Sflow Overview - 3Com Switch 4800G 24-Port Configuration Manual

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sFlow Overview

Introduction to sFlow
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S LOW
When configuring sFlow, go to these sections for information you are interested
in:
"sFlow Overview" on page 1203
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"Configuring sFlow" on page 1204
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"Displaying sFlow" on page 1204
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"sFlow Configuration Example" on page 1204
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"Troubleshooting sFlow Configuration" on page 1206
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Based on packet sampling, Sampled Flow (sFlow) is a traffic monitoring
technology mainly used to collect and analyze traffic statistics.
sFlow has the following two sampling mechanisms:
Packet-based sampling: Samples one packet out of a specified number of
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packets from an sFlow enabled port.
Time-based sampling: Samples interface statistics at a specified interval from an
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sFlow enabled port.
The sFlow system involves an sFlow agent embedded in a device and a remote
sFlow collector. The sFlow agent collects traffic from the sFlow enabled ports,
encapsulates the information into sFlow packets, and sends the packets to the
sFlow collector. The sFlow collector analyzes the sFlow packets and displays the
results.
As a traffic monitoring technology, sFlow has the following advantages:
Supports traffic monitoring on Gigabit and higher-speed networks.
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Provides scalability with one sFlow collector monitoring multiple or more sFlow
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agents.
Implements the low-cost sFlow agent.
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Currently, only the sFlow agent function is supported on the Switch 4800G Family.
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ONFIGURATION