Benefits:
• Protected investment in current set of monitoring tools
• Aggregated 10Gbps traffic and load balanced to 1Gbps tools using Flow Mapping® technology
• Centralized management of monitoring resources
• Provided scalable solution for future network growth
Introduction
The College of William & Mary, is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693, it is the second oldest college in the nation. It is one of only eight Public Ivy universities in the United States. The College of William & Mary serves undergraduate, graduate and professional students and ranks #4 among undergraduate programs according to the 2009 Forbes list of America’s Best Public Colleges.
Business Challenge
As The College of William & Mary was refreshing their network architecture, they realized that the previous method of monitoring was not going to be sufficient. This architecture consisted of multiple 1Gbps core distribution links and 100 Mbps network connections to edge desktop computers. The monitoring infrastructure was comprised of SPAN ports and unmanaged inline 1Gig TAPs attached to SNORT Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and network-monitoring Linux servers dispersed throughout the campus environment. In order to increase network capacity, distribute VoIP, improve network resiliency and traffic engineering capabilities, The College of William & Mary network engineers upgraded the network. The new architecture consisted of upgrading to 10Gbps Core Distribution links and 1Gbps connections to edge desktop computers. Network engineers at The College of William & Mary found they would need better visibility on the higher speed connections while containing costs.
Resolution
The College of William & Mary deployed the GigaVUE-2404 Traffic Visibility Switch in the core of the campus network and consolidated all 10-Gigabit inline TAP monitor ports and SPAN data. The GigaVUE-2404 enabled secure access and complete network visibility. Using the intelligent filtering engine, network engineers at The College of William & Mary were able to aggregate and filter incoming 10Gbps data. The more manageable and easier to identify traffic was sent to lower speed 1Gbps monitoring interfaces. See figure A…
Benefit
By deploying the Gigamon GigaVUE-2404 Traffic Visibility Switch, The College of William & Mary network engineers experienced immediate investment protection by allowing them to utilize their existing 1Gbps monitoring tools. The GigaVUE improved the manageability of previously un-managed in-line network taps, and increased flexibility by utilizing the Gigamon advanced mapping and connection filters. Gigamon provided the ability to aggregate multiple 10Gbps links, filter and load divide the traffic streams. Network engineers were then able to direct specified traffic to the appropriate tools. The deployed solution also provided The College of William & Mary network engineers with scalability to meet future network monitoring demands. The Gigamon solution was able to reduce the cost and complexity of the upgraded infrastructure.
About Gigamon
Gigamon® provides intelligent Traffic Visibility Networking solutions for enterprises, data centers and service providers around the globe. Our technology empowers infrastructure architects, managers and operators with unmatched visibility into the traffic traversing both physical and virtual networks without affecting the performance or stability of the production environment. Through patented technologies, the Gigamon GigaVUE® portfolio of high availability and high density products intelligently delivers the appropriate network traffic to security, monitoring or management systems. With over seven years’ experience designing and building intelligent traffic visibility products in the US, Gigamon serves the vertical market leaders of the Fortune 1000 and has an install base spanning 40 countries.
