Export Flows

Export your network traffic (NetFlows) to Site24x7 to monitor the traffic flows and bandwidth performance in real time. Choose an On-Premise Poller, execute the export commands, choose your devices and interface, and get started easily.

Prerequisites

• NetFlow analyzing using Site24x7 requires an On-Premise Poller (Version:4.6.0) to be installed in the network being monitored.  Add an On-Premise Poller.
• The device should be able to export flows to Site24x7.

Adding a device to monitor NetFlow

You can set up a device to export flows for network traffic analysis by following the five steps below:

• Choose an On-Premise Poller
• Configure the devices to export flows
• Choose a credential
• Choose devices
• Organize your monitors and configure profiles
• Verify your entries and export flows for monitoring

Step 1: Choosing an On-Premise Poller

1. Log in to your Site24x7 account.
2. Go to Admin > Inventory > Add Monitor.
3. On the Add Monitor page, click Flow Export under NetFlow. This will take you to the Flow Export tab.
4. On-Premise Poller: The first step is to choose an On-Premise Poller. You can choose an On-Premise Poller from the list or install a new one. Click Next.
   Network Module should be enabled in the On-Premise Poller that you choose. If not, enable it.
   

Step 2: Flow export configuration

You have to configure your devices to export flows to the Site24x7 On-Premise Poller. If you have already configured this, you can skip this and move to Step 3.

If you have not yet configured flow exports for your devices, then you can configure flow exports using any of the following ways:

• Option 1: If your device supports configuring through the graphical user interface (GUI) console, you can configure it from there. This doesn't require any command execution, and you do not need to do anything on the Site24x7 client for this. Configure flow exports through the GUI and move to Step  3.
• Option 2: If not, you can provide your Secure Shell (SSH)/Telnet and Simple Network Monitoring Protocol (SNMP) credentials which we will automatically configure the flow exports for you.
• Option 3: Or, you can choose to do everything manually by copying and executing the commands.

You can toggle to choose either automatic and manual configuration.

Automatic Flow Export Configuration

Provide the following details to automatically configure your devices to export flows to Site24x7.

1. Hostname/IP Address: Enter the host name or IP address of the device whose flows have to be analyzed.
2. SSH/Telnet Credential: Choose the appropriate SSH or Telnet credentials that can automatically fetch flow export data. You can also edit the exiting credentials, or add a new credential by clicking +.
3. SNMP Credential: Choose the suitable SNMP credentials that can be used to automatically fetch flow export data. You can also edit the exiting credentials or add new by clicking +.
4. Click Connect for Site24x7 to connect and verify the credentials. You can view the Test Credentials Result on the screen. If any of the tests have failed, troubleshoot and fix them based on the insights provided.
5. Once Site24x7 has successfully connected, follow the steps below.
6. Source Interface: Choose the source interface needed to export flows.
7. Device Vendor/Type: Choose the device vendor, or the device type for the device that's exporting flows.
8. Command Set: Choose a suitable predefined set of commands for the chosen device or vendor type.
9. Description: View a description to define the chosen command set.
10. Export Command: Check the attributes in the command and click Execute Commands.
11. Wait for the Execution Result. You can check if the flow export configuration is successful from the Execution Result. If the result has failed, retry executing a different Command Set.
12. If the result is a success, click Next.
    

Manual Flow Export Configuration

Choose the device details to display a set of commands. You can manually copy and paste the commands on your device to export flows to Site24x7.

1. Device Vendor/Type: Choose the device vendor, or the device type for the device that's exporting flows.
2. Command Set: Choose a suitable predefined set of commands for the chosen device or vendor type.
3. Description: View a description to define the chosen command set.
4. Export Command: From the given commands, replace the necessary attributes, like interface name and source interface name, and click Copy to Clipboard. Execute these commands on your device to configure them to export flows to Site24x7.
5. Click Next.
   

Step 3: Choosing credentials

Credentials help Site24x7 to use SNMP to pull details like interface names from the devices. Choose a credential applicable for most of the devices to fetch their interface names. You can also add new ones and choose them. 

Step 4: Choosing devices

Once you execute the commands on your device, the device will start exporting flows to the Site24x7 On-Premise Poller, which can cause a delay in fetching the list of devices. Refresh and wait for a few minutes. If we fetch the interface name using the credential chosen in Step 3, it will be listed under the Credential column. If not, it will be displayed as "None Associated."

No flows received

If you view a message "No flows received", it means that the On-Premise Poller hasn't received any flows. Click Back and check if you have configured your devices to export flows properly, or click Resync. If you still haven't received any flows, troubleshoot here.

Once received, the list of all devices that export flows to Site24x7 will be displayed. You can also view details like Device Name, Device Type, IP Address, Interface Count, Flow Type, and Flow Count for every device, and Interface Name, Interface Type, Interface Index, In Traffic Utilization, Out Traffic Utilization, In Speed, and Out Speed for every interface in that device.

1. Choose the desired devices and interfaces.
2. Click Next.

Step 5: Organize your monitors and configure profiles

Configure profiles and organize your monitor for ease of use.

1. Monitor Groups and Dependency Configuration:
   • Monitor Groups: Associate the NetFlow monitor with a Monitor Group. Choose an existing Monitor Group or create a new one.
   • Dependent on Monitor: Select a dependent monitor of your choice from the drop-down list. Site24x7 will suppress alerts for the configured NetFlow monitor if the dependent monitor is already down. You can add up to five monitors as dependents.
2. Configuration Profiles:
   • Threshold and Availability: Select a threshold profile from the drop-down list. Use the default threshold profile available, or create a new one, and get notified when the resources cross the configured threshold and availability.
   • Notification Profile: The Notification Profile helps to configure when and who gets notified in case of downtime. Choose a Notification Profile from the drop-down list, use the default profile available, or create a custom Notification Profile.
   • User Alert Group: Select the user group that needs to be alerted during an outage, or add multiple users to a group.
   • Tags: Associate your monitor with a predefined Tag or multiple Tags to help organize and manage your monitors creatively.
   • IT Automation Templates: Select an Automation Template to be executed when there is a change in the state of the NetFlow monitor. The defined action gets executed when there is a state change, and selected user groups are alerted.
   • Execute IT Automation during scheduled maintenance: Besides automating repetitive manual tasks with IT Automation tools, you can also schedule automation to take place one after the other when an incident takes place. Check the box if you wish to execute it.
3. Click Next.

Step 6: Verifying entries and adding for monitoring

Recheck what all you've added and click Add.

Related Articles

• Configuring flow exports in different devices
• Application Templates and DSCP templates
• Performance metrics monitored for NetFlow
• NetFlow health dashboard