Anue Systems' Tool Aggregators are devices that can aggregate the traffic from multiple SPAN ports throughout the network, redistributing that traffic to any collection of networking tools (I.E., IDS/IPS, content monitoring, compliance monitoring, etc.).

Key to the product's capabilities is the vendor's Multi-Stream Switching (MSS) technology, which enables the device to route the data from multiple SPAN ports to multiple receiving products in any combination; I.E., traffic from a single SPAN port can be routed to multiple output ports for analysis by separate tools, while traffic from multiple SPAN ports can be aggregated and sent to a single output for analysis by one tool. Layer 2-4 filters are available to ensure that the end tools do not get overloaded with information, and these filters are defined using drop-down menus and point and click tools in the product's browser-based GUI (Java based).

The initial device in the line is the 5204, which includes 24 10/100/1000 ports (four of which are optical ports leveraging SFP transceivers), and 4 10 gig ports (optical or copper). The vendor states that the ports can all be used for either network (input) or tool (output) data, and the ports can be reconfigured dynamically. The base system ships with 4 10/100/1000 ports, which can be upgraded in single port increments (the 10g ports are upgraded in 2 port increments). Finally, multiple units can be stacked to increase the overall port count.

Mapping SPAN ports to connected analysis tools is a visual, drag-and-drop function of the product's management GUI; with visual indicators warning the admin if a tool will be potentially overloaded with traffic as a result of the aggregation. In that case, filters can be defined to reduce the amount of total traffic delivered to the tool; filters that are defined via point-and-click methods. Potential filter parameters include MAC addresses (source or destination), VLAN and Ethertypes, IP protocol and DSCP/TOS, IP addresses (source or destination), or UDP/TCP ports. Because of this filtering capability, the vendor notes that the product allows for the monitoring of 10g inputs by 1g tools; or even 1g inputs by 10/100 tools (since the traffic can be filtered down to a traffic level that the receiving tool can handle).

Other features include password authentication for different user levels, event logging, SNMP support, and real-time stats on traffic by input data port, filter, and tool port.

The 5204 is expected to be available in September, with a base price of $17,000. Visit the Anue Systems Web site for further information.