How to configure sFlow on Dell Networking N Series Switches

This article explains how to configure and verify sFlow on Dell Networking N Series switches running OS6.

Index

• Overview
• Configuration
• Sample configuration
• Verify Configuration

Overview

sFlow technology: sFlow is an industry standard technology for monitoring high-speed switched and routed networks. Dell Networking N Series switch software has a integrated sFlow agent that can monitor network traffic on each port and generate sFlow data to an sFlow receiver (also known as a collector).

sFlow defaults in N Series switches:
 

Configuration

To configure sFlow on the switch, input the following commands:
 

console> enable

console# configure

console(config)# sflow destination

console(config)# sflow destination owner timeout

console(config)# sflow polling

console(config)# sflow sampling

Sample Configuration

Below is the example which gives a sample configuration of sFlow on switch with polling and sampling on interfaces from ten gig port 1 to 4.

This example uses the following input values.

IP address of the sFlow receiver -- 192.168.2.1
Owner string -- SFLOW_EXAMPLE
Receiver index -- 1
Polling interval -- 30 (Polling interval: The sFlow instance polling interval. A value of n means that once in n seconds a counter sample is generated. (Range: 0-86400))
Sampling rate -- 1204 (Sampling-rate - The statistical sampling rate for packet sampling from this source. A sampling rate of 1 counts all packets. A value of n means that out of n incoming packets, 1 packet will be sampled. (Range: 1024 - 65536)).

console> enable
console# configure
console(config)# sflow 1 destination 192.168.2.1
console(config)# sflow 1 destination owner SFLOW_EXAMPLE timeout 10000
console(config)# sflow 1 polling gi1/0/1-4 30
console(config)# sflow 1 sampling gi1/0/1-4 1024

Verify Configuration

To verify the configuration use the below commands:

console# show sflow 1 destination

Receiver Index.................... 1
Owner String...................... SFLOW_EXAMPLE
Time out.......................... 10000
IP Address:....................... 192.168.2.1
Address Type...................... 1
Port.............................. 6343
Datagram Version.................. 5
Maximum Datagram Size............. 1400

console# show sflow 1 polling
Poller Receiver Poller
Data Source Index Interval
----------- ------- -------
Te1/0/1     1     30
Te1/0/2     1     30
Te1/0/3     1     30
Te1/0/4     1     30


console# show sflow 1 sampling
Sampler Receiver Packet Max Header
Data Source Index Sampling Rate Size
----------- ------- ------------- ----------
Te1/0/1            1      1024        128
Te1/0/2            1      1024        128
Te1/0/3            1      1024        128
Te1/0/4            1      1024        128