The newly released X2-Series software version 0.10.0 includes the following:

• PTPv2 Time Synchronization for Nanosecond Traffic Timestamping
• MPLS Filtering (up to 6 labels)
• MPLS Stripping for all labels
• Spoofing of source and/or destination MAC address
• Added support for TCP/UDP/SCTP traffic on IPv4 or IPv6 in a single rule
• Ingress Tunnel Stripping
• Redesign of Traffic Management GUI
• Added Ansible module support for Syslog and AAA Configuration

PTPv2 Time Synchronization for Nanosecond Traffic Timestamping

The Time Synchronization port of the X2-3200G and X2-6400G can now be used to synchronize a PTPv2 master clock to their internal clock. The synchronized time can then be used to perform high quality nanosecond precision traffic timestamping for ERSPANv3 encapsulated traffic.

This helps provide the right traffic visibility to the tools connected to the packet broker. Thanks to this feature, it is possible to get a very accurate view of the original packet order and the time intervals between the incoming packets. This information can be used to evaluate network metrics and application performance. Besides the possibility to synchronize the packet broker, using the PTPv2 protocol will help integrate X2-Series devices in existing infrastructures relying on a common PTP Master Clock precision.

The Time Synchronization section of the rule set provides information about the time synchronization system (current state of synchronization, clock offset against the master clock, time server's IP address, etc.)

MPLS Filtering (up to 6 labels)

Traffic can now be filtered on up to 6 MPLS labels, with the filter matching the specified position of each label. This enhances the capability of the device to handle traffic with different MPLS labels, allowing users to redirect traffic with different labels and/or sub-labels to different tools.

MPLS Stripping for all labels

MPLS labels (one outer label or all labels) can now be removed from outbound traffic matching a specific rule. This feature can help feed heavily MPLS-labeled traffic to analysis tools with less or no support for MPLS parsing.

Spoofing of source and/or destination MAC address

The source and/or destination MAC addresses can now be replaced with the specified ones for traffic matching a specific rule. This can be used to tag traffic or to unify the MAC addresses for the analysis tools.

Added support for TCP/UDP/SCTP traffic on IPv4 or IPv6 in a single rule

A single rule can now be set up to filter TCP, UDP, or SCTP traffic for both IPv4 and IPv6. This will help users minimize the amount of necessary rules to create to cover a dual-stack network.

Ingress Tunnel Stripping

Traffic can now be stripped of the external GRE-TAP, ERSPAN, or VXLAN tunnel in ingress. Thanks to this feature, the selected tunnel type can be easily removed from the incoming traffic. This will allow the packet broker to do further traffic filtering on the content of the tunnel.

Redesign of Traffic Management GUI

Various improvements to the rules and rule sets UI, providing a better overview of all X2-Series features.

Added Ansible module support for Syslog and AAA Configuration

The X2-Series Ansible modules have been extended to allow users to further automate their packet broker deployment.

Learn more about solutions for Managing & Optimizing Data Flow by visiting the Managing & Optimizing Data Flow solutions page.