Mirroring Subscriber Traffic in the SDX Network > Overview

Overview

Traffic mirroring allows you to intercept subscriber traffic by configuring a service with the SDX software that applies policies on a JUNOS routing platform in a fashion similar to the application of firewall filters.

When the SAE activates a traffic-mirroring service session, the session applies filters to the forwarding table to mirror traffic using the preconfigured mirroring port and policy-specified filters. The process is similar to service activation on interfaces, but this service is activated on the forwarding table for a JUNOS routing platform and is applicable only to input.

By activating traffic-mirroring services in an SDX-managed environment, service providers can use the SDX software to simplify traffic mirroring on their network equipment. The SDX software can set up a policy to:

• Monitor subscriber traffic and intercept traffic from a particular source or to a particular destination.
• Take actions for subscribers with intercepted traffic by applying policies to the subscriber traffic.

You must deploy traffic mirroring on JUNOS routing platforms to monitor the subscriber traffic.

The traffic-mirroring application is not compatible with Web application server clusters; it should be run in a standalone Web application server.

Traffic-Mirroring Application

The SDX application library provides a traffic-mirroring application that can mirror subscriber traffic on any subscriber access platform supported by the SDX software. You set up traffic mirroring by configuring a service with the SDX software that applies policies on a JUNOS routing platform to mirror subscriber traffic in the SDX-managed network. The traffic-mirroring application provides robust sample data for mirroring traffic. Figure 1 illustrates a sample network configuration that contains JUNOSe routers and JUNOS routing platforms.

Figure 1: Sample Network Topology with a JUNOSe Router and JUNOS Routing Platforms

The implementation includes:

• Policies, services, router definitions, and SAE configuration in the sample data. Sample entries for traffic mirroring have the prefix TM.

For information about installing sample data, see Chapter 1, Installing the SDX Applications.

• Sample policies and services to mirror subscriber traffic.
• Traffic Mirroring Administration portal.

You can use the sample data to create a demonstration implementation. The traffic-mirroring router definitions, identified as TM<routername> in the sample data, can be configured to act as simulated routers for the demonstration environment. For information about setting up a simulated router, see SDX Components Guide, Vol. 1, Chapter 2, Configuring the SAE.

You can also customize the sample data to use traffic mirroring in your network, or you can use the samples as a guide to create your own implementation.