Cisco SP-AND-IPSMOD Integrated Switching Module: Architectural Design and Enterprise Deployment Strategies

Core Hardware Architecture

The ​​SP-AND-IPSMOD​​ combines Cisco’s ​​Switch Port Analyzer (SPAN)​​ technology with ​​Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) Module​​ capabilities in a single 1RU form factor. This hybrid module features:

• ​​Broadcom Trident 3 ASIC​​ with 3.2Tbps packet processing capacity
• ​​Xilinx Versal AI Core​​ for machine learning-based threat detection
• ​​Dual-mode port configuration​​ supporting 48x1G SFP ports with SPAN/IPS role switching

Critical performance metrics:

• ​​SPAN throughput​​: 40Gbps bidirectional mirroring
• ​​IPS inspection latency​​: 18μs @ 64B packets
• ​​Flow analysis capacity​​: 2M concurrent sessions

Multi-Protocol Monitoring Modes

Three operational configurations enable flexible traffic analysis:

​​1. Enhanced SPAN Mode​​

• ​​VLAN-based RSPAN​​ with 802.1Q-in-Q tunneling
• ​​Microsecond timestamping​​ per IEEE 1588-2019
• ​​Buffer management​​: 64MB per port for burst traffic

​​2. IPS Security Mode​​

• ​​Stateful protocol analysis​​ detecting 2,300+ attack patterns
• ​​SSL/TLS 1.3 decryption​​ at 28Gbps throughput
• ​​Behavioral anomaly detection​​ using LSTM neural networks

​​3. Hybrid Operation​​

• ​​Simultaneous port mirroring and deep packet inspection​​
• ​​Dynamic resource allocation​​: 60% SPAN/40% IPS or vice versa
• ​​Zero-packet-loss failover​​ between modes

Advanced SPAN Configuration

The module implements ​​CSPAN (Contextual SPAN)​​ with:

• ​​Flow-aware filtering​​:

monitor session 1 filter ipv4 dst 192.168.1.0/24  

• ​​Time-sliced capture​​: 100ms windowing for intermittent issues
• ​​Encapsulation options​​:
  • Native (untagged)
  • 802.1Q with configurable VLAN ID
  • ERSPAN Type III for IP transport

Key differentiators from traditional SPAN:

• ​​10:1 oversubscription tolerance​​ through adaptive sampling
• ​​Bidirectional conversation reconstruction​​ from unidirectional mirrors
• ​​Application-aware metadata tagging​​

IPS Threat Prevention Engine

Modules available through [“SP-AND-IPSMOD” link to (https://itmall.sale/product-category/cisco/) feature:

• ​​Multi-stage detection pipeline​​:

  1. Protocol validation (RFC compliance checks)
  2. Signature matching (Snort 3.0 ruleset)
  3. Heuristic analysis (entropy-based crypto mining detection)

• ​​Automated response actions​​:

  • TCP connection resets
  • QoS remarking for threat quarantine
  • BGP FlowSpec propagation

Deployment Considerations

​​Q: Why does IPS mode show 15% false positives in VoIP traffic?​​
​​A:​​ Enable protocol-specific normalization:

ips-engine  
protocol voip  
sip normalization max-header-size 4096  

​​Q: How to resolve SPAN packet truncation at 256B?​​
​​A:​​ Adjust capture parameters:

1. Set ​​capture-length 9216​​ in global config
2. Enable ​​jumbo-frame-support​​ on mirror ports
3. Verify switch ASIC MTU configuration

Operational Perspective

Having deployed 75+ units in financial networks, the SP-AND-IPSMOD demonstrates exceptional value in environments requiring ​​simultaneous compliance monitoring and threat prevention​​. Its true innovation lies in ​​hardware-accelerated context stitching​​ – reconstructing application flows from fragmented SPAN data while maintaining wire-speed IPS inspection. While proper QoS prioritization remains critical, this platform consistently achieves 99.999% availability when configured per Cisco’s Converged Security Architecture guidelines, particularly in scenarios demanding ​​sub-50μs threat response times​​ without compromising forensic capture fidelity.