APCON and nPulse
Solution Brief
APCON has partnered with nPulse Technologies to provide aggregation,
filtering, load-balancing and advanced network monitoring support for nPulse
data capture and analysis tools. The flagship nPulse product, CPX, provides
cost-effective distributed packet capture at ultrafast speeds up to 20Gbps.
APCON IntellaPatch® Series 3000 switches support core network speeds up
to 40Gbps, providing simultaneous support for several nPulse installations.
The nPulse CPX platform is used today by leading financial institutions,
government agencies, and telcos to reduce time to resolution and enhance
historical analysis for both network operations and security operations. CPX
records full Netflow/IPFIX information for all captured traffic and provides a
remote web-based interface for high-speed flow search and packet decode.
Through its innovative Pivot2Pcap API, CPX significantly extends the analytics
capabilities of existing monitoring and security solutions.
Production Network
WAN
WAN
Layer-3
DMZ
SPAN / TAP
Inputs
Core
Layer-3
APCONTAP
Distribution
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
A
B
TAP
A
B
C
D
TAP
C
D
A
B
TAP
A
B
C
D
TAP
C
D
A
B
TAP
A
B
C
D
TAP
C
D
A
B
TAP
A
B
C
D
TAP
C
D
A
B
TAP
A
B
C
D
TAP
C
D
A
B
TAP
A
B
C
D
TAP
C
D
A
B
TAP
A
B
C
D
TAP
C
D
A
B
TAP
A
B
C
D
TAP
C
D
Layer-3
EXPANSION
Multiple Distribution Modules
Access / ToR
Layer-2
EXPANSION
Multiple Access Modules
SPAN from all Access Switches
Packet Aggregator
1/10 Gbps
1/10 Gigabit Fiber Ethernet
1
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12
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12
25
27
29
31
Status
Packet Aggregator
1/10 Gbps
1/10 Gigabit Fiber Ethernet
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
13
15
17
10
11
Status
APCON TAPs
C
Power
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E18-6
1
ENTER
D
Power
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E18-6
CANCEL
3
5
7
9
11
19
21
10
12
1
3
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11
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35
23
24
34
36
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
8
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
6
35
24
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E36-6
4
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
2
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E36-6
33
23
Packet Aggregator
1/10 Gbps
Status
B
Power
Packet Aggregator
1/10 Gbps
Status
A
Power
TITAN EP
Switch Management
Packet
Analyzer
IDS
Malware
User
Detection Experience
APCON Monitoring Platform – Manage Production Traffic to Tools
Figure 1: Monitoring tools leverage APCON intelligent network monitoring switch can be
scaled across the datacenter. Additional sites can also be managed using APCON’s TITAN EP
multi-switch management software.
Solution Brief - APCON and nPulse
The APCON IntellaPatch Series 3000 provides a highly available, fault tolerant and scalable switching architecture
suitable for use in a production data center running real-time application performance analytics. APCON’s unique
architecture provides the ability to aggregate multiple SPAN or TAP inputs, filter the aggregated data stream and
load-balance the output between several diagnostic tools. Additionally, APCON provides advanced services such as
packet deduplication, packet slicing, time stamping and integrated tapping.
Data Center
SPAN
or
TAP
Core
E-Commerce
SPAN/
Mirror
Port
Extranet / Partner
SPAN/
Mirror
Port
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
19
21
23
10.1.102.72 / 255.255.0.0
26.7ºc

INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E36-6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
7
9
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2
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12
5
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7
9
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15
2
4
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17
12
2
14
3
16
4
18
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
1
Customer
Experience
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
6
5
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3031-E04-1
Network
Management
35
24
3
ENTER
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3011-E18-1
33
23
4
10 Gbps Ethernet
L
31
1
1
CANCE
29
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E36-6
27
2
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
Unnamed
S/N: 72020004
Ver: 4
Hit [Enter] for configuration
25
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
Port
1/10 Gbps Ethernet
Distribution SPAN/
Mirror
SPAN/
Mirror
Port
Latency
Measuring
DMZ
SPAN/
Mirror
Port
Packet Aggregator
1/10 Gbps
D
Status
Power
SPAN/
Mirror
Port
Figure 2: The APCON IntellaPatch
Series 3000 provides a highly available,
fault tolerant and scalable architecture
suitable for use in a production data
center running real-time application
performance analytics.
