What is the difference between inline traffic interrogation (TAPS) and traffic mirroring (SPAN)?
A.
TAPS interrogation is more complex because traffic mirroring applies additional tags to data and SPAN does not alter integrity and provides full duplex network.
B.
SPAN results in more efficient traffic analysis, and TAPS is considerably slower due to latency caused by mirroring.
C.
TAPS replicates the traffic to preserve integrity, and SPAN modifies packets before sending them to other analysis tools
D.
SPAN ports filter out physical layer errors, making some types of analyses more difficult, and TAPS receives all packets, including physical errors.
The main difference between inline traffic interrogation (TAPS) and traffic mirroring (SPAN) lies in how they handle network traffic for analysis purposes. TAPS, or Test Access Points, are hardware devices that create a copy of the traffic between two network points without altering the data. This means TAPS can transmit both send and receive data streams simultaneously on separate dedicated channels, ensuring all data, including physical layer errors, is received by the monitoring or security device in real-time. On the other hand, SPAN, or Switch Port Analyzer, is a feature that duplicates network packets seen on one port to another port for analysis. However, SPAN ports can filter out physical layer errors, which may limit the types of analyses that can be performed as some errors will not be represented in the mirrored traffic.
The distinction between TAPS and SPAN is covered in the Cisco CyberOps Associate CBROPS 200-201 course, which provides foundational knowledge for network monitoring and security analysis1. Additionally, industry resources such as Garland Technology’s comparison of TAPS and SPAN highlight the differences in performance and integrity of the traffic being analyzed
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