The emergence of 10 Gigabit speeds in the networking market means a steady increase in complex, multi-protocol traffic. With voice, data, and video all sharing the same network links, monitoring traffic for performance and security issues is more important than ever before. Organizations recognize the need to build monitoring access into the architecture of 10G networks from day one, and Net Optics Director Xstream is the ideal foundation for a 10G Monitoring Access Platform (MAP).

Director Xstream is a data monitoring switch that aggregates, regenerates, switches, filters, and load balances monitoring traffic. With the highest density of 10G ports in the monitoring industry—20 10G network ports plus four 10G monitor ports in 1U of rack space— Director Xstream empowers the NOC to share a pool of monitoring tools across a large number of network links. If more network or monitor ports are required, any port can be used for either network or monitor. In fact, by splitting the cables into separate transmit and receive fibers, a total of 24 network inputs and 24 monitor outputs are available for concurrent use. Moreover, all of Director Xstream’s 24 ports are SFP+ slots, so they can accommodate 1G SFP as well as 10G SFP+ transceivers, and support any type of media. In-line link connections require external Taps.

TapFlow™ Filtering
Your pool of monitoring tools can  handle more traffic, more links, and more protocols by using the Director Xstream TapFlow™ filtering technology to send each tool only the traffic-of-interest for its particular purpose. The TapFlow™ hardware filtering engine processes traffic at full 10 Gbps line speeds, enabling you to select traffic by protocols, IP addresses, TCP/UDP ports, VLANs, and more.

Aggregation, Regeneration, and Switching
Director Xstream provides one-to-one, many-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many mappings of network links and Span ports to monitor ports. Traffic from any set of network links and Span ports can be aggregated into a single stream and copied to any monitor port. In addition, the same aggregated traffic stream can be regenerated to multiple monitor ports at the same time, enabling different groups to monitor the same data without conflicts. Multiple distinct aggregation and regeneration operations can function simultaneously without impacting speed or data integrity, even for fully-utilized 10-Gbps ports.

Load Balancing
In a monitoring application, Load Balancing splits the traffic into multiple streams so the data can be processed by two or more tools working in parallel. Director Xstream supports static Load Balancing that takes the traffic from any network port or aggregated set of network ports and distributes it to two, three, four, or up to eight monitor ports. The load can be balanced by IP address, port, protocol, VLAN, and MAC address, or any other packet header field.

Data Rate & Media Conversion
SFP+ ports enable Director Xstream to support both 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps links and tools, with any type of copper or fiber media. Just plug in the appropriate SFP (1G) or SFP+ (10G) transceiver modules to match the interfaces of your links and tools. Director Xstream automatically performs the data rate and media type conversions. Your CAPEX is lowered because you can apply tools to links with dissimilar media rather than purchasing new tools. For example, traffic from a 10-Gbps fiber link can be filtered or load balanced to multiple 1-Gbps copper-interface monitoring tools; and multiple 1-Gbps LX links can be aggregated to a 10-Gbps SR monitoring tool.