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Packet Challenge at Sharkfest - A Great Way to Test Your Skills!

June 20, 2017

This year at Sharkfest, Garland Technology is sponsoring the group packet challenge (Thank you!).

As packet-heads, we all enjoy digging through trace files and finding the hidden gems that lead to resolving a problem. If most of our capturing experience is from a single network or enterprise, it can be hard to grow in new areas and pick up new tricks in packet analysis. Sharkfest is an excellent way to hone our skills and bring our art of analysis to a new level.

The group packet challenge at Sharkfest is designed to bring together Wireshark users from all skill levels in a timed team event. Participants are given several trace files and a question sheet, then as a team they race to find the answers. Typically, the packet challenge will require them to use areas of Wireshark that they may not be as familiar with, which can teach them new things about the analyzer in a fun setting. 

Why Garland was the Right Fit for the Event

To answer the questions in the packet challenge, participants need to have the confidence that the trace files represent the truth of the network event. If a trace file is not captured well, it can show missing data and inaccurate timers which make the data harder to read. Precious time can be spent in chasing down false alarms rather than focusing on the real problem. 

Download Network TAPs 101!

In many ways, the packet challenge represents the scenario that many engineers face every day. The network has problems, answers need to be found, and time is of the essence. Accurate data can mean the difference between getting to root cause, or spinning our wheels on a false symptom. This blog article covers several of these symptoms and shows how poor capture methods impact the data in the trace file.

Going to Sharkfest? We will see you at the packet challenge, along with Chris Bihary, CEO/Co-Founder of Garland Technology. It will be a great time!

Not going to Sharkfest? We will get some of the session videos out on LoveMyTool. Maybe next year you can join us for another packet challenge! 

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Heartbeats Packets Inside the Bypass TAP

If the inline security tool goes off-line, the TAP will bypass the tool and automatically keep the link flowing. The Bypass TAP does this by sending heartbeat packets to the inline security tool. As long as the inline security tool is on-line, the heartbeat packets will be returned to the TAP, and the link traffic will continue to flow through the inline security tool.

If the heartbeat packets are not returned to the TAP (indicating that the inline security tool has gone off-line), the TAP will automatically 'bypass' the inline security tool and keep the link traffic flowing. The TAP also removes the heartbeat packets before sending the network traffic back onto the critical link.

While the TAP is in bypass mode, it continues to send heartbeat packets out to the inline security tool so that once the tool is back on-line, it will begin returning the heartbeat packets back to the TAP indicating that the tool is ready to go back to work. The TAP will then direct the network traffic back through the inline security tool along with the heartbeat packets placing the tool back inline.

Some of you may have noticed a flaw in the logic behind this solution!  You say, “What if the TAP should fail because it is also in-line? Then the link will also fail!” The TAP would now be considered a point of failure. That is a good catch – but in our blog on Bypass vs. Failsafe, I explained that if a TAP were to fail or lose power, it must provide failsafe protection to the link it is attached to. So our network TAP will go into Failsafe mode keeping the link flowing.

Glossary

  1. Single point of failure: a risk to an IT network if one part of the system brings down a larger part of the entire system.

  2. Heartbeat packet: a soft detection technology that monitors the health of inline appliances. Read the heartbeat packet blog here.

  3. Critical link: the connection between two or more network devices or appliances that if the connection fails then the network is disrupted.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT | THE 101 SERIES