Connecting a passive TAP
Introduction
Passive Fiber Optic TAPs require little or no configuration. While cabling the network - and site ports is straight forward, the cabling between the TAP output and the NETSCOUT Accelerator NIC is somewhat special.
Solution
 | Passive TAPs could add 3dB of optical loss to the link it is inserted in. Make sure you have a sufficient optical power budget before inserting the TAP. |
| Inspect and clean all optical connectors and bulk heads before making a connection. |
| Passive TAPs are direction sensitive! Make sure to make RX and TX connections accordingly! |
LC SM/MM HD Fiber TAP
TAP internal wiring:
Y-cable
The two fibers of the duplex LC-LC output of the TAP - indicated with "monitor" - are both used for transmission.
To connect to the NETSCOUT Accelerator NIC, you need a LC-LC-duplex to 2x LC-simplex fan-out cable. It is very simple to make a cable like this from a standard (zip) fiber optic patch cord:
Connecting the TAP to the NETSCOUT Accelerator NIC
Both LC-simplex connectors of the Y-cable must be connected to the input (RX) of two SFP/SFP+ ports on the NETSCOUT Accelerator NIC on the back of the appliance. The ports are numberd from top to bottom. In some servers (like the PMA-2XX), the card is 90° rotated clockwise. It is recommeded to use the lowest port numbers first.
The following picture is showing the TAP - situated on top of the server - while its output is connected via a Y-cable to the first and second interface (SFP) on the server.
Port aggregation
An aggregate must be created from the two ports the tap is connected to. Ask our COMCERT Engineer to configure a Port Aggregate for you or read the Agent Configuration Utility for CDM/ASI Administration Guide for details on how to do this.