Abstract: A system for mirroring dropped packets by extending port mirroring. Networking devices, such as firewalls and routers drop some packets during data transmission due to various security issues, congestion and errors in the packets. The dropped packets are mirrored at a user-specified destination port by extending port mirroring. The mirrored packets can then be further analyzed by external traffic analyzers. The analysis can be helpful in finding out any mismatch between firewall rules and security policies at firewalls. Moreover, the analysis can also be helpful in finding out the extent of loss of useful data in dropped packets at forwarding devices such as routers, bridges, switches, firewalls etc.

Abstract: Methods, systems and apparatus for obviating redundant actions in a network are provided. A data packet is tagged with a label at a transmitting end, based on a set of labels registered with a receiving end. This label indicates a set of actions performed on the data packet at the transmitting end, and is used to determine another set of non-redundant actions that have to be performed on the data packet at the receiving end. Thereby, obviating redundant actions, a found appropriate.

Abstract: A system for mirroring dropped packets by extending port mirroring. Networking devices, such as firewalls and routers drop some packets during data transmission due to various security issues, congestion and errors in the packets. The dropped packets are mirrored at a user-specified destination port by extending port mirroring. The mirrored packets can then be further analyzed by external traffic analyzers. The analysis can be helpful in finding out any mismatch between firewall rules and security policies at firewalls. Moreover, the analysis can also be helpful in finding out the extent of loss of useful data in dropped packets at forwarding devices such as routers, bridges, switches, firewalls etc.