Brocade Network OS Administrator’s Guide v4.1.1 - Manual (Page 533)

Configuring Switched Port Analyzer
● Switched Port Analyzer protocol overview.................................................................... 533
● Configuring SPAN......................................................................................................... 536
● Configuring RSPAN...................................................................................................... 538
Switched Port Analyzer protocol overview
The Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) is used on a network switch to send a copy of network packets
seen on one switch port to a network monitoring connection on another switch port. If you are interested
in listening to or snooping on traffic that passes through a particular port, SPAN artificially copies the
packets to a port connected to your analyzer. Usually, this traffic is limited to incoming or outgoing
packets, but Network OS 4.0.0 and later allows bidirectional traffic monitoring on the source port.
SPAN in logical chassis cluster
SPAN in logical chassis cluster supports mirroring of a source port to a destination port lying on a
different switch in the cluster. SPAN in logical chassis cluster is configured in the same manner, with the
exception of the source command.
RSPAN
Remote SPAN, or RSPAN, extends SPAN by enabling remote monitoring of multiple switches across
your network. The traffic for each RSPAN session is carried over a user-specified RSPAN VLAN that is
dedicated for that RSPAN session in all participating switches. The SPAN traffic from the sources is
copied onto the RSPAN VLAN and then forwarded over trunk ports that are carrying the RSPAN VLAN
to any RSPAN destination sessions monitoring the RSPAN VLAN.
NOTE
RSPAN is supported only on Brocade VDX 8770 and VDX 6740 platforms.
RSPAN consists of an RSPAN source interface and an RSPAN VLAN. The configured source port is
mirrored to the RSPAN VLAN and the ports that are members of this VLAN receive the mirrored traffic.
All participating switches must be trunk-connected at Layer 2, and the remote VLAN must be configured
on all the switches participating in the RSPAN session.
SPAN guidelines and limitations
Consider the topics discussed below when configuring SPAN.
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