Packets can become fragmented in environments where Message Transfer Unit (MTU) size mismatches occur as packets traverse one or more networks. This typically occurs during encapsulation of TCP and SCTP traffic in networks (e.g. GTP in 3G or 4G mobile, IPSec) with UDP transport, when other MTU configuration mismatches (e.g. TCP jumbo packets) exist, and where MTU restrictions are in place on network elements for quality of service (QOS) purposes.
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Fragmented packets create difficult obstacles for IT and security personnel, including:
- Zero visibility of packets that are fragmented
- Wasted analytics, security, and/or WAN acceleration tool resources
- Full tuple flow-aware load balancing of higher bandwidth traffic across multiple lower bandwidth tools will not work
When packets are fragmented, users need a way to reassemble them without slowing down their analytics processes. VSS Monitoring is the first to deliver to the market a real-time, line-rate, hardware-based solution for packet fragmentation.
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This VSS feature reassembles fragments back into their original form before forwarding them to any analytics, and security tool. This increases tools’ efficiencies by recovering processing cycles previously spent on reassembly of fragments and doing so at line-rates so that there is no delay with urgent packet analysis. Chassis shipping with Packet Fragment Reassembly include traffic statistics for counting fragmented & reassembled packets, whole (non-fragmented) packets, and total packet throughput.
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