10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) Adoption and how it relates to Network Analysis

Sam Wang, territory manager for Network Instruments, blogs about 10 GbE’s impact on network analysis.

Without question, 10Gbe Ethernet is making its way into the core network of today’s enterprise. Switch manufacturers like Cisco are pushing the technology heavily and it is replacing the 1Gbe data center connections of yesterday. Technologies like virtual server farms, real-time applications and data back-ups are pushing the need for speed and 10Gbe is ready to answer the call.

But what does this mean for the 10Gbe network analysis space?

Here are three areas I feel are necessary ingredients in answering this question:

1. ACCESS – Just like their 1Gbe predecessors, 10Gbe links are designed to be trunked and channeled for load balancing and redundancy. This requires many points of visibility as data can take multiple paths from source to destination. Unfortunately, 10Gbe analysis port densities are still in their infancy. As a result, to get the necessary coverage, network managers need access switches like the GigaVue by Gigamon. These switches allow users to go from many 1Gbe or 10Gbe links to one or one to many. It is a very flexible and robust solution that fits a piece of the puzzle when contemplating 10Gbe analysis.
2. CAPACITY – With hard drive and storage prices trending downward, the network TiVo concept our GigaStor presents is a very popular choice. However, it is possible a highly utilized 10Gbe link could easily fill 8 terabytes in less than a few hours. This probably would not suffice in terms of “going back in time” in that most network managers require at least a day’s worth of information. With this said, scalability with significantly faster topologies like 10Gbe becomes an issue. Fortunately, our GigaStor Expandable product line can extend up to 48TB of total storage in a single logical unit thus allowing users to grow their storage needs as more raw packets go through bigger pipes.
3. DATA MINING CAPABILITIES – How quick can I pinpoint the timeframe/client/servers of interest, mine the selected data and have it presented to me in a format I can understand? If the user experience with 1Gbe is slow and unpleasant, then 10Gbe could be downright unbearable. Of course, pre-filtering can play a big part in ensuring a quality test drive and yes, those are incorporated in our 10Gbe Gen2 capture card. But still, vendors in our space will have to continually evolve and improve our data mining capabilities to provide the greatest amount of intuitive and useful information processed in the least amount of time.

OK, now that I have gotten 10Gbe off my chest, bring on 100Gbe!