A TAP That Generates NetFlow Natively? Tell Me More.
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POSTED BY Adam Powers on 03.31.2011 0 comments |
Traditionally, TAPs serve no role in the actual analysis and reporting on network traffic. TAPs are designed to deliver data to a device such as an IDS or packet sniffer. NetOptics wants to change this notion with the introduction of their new AppTap. The AppTap provides the features you would expect from a traditional tap: it sits inline, it copies Ethernet frames to a "monitor port", and if unplugged it "dies wire" (turns into a simple Cat-5 connector allowing traffic to continue to flow).
But the AppTap seems to take the normal duties of a Tap quite a bit further. This TAP actually analyzes network traffic providing bandwidth and network performance reports of various types right from the web-UI of the device. In addition to reporting, the feature that really caught my attention is the ability to have the AppTap export NetFlow. Note the feature shown in the table below...
I'm working with NetOptics to get an AppTap in-house to test out with the StealthWatch System and will report findings to the blog here ASAP.
At a higher level, the addition of flow export functionality to the NetOptics' TAP further underscores the trend of NetFlow/IPFIX adoption throughout the network infrastructure industry. We're seeing flow export features showing up in firewalls, hypervisors, and even directly in the Linux operating system. It's definitely a good time to be an industry-leading NetFlow collection vendor.
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