System and method for data acquisition in an internet protocol network

摘要

A communication network system for monitoring data traffic is disclosed, in which at least one switch serving as an intermediary to a plurality of data input streams and a plurality of data output streams; a capture server in communication with the switch; and a data acquisition control engine operable to receive data acquisition instructions from a user and cause the received instructions to be implemented at the switch.

主权项

1. A network monitoring system comprising:
at least one network switch serving as an intermediary to i) at least one data input stream arriving on at least one port and ii) at least one data output stream, in a network; a capture server in communication with, and for capturing data from, the at least one network switch; and a data acquisition control engine that is configured to
(i) receive a data acquisition instruction from a user, the instruction comprising a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) equipment identification (ID) and a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) ID,(ii) based on the received data acquisition instruction, derive commands for the at least one network switch, including at least one port number that identifies the at least one port and that is based on the VOIP equipment ID and VLAN ID received,(iii) cause the received data acquisition instruction to be implemented on the at least one port at the at least one network switch according to the derived commands, and(iv) manage mapping between the at least one port number and specific devices in a manner that is opaque to the user.