Patent ID: 8190722

Claim:
In a system that includes a plurality of boxes, a method for synchronizing activity within ports of a domain, the method comprising: a) experimentally determining and recording in a delay register of a first one of the boxes a transmission latency of signals reflecting time required to transmit a control signal from the first box to a second one of the boxes; b) after recording the transmission latency in the delay register, generating a control signal at the first box that implements capturing data from network communications traffic for analysis at each of a first port and a second port, wherein the first port is connected between a first two nodes in a network and located in the first box, and the second port is connected between a second two nodes in the network and located in the a second box, wherein each box of the plurality of boxes includes one or more blades and each blade has one or more ports; c) receiving the control signal at the second box; d) using the transmission latency recorded in the delay register in the first box to delay implementation of capturing data from between the first two nodes at the first box to occur at the same time as implementation of capturing data from between the second two nodes at the second box; and repeating steps b) to d) for another control signal that implements halting the capture of data at the first and second ports.