Method, apparatus and system for filtering captured network traffic

A method comprising:

• receiving captured network traffic at a network captured traffic distribution device communicatively coupled to a plurality of network captured network traffic distribution devices arranged in a stacked topology;
• applying, by the network captured traffic distribution device, a plurality of filters to the captured network traffic;
• generating, by the network captured traffic distribution device, a plurality of filtered captured network traffic sets from the filtered captured network traffic;
• determining, by the network captured network traffic distribution device, a target destination of each filtered captured network traffic set;
• determining, by the network captured traffic distribution device, whether any of the sets of filtered captured network traffic have a similar target destination;
• aggregating, by the network captured traffic distribution device, filtered captured network traffic sets with the similar target destination;
• and
• transmitting, by the network captured traffic distribution device, aggregated filtered captured network traffic toward the target destination determined for the aggregated filtered captured network traffic.

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of bi-directional ports configured to receive instructions to filter received captured network traffic according to one or more criterion and perform at least one of receiving captured network traffic and echoing received captured network traffic to one or more of the plurality of bi-directional ports;
• an egress port configured to transmit received captured network traffic to an external device;
• a stacking port configured to enable, via a communication link, the stacking of the network captured traffic distribution device with at least one additional network captured traffic distribution device in a stacked topology wherein the stacking includes an exchange of configuration information between the network captured traffic distribution device and the additional network captured traffic distribution device;
• and
• a processor configured to filter the received captured network traffic responsively to the received instructions and manage distribution of received captured network traffic through the network captured traffic distribution device.