Live Capture Mode - ProfiTap ProfiShark 10G User Manual

Live Capture Mode

ProfiShark 10G transmits network frames to the capture
software without altering them. It is transparent for packet
size, packet type, or protocols. All tags and encapsulation are
preserved (e.g. VLAN, MPLS, GRE).
The "Software Dropped Packets" counter in the Features tab
indicates the number of packets dropped by the driver in Live
Capture mode. It is not representative of the packets dropped
in Direct Capture (see "Direct Capture Mode" chapter). These
drop events are caused by high CPU usage.
The "Hardware Dropped Packets" counter indicates the amount
of captured packets that were dropped due to a high demand
for USB bandwidth. Hardware filters and packet slicing can
greatly reduce the amount of traffic to be captured, and thus
prevent hardware packet drops.
NOTE
Capture of small packet at high speed is extremely
challenging for processors and can cause software drops. For
that reason, another capture mode is available (see "Direct
Capture Mode" chapter).
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