Problem: Most manufacturers' gigabit copper taps are points of network failure known to prevent the operation of redundant routing in connected network elements. As gigabit copper taps are designed to link to each network element separately any failures occurring on one link are invisible to the other side. This enables a state of failure where one side of the Tap has link while the other link is down thus preventing the network element on the opposite side of the failure to activate redundancy.

Solution: VSS monitoring's 'Link Safe' Taps employ an intelligent controller which enables link failures to be observed by network elements both sides of the Tap thereby enabling routers and switches to execute redundant links whenever appropriate.

VSS monitoring's 'Link Safe'feature monitors both sides of the tap for link status. If one link fails, the tap causes the other link to drop immediately, thereby enabling the router to realize the failure and reroute packets through a redundant port. The tap then continues to monitor both links until they become available again, at which time the Tap re-establishes the primary link between the router and switch. This works exactly the same in the opposite direction! No user intervention is required when the link fails or is re-established. To simplify installation the LinkSafe feature is not enabled until both links are up. Immediately after power up the tap will leave both links enabled. This allows for easy link verification during the installation process. Once both network links are up the LinkSafe feature will begin to watch link status and propagate any error conditions.