Method and apparatus for monitoring a dedicated communications medium in a switched data network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A probe comprising:
- a first port to communicatively couple with a first communications medium;
a second port to communicatively couple with a second communications medium;
a bypass circuit to forward communications from the first port to the second port when power to the probe is interrupted, said bypass circuit comprising a relay to alternately couple the first port and the second port to a repeater, or the first port to the second port; and
a monitor to couple to the repeater to monitor the communications forwarded from the first port to the second port via the repeater when power to the probe is not interrupted.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for monitoring the performance of a dedicated communications medium in a switched data networking environment wherein a probe having a bypass circuit allows promiscuous monitoring of all traffic between a switch and a network device, such as a file server, in either direction, and in full duplex mode. Additionally, the bypass circuit eliminates the requirement for a separate repeater between the switch and the network device.
-
Citations
7 Claims
-
1. A probe comprising:
-
a first port to communicatively couple with a first communications medium; a second port to communicatively couple with a second communications medium; a bypass circuit to forward communications from the first port to the second port when power to the probe is interrupted, said bypass circuit comprising a relay to alternately couple the first port and the second port to a repeater, or the first port to the second port; and a monitor to couple to the repeater to monitor the communications forwarded from the first port to the second port via the repeater when power to the probe is not interrupted. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A probe comprising:
-
a first port to communicatively couple with a first network device; a second port to communicatively couple with a second network device; a bypass circuit to couple the first port to the second port to forward communications received from the first network device via the first port to the second network device via the second port when power to the probe is interrupted, said bypass circuit comprising a relay to alternately couple the first port to the second port, or the first port and the second port to a repeater; and a monitor to couple to the repeater to receive and monitor the communications forwarded from the first port to the second port via the repeater when the power to the probe is not interrupted. - View Dependent Claims (7)
-
Specification