until the buffer is cleared.
Simple to Deploy
The Net Optics 10/100 to Triple-speed Port Aggregator is a simple plug-and-
play solution addressing the fact that many monitoring systems, including
most software-based solutions, only offer a single channel NIC, limiting full-
duplex visibility. While adding a second NIC can help maintain data integrity
and visibility, there is a trade-off in exibility and ease-of-use. An operating
system and NICs that enable binding are often required to achieve the same
functionality as the Port Aggregator Tap. In contrast, the Port Aggregator Tap
requires no additional components or conguration on the monitoring devices.