Typical application scenarios
A few examples of how caplon can be integrated into a network architecture.
Span Port
Simultaneous tracing of multiple network lines
The caplon®network trace system provides 2 ports that can also be connected to span ports (mirror ports) of network switches. These switch ports can be configured according to the application.
This means that caplon® can capture data from various network lines without being linked into them directly. Saving many different network nodes at the same time is also possible. Connecting a span port occupies only one port on the caplon trace card. The other port therefore is free for other applications.
Since the data are first conducted through the switch and the switch filters out all errors in layers 1 and 2 of the OSI layer model, caplon® cannot be used in this system configuration to analyze such errors. The network traffic is not saved loss-free.
Since the data from multiple full duplex lines are bundled on one line in a single stream, additional packet loss can occur in the switch due to the load and low bandwidth of the span port.
Multi 100 Mbit
Loss-free tracing of up to 8 10/100 Mbit network lines
Multiple 10/100 Mbit lines can be saved simultaneously with caplon® using an aggregation TAP.
In contrast to scenario 1, however, this takes place without a loss of packets. Up to 4 10/100 Mbit network lines can be connected to an Aggregation TAP. The complete traffic from the 4 full duplex lines from the example network in the figure is forwarded to one port of the caplon®trace card.
By occupying only one port, another trace port is available, which can monitor 4 additional 10/100 Mbit lines using the same structure as presented above.
Through this architecture, caplon®is able to save all data from up to 8 full duplex 10/100 Mbit completely and without loss.
The advantage of this arrangement is in the registration of errors on layers 1 and 2 of the OSI layer model.
1 Gb/s Full Duplex
Loss-free tracing of an individual gigabit network line
In order to fully save a single network line with a speed of up to 1 gigabit full duplex, caplon®has to be connected via a network TAP.
The network TAP duplicates the data of a line and sends the duplicates on the monitor ports to caplon. The trace card is thereby connected to both ports at the TAP; one port is for RX communication, the other port for TX communication.
caplon®offers the ability to capture one communication direction or both simultaneously, depending on the configuration of the port.
By using a loss-free network TAP, caplon®is able to fully save all network traffic (up to 1 gigabit full duplex).
The data are neither truncated nor lost, errors in layers 1 and 2 can be analyzed, and all data in the network and application layer can be represented.
