A54-3002-027
• Rev B
11
APCON, Inc.
Bypass Switch TAP/Aggregator User Manual
Chapter 2 Introduction
When a networking tool is connected in-line, another possible point of failure is added. If the
tool fails, the customer may suffer significant network traffic loss and downtime. Therefore,
the ability to support a failback mode is critical for any device connected in-line.
To address this need, APCON offers the I
NTELLA
F
LEX
Bypass Switch TAP/Aggregator
(Bypass TAP).
The Bypass TAP combines an in-line fail-safe security resilience solution and intelligent
network monitoring on one blade to protect traffic flow and increase visibility.
The optical 10G network Bypass TAP enables enterprise networks to remain functional and
accessible even in the event of the loss of a security monitoring device.
Businesses can’t afford the possibility of a single point of failure impacting mission-critical
networks. The security and resiliency of tools is vital for avoiding network down time. The
Bypass TAP maintains high network availability by allowing traffic to flow unimpeded when in-
line security tools lose power, have a software failure, degrade in performance, require
security updates, or are off-line for maintenance.
The Bypass TAP provides heartbeat functionality to automatically detect a faulty link and pass
data through the network, bypassing the appliance until it is back on-line. This ensures that in-
line monitoring tools such as Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), Firewalls, or Data Loss
Prevention (DLP) are no longer a single point of failure on a network.
High Port Density
With five optical network bypass ports, the Bypass TAP has one of the highest 1RU port
densities. Its four advanced monitoring ports aggregated data streams and filtered output
streams can be routed to security tools to achieve maximum utility and efficiency. The
Bypass TAP can support up to seven in-line security appliances.
The Bypass TAP ships with W
EB
XR software, featuring convenient, drag-and-drop functionality
for managing connections and organizing diagrams, as well as an enhanced status screen
that displays more detail about the system’s health. A network with multiple Bypass TAPs can
be managed with T
ITAN
XR, a centralized management software solution with custom
dashboards, reporting and batch upgrades along with the APCON M
OBILE
A
PP
.
Basic operation
The following description describes how the Bypass TAP switches from Monitor (Normal) mode
to Bypass mode:
