What is a Network Bypass Switch
A Network Bypass Switch is a hardware device, which provides failover or fail-safe capabilities for an inline networking appliance or a network security tool (such as a firewall or an intrusion prevention system). If the appliance fails, its traffic is automatically bypassed, ensuring uninterrupted traffic flow on the network.

Bypass² – Niagara Network Bypass
The BypassP² product line encompasses all of Niagara’s Bypass Switches. Our signature BypassP² offers double-protection bypass technology. A failsafe optical/copper relay on network ports, and user-configurable heartbeat-generated packets on appliance ports. BypassP² is available in multiple bypass segment options, supporting a range of network interfaces up to 100Gb. Each BypassP² segment comprises two network ports and two appliance ports.
All products based on BypassP² can be user-configured as active taps as well.
Understanding Bypass

Failsafe Protection
Traffic flow relationships between source and destination ports:
Aggregate traffic to single port
- Replicate traffic to multiple ports
- Sophisticated filtering – L2-L4, User Defined Byte (UDB)
Other features include:
- Tunnel and VLAN support
- Flexible multi-load balancing regimes
- User-defined virtual bypass segments
- User configurable packet heartbeat (ms resolution)
- Ingress and egress filters
- Internal loopback for efficient creation of multi-level filter

Heartbeat Protection
Protecting network traffic flow in case of appliance failures.
The BypassP2 transmits a user-configurable heartbeat on the appliance ports. In the event of an appliance malfunction (such as a software crash, system failure or loss of power), the failure is detected, and the BypassP2 bypasses the traffic intended for the inline appliance to the network ports, allowing it to continue to flow through the network link. This feature also enables the network appliances or network security tools to be removed and replaced without network downtime. Once the system is backed up, or the power is restored to the appliance, it is detected by the BypassP2 heartbeat mechanism, and network traffic is seamlessly diverted back to the inline device, allowing it to resume its critical functions.

Products Offering Bypass Functionality
Product Name | 100Gbps ports | 40Gbp | 1/10 Gbp | Features |
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4 links of 1Gb in 4 Single Segment modules | Wide selection of segment modules. Network ports: SX, LX, 1000Base-T (RJ45) Appliance ports: SX, LX, 1000Base-T (RJ45) | ||
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6 links of 1Gb in 3 Dual Segment modules | Aggregation ports 4 x 10Gb (pluggable transceiver) Network ports (per dual segment module): SX, LX, 1000Base-T (RJ45) Appliance ports: Pluggable Transceiver (SFP), RJ45 (in case Network port is RJ45) | ||
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2 links of 1Gb 1000Base-T fixed dual segment | Table Top | ||
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2 links of 1/10Gb in 2 Single Segment modules | |||
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4 links of 1/10Gb in 4 Single Segment modules | Additional 8 fixed configuration active or passive monitoring ports | ||
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2 links (max) Single Segment double bay module | 4 links (max) Single Segment single bay module | 8 links (max) Dual Segment single bay module | Factory configured, multi-rate, multi segment selection Supporting 4 bays. Mix and match modules Network ports: LR4, SR4, LR, SR, SX, LX, BiDi Appliance ports: Pluggable Transceivers |

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