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Sharkfest 2016 – Feeding Wireshark Every Bit, Byte and Packet®

June 23, 2016

Insights from a first-timer by Randy Clark.

Garland Technology and our CEO/Co-Founder Chris Bihary have been attending and presenting at Sharkfest since its inception in 2008, this was my first dive into Sharkfest and the Wireshark community.

What I enjoyed most was how truly engaged the attendees were. The majority of my interactions were with network engineers that were inquisitive on how network TAPs integrated with Wireshark.

However, my favorite and most common question was, “There are four TAP vendors here, what makes Garland different?”

The Garland Technology Difference:

  1. Each TAP is tested and certified with live data before leaving our Texas manufacturing facility.

  2. Garland Technology's TAPs are made, tested, certified and supported in the USA.

  3. Garland Technology is the only TAP manufacturer that is solely TAP focused and supports the entire wire – copper and fiber, portable and data center models.

Sharkfest Fun Fact Takeaways:

  • Our guests from Sweden were NOT familiar with Swedish fish – you’re welcome!

  • Is the Pontiac Firebird really the the first self-driving car?The_Garland_Green_Team_at_Sharkfest_2016.jpg

  • See how much the Garland Green Team, myself and Jackie Forte – LOVE SHARKFEST!
    View our Facebook photo album;
    tag and tell you friends.

Thank you to our technology partner, Riverbed – the host of Sharkfest 2016, and also to our on-site co-sponsors and technology partners: Big Switch Networks, CapStar Forensics, and LoveMyTool.

Until next year – Tap everything you can.
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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