Disadvantages and problems

Disadvantages and problems
Network TAPs require additional hardware, so are not as cheap as technologies that leverage capabilities that are built-in to the network. They are easier to manage and normally provide more data than some network devices though.

Network TAPs can require channel bonding on monitoring devices to get around the problem with full-duplex discussed above. Vendors usually refer to this as aggregation as well.

Putting a network TAP into place can disrupt the network being monitored for a short time. It's better than taking a network down multiple times to deploy a monitoring tool though. Establishing good guidelines for placement of network taps is recommended procedure.

Monitoring large networks using network Taps can require a lot of monitoring devices. Some argue that other technologies scale better.[citation needed] SPAN ports are presumed free, but require more configuration than TAPs.

Even fully passive network TAPs introduce new points of failure into the network. There are several ways that taps can cause problems and this should be considered when creating a tap architecture. Consider non-powered taps for optical-only environments. This allows you to modify the intelligent aggregation taps that may be in use and avoids any complications when upgrading from 100 Megabit to Gigabit to 10 Gigabit. Redundant power supplies are highly recommended.