Summary
The way PCAP’s are retrieved from the devices has been changed with the release of SMS v4.3. Earlier versions of SMS used the “First-in, First-out” (FIFO) order of PCAP retrieval. This order of retrieval resulted in a situation in that if the device was accumulating PCAPs at a faster rate than the SMS could retrieve them, then a point would reach where SMS would not be able to get the next PCAP because it was removed from the device before the SMS could get to it. When SMS got in this state it would no longer retrieve any PCAPs and required TAC intervention.
Details
SMS v4.3 and latter, changed the retrieval order and will be retrieving the PCAPs utilizing the “Last In, First Out” (LIFO) method of retrieval. The SMS will retrieve the newest PCAP first and work backwards until it has retrieved all the PCAPs from the device. If the SMS falls behind and device deletes the PCAPs before SMS can retrieve them, there will be gaps in the PCAP retrieval. However the SMS will still continue to get new PCAPs and not stop making any retrievals. Instead, the SMS will record the PCAP retrieval gaps and the system log stating that it was unable to retrieve all PCAPs.
