Powerconnect 62xx and using sFLOW

Question

Hi

I'm using a Powerconnect 6248 and trying to use sFLOW, but I can only see inbound traffic for each port, absolutely no outbound. First I thought it was an issue with our Flow Collector (OpManager), so I tested several other collectors including Scrutinizer and Solarwinds NPM, but got the exact same problem.

I contacted the developers to see if they could advise on configuration, they've all said its a problem with the Powerconnect switches. Additionally these links seem to point to the same issue

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Network_Management/Network_Analysis/Q_27748120.html#a38082288

http://blogs.manageengine.com/netflowanalyzer/2011/01/27/the-case-of-the-missing-out-traffic-with-sflow-and-netflow-analyzer/

Could anybody advise on this? i.e. possibly a way to show outbound in the sFLOW, or is it intended to work this way.

Thanks

K

netvis · Accepted Answer

The links are correct, you need the switch report egress port information in the sFlow records if you want sFlow analyzers to be able to report on outbound traffic. This would require a firmware upgrade on the switch - you should ask Dell and see what their plans are - Dell/Force10 switches report egress ports.

FYI sFlow can provide detailed forwarding information, however, it is up to each vendor to populate the fields. This isn't an sFlow specific issue - many vendors don't fill out egress port for NetFlow either:

sFlow: Packet paths

Peter

kelv1n · Answer

Thanks Peter, this is what I assumed, but was hoping there may be some option I'd missed.

As far as I can tell sFLOW was added to the 62xx range in 2010, we're now 2 years on, so if it has not been implemented yet, I have doubts it ever will be.

Networking General

Powerconnect 62xx and using sFLOW

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