Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch CLI Software Configuration Guide, NX-OS 4.0(1a)N1 (OL-16597-01, January 2009)

CHAPTER
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49-1
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch CLI Software Configuration Guide
OL-16597-01
49
Configuring SPAN
The Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) feature (sometimes called port mirroring or port monitoring)
selects network traffic for analysis by a network analyzer. The network analyzer can be a Cisco
SwitchProbe, a Fibre Channel Analyzer, or other Remote Monitoring (RMON) probes.
This chapter includes the following sections:
• SPAN Sources, page 49-1
• SPAN Destinations, page 49-2
• Configuring SPAN, page 49-2
SPAN Sources
SPAN sources refer to the interfaces from which traffic can be monitored. The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series
switch supports Ethernet, Fibre Channel, virtual Fibre Channel, port channels, SAN port channels,
VLANs, and VSANs as SPAN sources. With VLANs or VSANs, all supported interfaces in the specified
VLAN or VSAN are included as SPAN sources. You can choose the SPAN traffic in the ingress direction,
the egress direction, or both directions for Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and virtual Fibre Channel source
interfaces:
• Ingress source (Rx)—Traffic entering the switch through this source port is copied to the SPAN
destination port.
• Egress source (Tx)—Traffic exiting the switch through this source port is copied to the SPAN
destination port.
Characteristics of Source Ports
A source port, also called a monitored port, is a switched interface that you monitor for network traffic
analysis. The switch supports any number of ingress source ports (up to the maximum number of
available ports on the switch) and any number of source VLANs or VSANs.
A source port has these characteristics:
• Can be of any port type: Ethernet, Fibre Channel, virtual Fibre Channel, port channel, SAN port
channel, VLAN, and VSAN.
• Cannot be monitored in multiple SPAN sessions.
• Cannot be a destination port.