Exinda ExOS 6.0 and NetFlow v9

NetFlow Analyzer | November 18, 2010 | 2 min read
Exinda , a provider of WAN optimization and acceleration products, announced the availability of ExOS 6.0. This is the latest operating system for its family of WAN Optimization appliances and the release claims to include enhanced monitoring, reporting and acceleration capabilities. Now, what interests us at NetFlow Analyzer more, is a small paragraph from the press release.

NetFlow v9 Export
Allows network managers to add new enhanced Layer 7 monitoring statistics to NetFlow records, which can be exported to third-party reporting packages.

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer which leverages on NetFlow v5, v9 or similar flow format data to report on bandwidth usage and help in traffic analysis can work with Exinda devices as these devices exports both NetFlow v5 and v9 flows. You can now analyze your traffic usage based on applications, source, destination, QoS and conversations using NetFlow Analyzer.

To enable NetFlow on Exinda, on the appliance GUI, navigate to NetFlow Configuration from System Setup. The options here allows users to configure Exinda for NetFlow export to third party applications like NetFlow Analyzer and set the fields for NetFlow version 9 export.

First, add the NetFlow Analyzer details to the Exinda device by entering the IP Address of the server where the product is installed, the listener port (9996 by default) and setting the version of NetFlow to be used. You can configure either NetFlow v5 or v9 export. If NetFlow v9 export is selected some additional options have to be configured. NetFlow Analyzer supports NetFlow v9 export but as of now we recommend NetFlow v5 export from Exinda.

Once this has been done, configure the active flow timeout. This timeout sets the time frequency at which the device has to export NetFlow records regarding the active traffic conversations. It is this value which helps receive real time traffic information and the lowest possible time interval is 1 minute. NetFlow Analyzer reporting is based on 1 minute granularity and so we need this timeout to be set at 1 minute on the Exinda.

The rest of the configuration corresponds to NetFlow v9 export and is to be used only with collectors providing complete Exinda NetFlow v9 supports. Once the configuration is done and saved, you do not need any configuration on NetFlow Analyzer. NetFlow Analyzer will automatically capture the exported flows and start generating reports. To know more on the reporting features of NetFlow Analyzer, visit our online demo .

Interested in trying NetFlow Analyzer with your Exinda device? We have a fully featured 30 day trial . Download the trial and make use of our free technical support to answer your product related questions.

Regards,
Don Thomas Jacob

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Exinda Press Release :
http://www.prweb.com/releases/Exinda_ExOS_6dot0/WAN_Optimization/prweb4798734.htm
Configuration Reference :
http://www1.exinda.com/servlet/servlet.FileDownload?file=01520000000wu0c

Tags : exinda / ExOS / ManageEngine / netflow / netflow analyzer / netflow v9 / wan acceleration device / wan optimization
jacob@zohocorp.com

  1. Reply

    Hi Adam,

    Apologies for the delayed approval. The system somehow failed to notify on the pending post.

    As for your question, I am not really sure as we have not had a chance to work with any pcap files from Exinda. The L7 Application ID seems to be something like Cisco’s Flexible NetFlow NBAR. And, according the Exinda guide: “The Application ID to Name mappings are exported as an options template.”

    By the way, does your product support NBAR via SNMP or Flexible NetFlow for reporting on possible peer to peer traffic?

  2. Reply

    What ID are they using for the appID field? Also, do they publish a list of the ID to AppName mappings?

    Hoping they implemented something similar to Cisco’s NBAR fields in IOS 15.1.