--- title: "Packet Capture at Scale: Planning Storage and Retention" description: Optimize packet capture at scale with IOTA 100 CORE for reliable, cost-effective network monitoring. Learn to plan storage, manage retention policies, and ensure robust data governance. image: https://insights.profitap.com/hubfs/planning%20storage%20and%20retention-1.png --- [![Profitap](https://insights.profitap.com/hubfs/profitap-logo-white-rev1.png "Profitap")](https://www.profitap.com) - [Solutions](https://www.profitap.com/solutions/) - Products - Resources - Company - - - - # Profitap Blog ### Recent Posts ### Categories - [Network Monitoring (75)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/network-monitoring) - [Insights (38)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/insights) - [IOTA (32)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/iota) - [Copper TAPs (31)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/copper-taps) - [ProfiShark (24)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/profishark) - [Fiber TAPs (23)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/fiber-taps) - [Data Center (17)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/data-center) - [Network Packet Brokers (14)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/network-packet-brokers) - 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It is about collecting the right data, for the right duration, with predictable performance and cost. Organizations that treat packet capture as an afterthought often discover the problem too late: storage fills up, storage bills mount, investigations lack sufficient historical context, or compliance questions cannot be answered with confidence. This article explains how to plan packet capture infrastructure at scale, focusing on realistic volume estimation, ingestion and compute requirements, and retention strategies using the IOTA platform. ![ChatGPT Image Feb 2, 2026, 09_17_09 AM](https://insights.profitap.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ChatGPT%20Image%20Feb%202%2c%202026%2c%2009_17_09%20AM.png?width=1536&height=410&name=ChatGPT%20Image%20Feb%202%2c%202026%2c%2009_17_09%20AM.png) ## **Start with a realistic traffic estimation** Storage planning starts with understanding traffic behavior, not link speed. A 10 Gbps or 100 Gbps link rarely runs at line rate continuously, but burst behavior matters as much as sustained averages. Key questions to answer: - What is the sustained average throughput per capture point? - Size of peak burst rates? - How many capture points run simultaneously? - Is traffic symmetric or directional? - How much of the traffic is actually relevant? Packet capture volume is best expressed as data per day, not bits per second. ### **Example** If a link averages 2 Gbps sustained: - 2 Gbps ≈ 250 MB per second - ≈ 21.6 TB per day At this scale, small planning errors quickly become expensive. ## **Ingestion matters more than analysis** At scale, capture systems fail more often due to ingestion bottlenecks than analysis limitations. Compute sizing must account for: - Sustained packet ingestion at peak rates - Indexing and metadata extraction - Concurrent searches during active capture The IOTA 100 CORE is designed to keep **capture reliability** independent of the **analysis workload**, which is a critical capability. Dropping packets renders any subsequent investigation useless. By integrating high-throughput ingestion with customizable capture policies, IOTA ensures storage and compute resources can be precisely matched to your unique requirements. ![capture-management-data-storage-3 (1)](https://insights.profitap.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capture-management-data-storage-3%20(1).png?width=700&height=525&name=capture-management-data-storage-3%20(1).png) ## **Retention is a policy decision, not a disk decision** Before choosing storage size, define: - Why is it needed - What data to keep - Who can access it - When the data is no longer needed   ### *Capture options with Profitap IOTA* Using IOTA capture management, you can define whether to capture full packets, filtered packets, metadata only, or a combination. ## **![](https://insights.profitap.com/hs-fs/hubfs/profitap-100-core-dashboards-1600px.png?width=300&height=225&name=profitap-100-core-dashboards-1600px.png)** You can apply filters to optimize the use of available storage, like: - VLAN - IP ranges - Protocols - Industrial traffic types - Payload inclusion or exclusion ## **IOTA 100 CORE retention tables** At a sustained 100 Gbps, the IOTA 100 CORE produces roughly 1,080 TB of data per day (decimal units). That works out to about 1.33 minutes of full packet capture per terabyte of storage. In practice, full packet capture retention (hours) ≈ storage (TB) × 0.0222. Using the same proportional assumptions as the original model, filtered packet capture retains ~20× longer than full packet capture, and metadata-only retains ~100× longer. | Internal storage (TB) | Full packet capture | Filtered packet capture | Metadata only | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 32 | 0h 43m | 14h 13m | 71h 07m | | 64 | 1h 25m | 28h 26m | 142h 13m | | 128 | 2h 50m | 56h 53m | 284h 26m | | 307 | 6h 49m | 136h 26m | 682h 13m | ## **Typical capture strategy** Most large deployments combine all three modes: | **Use case** | **Capture type** | **Typical retention** | **Storage impact** | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Performance baselining | Metadata only | 30 to 90 days | Low | | Incident response | Full packets on selected links | 7 to 30 days | High | | Compliance investigations | Full packets with controls | Case dependent | High | ## **Retention governance and audit readiness** A defensible retention policy is crucial to mitigate risk and requires robust governance. Key components include: - Establishing specific retention periods for each packet capture type. - Defining clear ownership and implementing necessary approval workflows. - Ensuring controlled access mechanisms for all raw packet data. - Implementing verifiable processes for data purge operations. ## **Putting it together with Profitap IOTA** Profitap IOTA platforms are engineered to provide predictable, large-scale packet capture. By integrating IOTA with passive fiber TAPs and flexible capture management, users can achieve: - Lossless, high-throughput traffic capture - Storage capacity that scales with organizational needs - Support for various retention policies #### *Planning assumptions used* These are conservative, standard planning values: - 1 Gbps sustained capture ≈ 10.8 TB per day - RAID 5 usable capacity assumed - 50/50 average capture/analysis balance - No compression Packet capture at scale is not about storing everything forever. It is about building visibility that remains useful, affordable, and trustworthy over time. 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Learn to plan storage, manage retention policies, and ensure robust data governance.", "headline" : "Packet Capture at Scale: Planning Storage and Retention", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://2954816.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2954816/planning%20storage%20and%20retention-1.png" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2954816/Logos/Profitap-logo-black-orange-whitebg.png" }, "name" : "Profitap HQ B.V." } } ```