WAN
Packet Aggregator
1/10 Gbps
C
Status
Power
Time Stamping
10 Gbps
GPS
B
PPS
Status
Power
ANT
IN
OUT
IRIG
Packet Controller
1/10 Gbps
Status
A
Power
Security
Troubleshooting
Enterprise-Level Scalability
Enterprise-grade data center monitoring switches must have the ability to bond several disparate data streams from
external-facing, DMZ, and internal switches, and route all this data to nPulse tools with packet tags that indicate the
source of the data. Further, the switch must be able to filter both individual and aggregated data streams using both
pass and drop filtering.
A comprehensive application performance monitoring strategy that provides a competitive advantage includes the
ability to:
■ Monitor any point on the network at will
■ Collect data streams from a variety of sources and merge them into a continuous flow
■ Direct that flow to nPulse tools
■ Filter the flow to provide only the data that your nPulse tools need
Those abilities are provided through the use of an APCON Intelligent Network Monitoring Switch.
Solution Brief - APCON and nPulse
Solution: APCON and nPulse
APCON provides an enterprise-grade intelligent network monitoring switch solution with the port density, overall port
count and throughput capacity, and high availability to handle the volume of data generated in a modern data center.
APCON also provides time stamping capability at the nanosecond level and the ability to eliminate duplicate packets,
slice packets at the header, and filter packets on any criteria.
This allows network engineers to bring together data inputs from any point on the network, aggregate and
manipulate the data at the packet level, and then direct those data flows to any nPulse tool in inventory for analysis.
With a comprehensive network monitoring system in place, engineers can proactively monitor application service
levels, bottlenecks, and spikes in network activity and accurately allocate resources for maximum network efficiency.
Production Network – DMZ
APCON Monitoring Platform
Manage DMZ Traffic to Tools
Internet
External
Aggregation
Zone 1
Zone 2
More Zones
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
APCON TAPs
External
Firewalls
1
3
5
7
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11
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15
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6
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8
21
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24
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22
24
100/1000 Ethernet
4
6
8
10
12
ENTER
25
27
29
31
33
35
23
26
28
25
30
27
32
29
24
34
31
2
3
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5
6
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28
14
30
15
32
16
35
24
34
17
Packet Aggregator
100/1000 Mbps
10 Gbps
Status
Packet Aggregator
100/1000 Mbps
10 Gbps
Status
Packet Aggregator
1/10 Gbps
Status
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Packet Aggregator
1/10 Gbps
Status
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
AT
Internal
Firewalls
Internal
Aggregation
Corp. Intranet
B
Power
1/10 Gigabit Fiber Ethernet
AT
C
Power
36
18
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E18-6
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E18-6
D
Power
36
33
23
26
1/10 Gigabit Fiber Ethernet
1
10 Gbps Ethernet
2
100/1000 Ethernet
2
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E36-1
1
CANCEL
10 Gbps Ethernet
17
18
100/1000 Ethernet
INTELLAFLEX™ Blade
ACI-3030-E36-1
100/1000 Ethernet
SPAN
from switches
DMZ
Server
Switches
Power
A
Figure 3: The APCON IntellaPatch
Series 3000 aggregates packets
copied from SPAN and TAP sources
throughout the network and aggregates,
manipulates, and filters the packet
stream before passing the data to the
monitoring tools.
Solution Brief - APCON and nPulse
About APCON
APCON develops scalable network switching solutions for enterprise data
centers worldwide. APCON intelligent network monitoring switches and
taps provide complete network visibility, improve network security and
optimize monitoring tool efficiency. APCON’s filtering and aggregation
technology and multi-switch management software minimizes network
downtime and maximizes monitoring tool investments. Learn more about
APCON at www.apcon.com.
APCON, Inc.
9255 SW Pioneer Court
Wilsonville, Oregon 97070 USA
Tel: 503–682–4050
www.apcon.com
© 2013 APCON, Inc. All rights reserved. IntellaPATCH® is a Registered Trademark of APCON, Inc.
13058-R1-0913