Optimizing Monitoring Tools and Security Systems for 100Gbps & 40Gbps Networks

Most large organizations are either considering or have already begun to adopt higher bandwidth network infrastructure, typically 40G in the Enterprise and 100G in the carrier domain. Whenever a network undergoes a migration of that magnitude, the network monitoring and security architecture has to be revisited to ensure it’s ready to scale with the network.

Here are top three goals to keep in mind when redesigning the management infrastructure:

1. Leverage what you have
2. Maximize ROI
3. Make it future proof

If there’s already a network packet broker (intelligent TAP) system in place—and in most large networks there will be—it should be used to properly “tune” the network traffic to the existing monitoring tools and security systems. Assuming the NPB system is sufficiently scalable and modular (and again, it should be), adding 100G or 40G capture interfaces/appliances will be fairly straightforward.

Once the physical capture interfaces have been added, most of the functions needed to accomplish tool optimization are reasonably simple, but could do with some emphasis. Check out this solution guide outlining the essentials of leveraging 1G and 10G toolsets across 40G and 100G networks:

How to Optimize Monitoring Tools and Security Systems for 100Gbps & 40Gbps Networks