JeffP 323-203-9736 CELL 323-484-3830 GoogleVoice jeffp@jeffp.us *“Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” - Voltaire* *Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.* NOTICE: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Use or dissemination by persons other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail to correct our records. Please then delete the original message (including any attachments) in its entirety, including any backup processes that your system may perform. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author. Email transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender, therefore, does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. 34° 5' 23.7768'' N 118° 21' 32.5656'' W On Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 9:52 AM Riley O via NANOG <nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
The optical world does have a well fit solution, in the form of optical line taps... I've never used the independent modules, but it's common to see them integrated into a MUX as a monitor port.
Quick search found this:
https://www.showmecables.com/by-category/patch-panels/fiber-optic-systems/pa...
I'd contend this is better, as they start and end passive, avoiding a state change in a failure scenario. Although, un-networked devices in the middle of a circuit can become problematic if undocumented. The last thing you want is to be hunting down failed splices, when the answer is a loose connection in a datacenter.
Probably good if you can have some type of networked monitoring platform in line with one of these.
From the sounds of it though, OP would need his device to be addressable via one of the connections it is monitoring... and passive taps are unidirectional. As far as optical networking goes, a passive solution would require some type of multiplexing, which implies special equipment at midpsan, A, and Z ends of the circuit.
- Riley
On Monday, June 23rd, 2025 at 9:41 AM, Kevin Shymkiw via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
I have seen several Fail To Wire (FTW) switches in the past. I never found them to be worthwhile, personally for a few reasons
- Only available in Copper. - You can't FTW optical since you need an OEO conversion
- Failure scenarios were limited - Our sites didn't have backup power, so it was pointless as we would lose the rest of the gear as well
Just my $.02
Kevin
On Mon, Jun 23, 2025 at 9:34 AM Craig Smith via NANOG nanog@lists.nanog.org
wrote:
Hello,
Is anyone out there aware of a fail safe switch/router/1U server where upon power failure or watchdog event 2 ports would fail to pass through data, but could also be assigned an IP address and act as a bridge in "normal" mode? The desire is to have an appliance that could perform monitoring and send telemetry in between a customer device and an Internet connection but not create a single point of failure or require multiple ISP handoffs.
Best,
Craig _______________________________________________ NANOG mailing list
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