Network Management and Monitoring

TAP aggregation (QFX5130-32CD, QFX5220, QFX5230-64CD, QFX5240-64OD, and QFX5240-64QD)—Test access point (TAP) aggregation, similar to port mirroring, is a network monitoring and troubleshooting tool. Unlike port mirroring, TAP aggregation provides many-to-many packet replication, enabling you to capture different types of data in real time so that you quickly see what is happening in your network. You configure the TAP-aggregation feature at the [edit forwarding-options tap-aggregation] hierarchy level.

[See TAP Aggregation for Network Monitoring.]

Dropped-packet notification (QFX5240-64OD and QFX5240-64QD)—Packet drops are common occurrences on network switches and routers. Debugging packet drops can be complex and time-consuming. The packet-processing pipeline supports a limited set of drop counters, but these counters are insufficient for debugging complex packet-drop issues. Debugging difficulties can result in high mean times to recovery (MTTRs).

A feature called dropped-packet notification, also referred to as mirror on drop (MoD), can help you debug packet drops in real time. The areas of packet drop monitored include:

• Packets dropped due to processing in the ingress pipeline

• Packets dropped due to processing in the egress pipeline

• Packets dropped due to congestion in the MMU

Dropped-packet notification on the platforms named in this description is stateless and flow unaware.

Timestamp option for tap-aggregation packets (QFX5220-32CD and QFX5220-128C)—High-performance data analysis depends on the accuracy of its underlying data; one possible enhancement of that accuracy would be a timestamp inserted into a tap-aggregation packet that showed exactly when the data packet was captured.

You can configure the tap-aggregation feature to insert a timestamp in packets at data capture, before the packets are sent to the tool ports for analysis. You must configure the PTP reference clock on the tap-aggregation switch and PTP must be running when the timestamp is inserted. Your tap aggregation switch must also sync the PTP FPGA’s recovered time-of-day with the system chip’s time-of-day. The command you use to enable the timestamp option is:

• Enable timestamping per interface with

  [edit] user@switch# set interfaces interface-name timestamp ingress

Ingress ACL UDF filtering function on tap ports on TAP-aggregation switches (QFX5130-32CD, QFX5130-48C, QFX5220, QFX5230-64CD, QFX5240-64OD, QFX5240-64QD, and QFX5700)—You can apply ingress ACL (access control list) UDF filtering on tap interfaces, which enables you to selectively choose specific traffic to be sent to the tool interfaces on a TAP-aggregation switch. If the ACL match and the TAP aggregation rule conflict, the ACL match takes precedence.

Also on these switches, you now configure the TAP-aggregation interfaces under the [edit interfaces] hierarchy level as follows:

• Add an interface to a tap group with

  [edit]

• Add an interface to a tool group with

  [edit]