400 Gbps Packet Capture and Analysis – Ultra-Fast, Lossless, Real-Time Monitoring

Welcome to the latest issue of GL’s newsletter! We are excited to introduce our Duplex Wirespeed Packet Capture Solution, designed for data centers and high-speed network environments. This cutting-edge solution supports Ethernet speeds up to 400 Gbps, delivering unmatched performance and reliability for your most demanding network monitoring needs.

Duplex Wirespeed Packet Capture Solution

Overview

Ethernet network traffic is growing rapidly, driven by high-bandwidth applications such as Artificial Intelligence workloads. Network engineers must ensure their infrastructure can handle the increasing data volumes generated by modern enterprises and consumers. This requires advanced diagnostic solutions capable of interfacing with ultra-high-speed links (400 Gbps and above), capturing traffic, and performing real-time analysis—all within one integrated platform.

GL’s ultra-high-speed packet capture and recording solution, FastRecorder™, is an all-in-one hardware platform for lossless high-speed Ethernet traffic capture across multiple ports. The system is available in both rack-mount and portable form factors. The rack-mount version features dual processors and supports multiple 400 Gbps ports, achieving an aggregate capture rate of over 800 Gbps with up to 600 TB of NVMe storage. The portable version includes a single processor and multiple 400 Gbps ports, delivering an aggregate capture rate of more than 400 Gbps. Both platforms are designed for continuous packet capture and real-time analysis in labs, data centers, and field environments.

FastRecorder™ includes a secure, Linux-based web interface for remote, multi-user access from anywhere on the network, with test automation and regression testing enabled via Python and REST APIs. It provides capture metrics such as duration, data rates, frame statistics, dropped packets, total recorded bytes, link status, bandwidth usage, error counters, and frame length distribution, giving clear visibility into network performance.

Remote Packet Capture and Analysis

Remote Packet Capture and Analysis

Captured data is sent to the extraction module (PacketExtractor™) for offline processing. Users can apply filters, set time windows, or define file size limits to isolate specific streams or packet segments (such as headers) for targeted analysis. Output is available in PCAP or PCAPNG formats, along with detailed extraction metrics including frame count, data volume, extraction rate, and processing time. Extracted files can then be seamlessly analyzed using GL’s PacketScan™ software on the same platform.

Key Features

  • Duplex 400 Gbps capture (400 Gbps East + 400 Gbps West) for up to 800 Gbps total to SSDs, recording up to 6 TB per minute
  • Multi-user support through a secure web-based interface
  • Lossless wirespeed capture of IP traffic across 400, 200, 100, 50, 40, 25, 10, and 1 GigE links
  • Nanosecond timestamping
  • Test automation and regression testing via Python and REST APIs
  • Apply hardware filters (MAC, 802.1Q VLAN, IPv4, IPv6, Tunnel traffic (GRE, GTP, and VXLAN), TCP, UDP, SCTP) to capture traffic of interest
  • Monitor total recording duration, receive rates, record rates, frame rates, captured frames, dropped frames, and recorded bytes
  • Real-time port insights including status, received frames, link utilization, capture rates, error counts, and frame length distribution
  • Real-time graphs for each port to analyze capture rates and detect issues such as segment drops, Multi-Packet Receive Queue (MPRQ) buffer overflows, missed packets, and discarded packets
  • Extract traffic into PCAP/PCAPNG using limits (time, size, packet count)
  • View extraction process metrics, including frame count, data volume, processing and extraction rates, and total duration

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