Central Management: One-Stop NinjaProbe™ Administration

NinjaProbe Packet Capture Appliance

As more networks demand wide-scale, fixed deployments of intelligent probes, the need for centralized management of these devices is compounded. Powered by proven DAG card technology, the NinjaProbe, from Endace, is a leading packet capture appliance that not only features a broad range of network interfaces but includes native applications, such as NetFlow statistics generation and Lawful Intercept traffic handling. Along with being ideal for network monitoring and forensics, the NinjaProbe is widely deployed across small medium and large data infrastructures for traffic engineering, security, accounting and regulatory compliance purposes.

Common Command and Control

The NinjaProbe Central Management Server (CMS) is easy to deploy and dramatically simplifies the command and control of highly distributed NinjaProbe appliances. With a single CMS supporting potentially hundreds of NinjaProbes, network professionals and IT specialists can administer the ongoing operation of these platforms far more efficiently than addressing and ‘touching’ each one individually. Presenting a ubiquitous browser-based graphical user interface (GUI) the central management console (CMC) provides a portal from which all operations administration, maintenance and provisioning functions can be performed simultaneously across the entire NinjaProbe infrastructure.

Consolidated Health and Maintenance

Through the extended reach of the CMS - dynamically establishing and maintaining a communication path to each remote NinjaProbe - the central management console provides a unified view of the status of each Endace appliance in the network. This includes detailed network statistics and comprehensive intelligent platform management interface (IPMI) 2.0 data. Providing a meta-management layer, software updates, patches and images, along with single or batched configuration updates, may be scheduled or pushed in-real-time to either individual or all appliances simultaneously. Moreover, a grouping function enables system administrators to categorize NinjaProbe’s based on physical (geographical) location, logical business function or any personal preference.

Simplified and Secure Access

With one (local, TACACS+ or RADIUS AAA) authenticated and secure connection from a browser interface to the central management server, a network operator can manage hundreds of Endace appliances. A role-based administration function enables tiered access to NinjaProbe functionality for people authorized for full configuration access or those only allowed to view and monitor the platforms. With security between NinjaProbe platforms and the CMS of paramount importance, all communications channels are encrypted using secure shell (SSH) with RSA or DSA2 keys leveraging secure hashing algorithms (SHA). HTTP over secure socket layer (SSL), often referred to simply as HTTPS, is used to deliver the CMC to a standard browser interface.

Endace NinjaProbe - The Easy Way

Faster appliance deployments. Fewer administration hassles. The central management server enables turnkey NinjaProbe implementations and dramatically reduces recurring operational costs by enabling ‘lights out’ day-to-day configuration and management of this powerful network monitoring platform.