FTOS Configuration Guide for the C-Series - Force10 Networks

— 1600 packets when extended-router and/or extended-gateway information packing is enabled.
FTOS supports sFlow version 5. sFlow is a standard-based sampling technology embedded within
switches and routers which is used to monitor network traffic. It is designed to provide traffic monitoring
for high speed networks with many switches and routers. sFlow uses two types of sampling:
• Statistical packet-based sampling of switched or routed packet flows
• Time-based sampling of interface counters
The sFlow monitoring system consists of an sFlow Agent (embedded in the switch/router) and an sFlow
collector. The sFlow Agent resides anywhere within the path of the packet, and combines the flow samples
and interface counters into sFlow datagrams and forwards them to the sFlow Collector at regular intervals.
The datagrams consists of information on, but not limited to, packet header, ingress and egress interfaces,
sampling parameters, and interface counters.
Packet sampling is typically done by the ASIC. sFlow Collector analyses the sFlow datagrams received
from different devices and produces a network-wide view of traffic flows.
Figure 201 sFlow Traffic Monitoring System
Switch/Router
Poll Interface
Counters
Enabling and Disabling sFlow
sFlow Collector
sFlow Agent
Interface
Counters
Switch ASIC
By default, sFlow is disabled globally on the system. To enable sFlow globally, use the sflow enable
command in CONFIGURATION mode. Use the no version of this command to disable sFlow globally.
Command Syntax Command Mode Usage
sFlow Datagrams
[no] sflow enable CONFIGURATION Enable sFlow globally.
Flow
Samples
304 sFlow