Getting complete network visibility as a network grows has always been a challenge for network administrators. Brocade switches help network administrators achieve this using sFlow technology. However, having sFlow alone in a switch is not enough; you need a monitoring tool that can represent the data available in these sFlow packets in a graphical way. That's where NetFlow Analyzer comes in. NetFlow Analyzer helps in monitoring sFlow data from Brocade switches. sFlow monitoring does random sampling and sends the sampled packets to NetFlow Analyzer.
Enabling sFlow in Brocade switches
The commands below enable sFlow monitoring on all the interfaces of the Brocade switch. The sampling rate is set to one out of 512 and the polling counters are set to every 30 seconds. The packets are sent to the NetFlow Analyzer server (server IP 192.168.1.1) on the default UDP port 9996.
Brocade (config)# int e 0/1/1 to 0/1/24
Brocade (config-mif-0/1/1-0/1/24)# sflow forwarding
Brocade (config-mif-0/1/1-0/1/24)# exit
Brocade (config)# sflow destination 192.168.1.1 9996
Brocade (config)# sflow sample 512
Brocade (config)# sflow polling-interval 30
Brocade (config)# sflow enable
Once we have enabled sFlow in the Brocade switches, flows are sent to NetFlow Analyzer, which will automatically detect the switch and display the data for you.
To view the configuration, you can make use of the command below:
Brocade # show sflow
Selecting a sampling rate
Selecting the appropriate sampling rate is important for accuracy in Brocade switches.
| Link speed | Sampling rate |
| 10MB/s | 1 out of 200 |
| 100MB/s | 1 out of 500 |
| 1GB/s | 1 out of 1,000 |
| 10GB/s | 1 out of 2,000 |
The sampling rates above have worked well in our customers' networks. If you feel the bandwidth used by these sFlow packets is high, you can always decrease the sampling rate. For example, use 1 out of 5,000 instead of 1 out of 2,000 in a 10GB/s interface.This way, you can use sFlow technology for networks that use Brocade switches to gain complete visibility.
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