6
Figure 3. A typical TAP-based monitoring system
Fiber Cabling System Design with TAPs
While industry standards for Ethernet and Fibre Channel are not expressly designed to
support the added loss of TAPs, it is possible with careful engineering and high performance
cabling systems to deploy TAPs in networks and retain useful channel topologies.
3–5
When
approaching the design of a TAP solution for a particular application, many factors need
to be taken into consideration. These include the loss of the TAP splitter, length and number
of connections within the main and two monitor channels, the intended application (e.g.
8G Fibre Channel or 10G Ethernet), and the monitor equipment capability. Fortunately the
SYSTIMAX InstaPATCH 360 Fiber TAP Solution Performance Specification
provides channel
topology limits that account for many of these factors to simplify the design process. The
following two sections provide practical design examples using this Performance Specification
for a 50/50 MMF TAP solution and a 70/30 MMF TAP solution.
Example 1—10Gbps Ethernet
Figure 4
shows an example of a 10Gbps Ethernet network retrofitted with an optical TAP. In
this case, an InstaPATCH 360 standard module (360DM module) located at the cross-connect
point—which is the middle point of the channel—is replaced with an InstaPATCH 360 TAP
module (360TM module).
