sFlow is a standards-based protocol that allows network traffic to be sampled at
a user-defined rate for the purpose of monitoring traffic flow patterns and identifying
packet transfer rates on user-specified interfaces.
sFlow is described in RFC 3176, "InMon
Corporation's sFlow: A Method for Monitoring Traffic in Switched and Routed Networks."
RUCKUS ICX devices support sFlow
version 5 by default. When sFlow is enabled on a Layer 2 or Layer 3 switch, the
system
performs the following sFlow-related tasks:
- Samples traffic flows by copying packet header information
- Identifies ingress and egress interfaces for the sampled flows
- Combines sFlow samples into UDP packets and forwards them to the sFlow collectors
for analysis
- Forwards byte and packet count data, or counter samples, to sFlow collectors