N10-009: CompTIA Network+ Certification Exam

A network tap is a passive hardware device placed inline between two network devices. It has three ports: two network ports that pass traffic unimpeded and one monitoring port that receives a copy. Because it is entirely passive, it does not alter or interrupt traffic flow. SPAN ports are switch-based software copying and can impact performance; protocol analyzers are for analysis only; link aggregation is for bandwidth bonding.