"Swiss Army Knife" Network Visibility - Cubro Omnia
There has been a demand in the Network Visibility market for a device that can assist network engineers in easily capturing, sharing and analyzing network data. With a view to meeting such demand, Cubro Network Visibility's headquarters has developed EXA8, a prototype model of a small Network Packet Broker that is a combination of high-performance hardware and open source software to enhance the device's capabilities. On devices of this type we can find applications developed by Cubro, but also by AppMaster partners and open-source community packages from the Linux environment.
Seeing the success of the EXA8 in the networking market, Cubro Network Visibility decided to create a whole line of products based on this device, starting with the Omnia 10 (the former EXA8), followed by the Omnia 20 and ending with the Omnia 120 with 48 1/10Gb SFP+ ports and 4 40/100 QSFP28 ports. True to their name, these devices can perform multiple functions and thus be a very interesting solution for those responsible for the optimal performance of their networks.
10 main tasks that OMNIA 20 can fulfill:
1 - NETWORK TAP & PACKET BROKER
The OMNIA 20 is essentially a "smart" TAP designed to deliver a copy of network traffic from several links to performance and security monitoring tools for IT security network environments. With built-in additional features such as packet inspection and packet filtering, OMNIA 20 allows the delivery of only packets that meet specific criteria, such as packets associated with a specific application - VOiP. MORE
2 - TRAFFIC CAPTURE
OMNIA 20 can capture traffic from taped links or SPAN ports directly to disk. A built-in application allows viewing historical capture data. Analysis of this data allows you to look for causes and solve problems reported by users. MORE
3 - NETWORK TRAFFIC ANALYSIS
The administrator can use the built-in WebShark application to view pcap files captured by the OMNIA 20 to troubleshoot common network problems, as well as those related to network applications such as VoIP. In addition, the user can use other analytical tools thanks to the Linux platform built into OMNIA 20.
4 - DEEP PACKET INSPECTION
OMNIA 20 has its own deep packet analysis (DPI) engine to identify 4,000 different applications, even when encrypted, providing essential information for analytics, security policy enforcement and IT Security systems. MORE
5 - DEDUPLICATION
The deduplication process significantly reduces the load on network monitoring and IT security devices by removing duplicate network packets that do not need to be analyzed unnecessarily. This avoids overloading analytical systems with unnecessary network traffic and unnecessary investments in capacity expansion of monitoring systems. OMNIA 20 can perform this function in-line or on a SPAN port.
6 - AGGREGATION OF NETWORK TRAFFIC
In the aggregation process, data received from multiple network ports are combined and delivered to a single output port, connected to a diagnostic or IT security device.
7 - LOAD BALANCING
Load balancing allows OMNIA 20 to split network traffic over several ports and deliver it to the monitoring device. In case, for example, some of the ports of the diagnostic device become inactive, this functionality allows the reverse process - rebalancing.
8 - TRAFFIC REPLICATION
In addition to aggregation, the OMNIA 20 allows replication of traffic from a single port. Replication allows a copy of traffic to be delivered to multiple diagnostic or IT security devices.
9 - IPFIX PROBE
This OMNII 20 feature allows the generation of network traffic metadata. Netflow V5 I V9 protocols are also supported. MORE
10 - BUILT-IN LINUX ENVIRONMENT
The built-in Linux environment makes it possible to run any network applications. Coupled with access to OMNIA 20's functionality as a Packet Broker, you get a device with a wide range of applications.
The above summary signals the very broad capabilities of this product line and the relevance of the name to potential applications.