> # Information About SPAN

> The SPAN feature is specific to switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family. It monitors network traffic through a Fibre Channel interface. Traffic through any Fibre Channel interface can be replicated to a special port called the SPAN destination port (SD port). Any Fibre Channel port in a switch can be configured as an SD port. Once an interface is in SD port mode, it cannot be used for normal data traffic. You can attach a Fibre Channel Analyzer to the SD port to monitor SPAN traffic.

> SD ports do not receive frames, they only transmit a copy of the SPAN source traffic. The SPAN feature is nonintrusive and does not affect switching of network traffic for any SPAN source ports .

> This section covers the following topics:

> - SPAN Sources
> - IPS Source Ports
> - Allowed Source Interface Types
> - VSAN as a Source
> - SPAN Sessions
> - Specifying Filters
> - SD Port Characteristics
> - Monitoring Traffic Using Fibre Channel Analyzers
> - Monitoring Without SPAN
> - Monitoring with SPAN
> - Single SD Port to Monitor Traffic
> - SD Port Configuration
> - Mapping the FC Tunnel
> - Remote SPAN
> - Advantages of Using RSPAN
> - FC and RSPAN Tunnels
> - ST Port Configuration
> - ST Port Characteristics
> - Creating Explicit Paths

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