Are you trying to identify network problems without slices of data? Or is your network clogging as you try to transfer large files across it for central analysis? Continuously and easily troubleshoot network activity in real time with the always-on Riverbed® Cascade® Shark appliance. It quickly captures, indexes, and stores all data packets without the need for file transfers.
You no longer need to transfer huge files to solve complex or intermittent performance problems. With the continuous capture of packets, rapid indexing, and long to storage, you can ensure that packet-level information is always available for trouble shooting and granular, real-time and back-in-time analysis.
Both Cascade Shark and Cascade Pilot products were built on Wireshark® software by the original developers of Wireshark, and they are the only products on the market with full Wireshark integration.
With Cascade Shark Virtual Edition, you get real-time visibility as packets traverse the virtual switch in VMware ESXI environments. Monitor all inter-virtual machine traffic, and export traffic metrics to Riverbed® Cascade® Profiler software.
Steelhead appliances running Riverbed® Optimization System (RiOS®) 7.0 include Cascade Shark packet capture functionality. Turn it on for no additional cost and get remote site troubleshooting without affecting core WAN optimization.
If you are a small to medium enterprise, you might find an all in one appliance is what you need. Cascade Express combines the best of flow and packet capture plus monitoring into a single appliance.
| Cascade Shark appliances | Cascade Shark Virtual Edition | Embedded Shark on Steelhead | |
| Continuous capture | √ | √ | - |
| On-demand capture | √ | √ | √ |
| Packet indexing for fast analysis | √ | √ | √ |
| Flow export to Profiler | √ | √ | * |
| Analysis by Cascade Pilot | √ | √ | √ |
| Monitor live traffic with views & watches | √ | √ | - |
| Runs in virtual environment | - | √ | - |
| Disk space | 4TB to 32TB | 50GB to 2TB | 15GB to 119GB |
| Supports real-time traffic (VoIP) | √ | √ | - |
*CascadeFlow export is performed by Steelhead appliance itself, not embedded Shark functionality.
Back to TopBy increasing the speed with which data and RTP packets are captured, AireSpring technicians can locate and analyze both sets of packets associated with a particular voice network call. Now, instead of the half hour or more it used to take, technicians can pull the data they need in minutes.
Eight of AireSpring's 15 technicians can work simultaneously on trouble tickets — accessing network diagnostics and troubleshooting — while more than 9,000 concurrent voice sessions are being monitored.
By gaining greater network visibility — which lets IT fix persistent problems before they affect the dental offices — Pacific Dental Services has saved countless hours and has avoided the need to expand its staff.
Using a full-packet trace, the IT department can investigate a problem in a lab-type environment by analyzing continuous line-rate traffic at 1G and 10G speeds without packet drops.
Back to TopWith continuous, reliable recording of multi-gigabit per second network traffic to disk, the Cascade Shark appliance makes sure you don’t miss a thing and ensures that all data is available for real time and back in time analysis. Multi-gigabit per second Ethernet traffic capture: Includes Shark Packet Recorder, a customized dump-to-disk utility based on the 1GbE and 10GbE.
Smart packet indexing accelerates troubleshooting and reduces the time it takes to identify and resolve complex performance issues. Packet meta-data, called microflows, provide efficient real-time indexing of packet data and enables users to quickly search terabytes of data. This allows for seamless transition between flow-based information in Cascade Profiler appliance and packet-level information in Cascade Shark appliance.
Selective recording for regulatory compliance: With requirements such as PCI, DSS, or HIPAA, you can record and store the right amount of packet data. It can also extend the amount of packet data that can be stored and the length of time it is available for analysis.
Precision time stamping: Critical for low-latency trading environments, time-sensitive applications, and multi-segment analysis, Cascade Shark adopts the precision time stamps from network tap aggregators such as Gigamon, cPackets, and VSS Monitoring.
Back to TopAvailable as a dedicated appliance, virtualized software, or embedded in Riverbed® Steelhead® WAN optimization appliances.
Additionally for the small to medium enterprise, you can deploy the all-in one solution Cascade Express, which combines flow and packet capture into a single appliance solution.
| Size | Storage | NIC Slots | Capture Cards | |
| CSK 1100 | 1U | 4TB | 1 | 2-port 1GbE card, 4-port 1GbE card, or 4-port 1Gb SFP card |
| CSK 2100 | 2U | 8TB | 2 | Any combination of 2-port 1GbE card, 4-port 1GbE card, 4-port 1Gb SFP or 2-port 10Gb SFP+ card Up to 2 NICs per system |
| CSK 2200 | 2U | 16TB | 2 | |
| CSK 3100 | 3U | 16TB | 2 | |
| CSK 3200 | 3U | 32TB | 2 |
| VSK-00050 | VSK-00200 | VSK-00400 | |
| Packet Storage | Up to 50GB | Up to 1TB | Up to 2TB |
| Hypervisor | VMware ESXi 4.1 and 5.0 | ||
| vCPU | 2 | ||
| Memory | 2GB | ||
| System Disk Space | 30GB | ||
| Capture Ports | Up to 4 | ||
| Management Ports | 2 | ||
Storage dedicated to embedded Cascade Shark functionality differs by Steelhead model.
| Steelhead model |
250 L/M/H |
550 L/M/H |
1050 L/M/H |
2050 L/M/H |
5050 L/M/H |
6050 | 7050 L/M |
| Packet Storage Capacity |
15GB | 15GB | 15GB | 15GB | 59GB | 119GB | 119GB |
Cascade Express 460 has flow rates ranging from 15,000 to 120,000. The Express is best suited for smaller organizations or a small subsection of a larger network.
| Cascade Express 460 | |||||
| Model | CAX-460 Series5 | ||||
| Configurations | U | L | M | H | VH |
| Flow Capacity (Flows per Minute)1 | 15,000 | 30,000 | 60,000 | 90,000 | 120,000 |
| Disk Capacity3 | 6 TB | ||||
| RAID | RAID 1/ RAID 0 | ||||
| Front-Swappable Disks4 | 4 | ||||
| RAM | 16 GB | ||||
| Serial Port (9-pin D-Subminiature Connector) | √ | ||||
| Available Traffic Monitoring/Packet Capture Ports | 4-port copper (build-in) | ||||
| Primary Cascade Management Port2 (10/100/1000 RF45) | √ | ||||
| Flow as Data Source6 | √ | ||||
(1) Flow capacity can be expanded up to the amount listed.
(2) 1000/Full connection required in some configurations
(3) Raw Disk Capacity does not not take into account disk formatting, RAID overhead, software installation, or OS usage
(4) Hot swappable disks
(5) Cascade Pilot is recommended to access packet data captured by the 460 appliance and one license is included with the appliance for this purpose.
(6) Accepts NetFlow V1, V5, V7, V9, IPFIX, sFlow V2, sFlow V5, cFlow, Packeteer FDR, Cascadeflow, Cascadeflow-compatible
