Communications Test & Measurement
Selecting the right protocol analysis and test platform for debugging SAN or NAS designs is a critical decision for developers. Traditionally, software-based application-level tools were considered sufficient for most network analysis needs. However, deep analysis of equipment utilizing high-bandwidth protocols such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, FCIP, and iFCP requires complete and accurate data capture which is beyond the capabilities of traditional software-based analyzers. In addition, software-based analyzers that operate over TCP cannot perform proper analysis if captured packets contain truncated bytes, as is possible with TCP which can embed headers at any possible offset within the packet for efficiency. As a consequence, the resulting exponential increase in network traffic and speed over recent years has created an unbridgeable gap between the data-capture capabilities of traditional software-based analyzers and the needs of network developers and managers for comprehensive access to data for troubleshooting and development.
The Xgig Analysis and Test Platform for Ethernet/iSCSI provides hardware-based monitoring and analysis of 1GE, 10GE, iSCSI, and other related protocols. Since data is captured at the Ethernet physical layer, developers have access to the entire spectrum of physical layer characteristics (i.e., pre-amble, idles, carrier extend, etc.) as well as the complete packets from any devices visible on the monitored physical link. Additionally, capture at the physical layer gives developers visibility into all traffic segments, including CRC errors, checksum errors, and otherwise corrupted packets and/or primitives. This unique accessibility to traffic information provides a 100% accurate iSCSI view of the network after data has been acknowledged by TCP.
The Xgig Analysis and Test Platform for Ethernet/iSCSI also supports FCoE, including the latest Enhanced Ethernet and Data Center Bridging (DCB) protocols. Armed with the full complement of Xgig capabilities, developers are able to evaluate FCoE encapsulation and decapsulation across multiple protocols, comprehensively test Priority Flow Control mechanisms, verify encapsulated CRCs, and monitor end-to-end converged network management, all from a single platform.
Xgig Protocol Analyzer Family Overview
Xgig 10GbE/FC/FCoE Analyzer
Xgig GbE/iSCSI Protocol Analyzer
Xgig Expert
THG/Surveyor Ethernet Analyzer
Xgig Jammer
High Density TAP
Shadow TAP
