Configuring Netflow on Nexus NXOS

This post is a part of my CCIE:DC studies, but will be useful for anyone needing to quickly configure NetFlow in NXOS.  For CCIE:DC purposes, an understanding of how NetFlow is configured in NXOS cannot hurt, especially since it is mentioned in the blueprint (1.5.b – Implement Netflow).

Unlike IOS, there are few steps involved to get Netflow functioning, here is a quick run down:

1. Enable Netflow
2. Configure a Netflow Flow Record
3. Configure a Netflow Flow Exporter
4. Configure a Netflow Flow Monitor
5. Apply the Netflow Monitor to the your L3 interfaces
6. (Optional) Configure a Netflow Sampler
7. (Optional) Configure Netflow timers

1. Enable Netflow

feature netflow

2. Configure a Netflow Flow Record

A Netflow record details what information you want to collect. You can create a custom record, or use the built in record.

Built-in:

N7K1# show flow record netflow-original
Flow record netflow-original:
    Description: Traditional IPv4 input NetFlow with origin ASs
    No. of users: 1
    Template ID: 256
    Fields:
        match ipv4 source address
        match ipv4 destination address
        match ip protocol
        match ip tos
        match transport source-port
        match transport destination-port
        match interface input
        match interface output
        match flow direction
        collect routing source as
        collect routing destination as
        collect routing next-hop address ipv4
        collect transport tcp flags
        collect counter bytes
        collect counter packets
        collect timestamp sys-uptime first
        collect timestamp sys-uptime last

Create your own:

flow record custom-netflow-record
	description Custom Netflow Record
	match ipv4 source address
	match ipv4 destination address
	match transport destination-port
	collect counter bytes
	collect counter packets

3. Configure a NetFlow Flow Exporter

Flow exporters are your colletors, where you send the exported flow information to.

flow exporter exporter-1
	description Fluke Collector
	destination 10.255.255.100
	source Vlan10
	transport udp 2055
	version 9
	
flow exporter exporter-2
	description Scrutinizer
	destination 10.255.255.101
	source Vlan10
	transport udp 2055
	version 9

4. Configure a NetFlow Flow Monitor

Flow Monitors bind the Flow Record to the Flow Exporter

flow monitor netflow-monitor-1
	record custom-netflow-record
	exporter exporter-1

or you can use the built-in Netflow Flow Record:

flow monitor netflow-monitor-2
	record netflow-original
	exporter exporter-2

You can also apply multiple exporters to the same monitor:

flow monitor netflow-monitor-3
	record custom-netflow-record
	exporter exporter-1 
	exporter exporter-2

5. Apply the Netflow Monitor to the your L3 interfaces

interface eth3/10
 ip flow monitor netflow-monitor-1 input
 exit

6. (Optional) Configure a Netflow Sampler

Netflow samplers become important when you’re running mixed M1/F2(e) VDCs. Due to the L3 proxy routing required for F2(e), netflow traffic is CPU processed. The CPU will automatically rate limit netflow traffic to 1 out of a 1000 packets to protect the control plane. An error will prompt when trying to configure this in a mixed environment:

N7K1(config)# interface vlan 10
N7K1(config-if)#  ip flow monitor netflow-monitor-1 input
ERROR: A sampler must be configured for an interface on an F2 card or F2e mixed vdc

So, let’s configure a sampler to sample 1 out of every 1000 packets:

N7K1(config)# sampler netflow-sampler
N7K1(config-flow-sampler)#  mode 1 out-of 1000
N7K1(config-flow-sampler)# exit
N7K1(config)# interface vlan 10
N7K1(config-if)#  ip flow monitor netflow-monitor-1 input sampler netflow-sampler
Recommended sampler is 1 out-of 4956 to avoid rate limiting.
An additional 1:100 sampler, over the configured sampler is applicable for F2/F2e ports

We have a new message. The bottom part is important to understand. This says that whatever sampling rate you have configured, we will only sample 1 of those packets out of every 100. So, if our sampler was configured for 1 out of 1000, the actual sampling rate would be 1 out of 100,000. As you can imagine, this could result in useless netflow statistics. Some math is involved, but what I did is set it to the maximum permitted, however your environments may vary.

sampler netflow-sampler
  mode 1 out-of 10

7. (Optional) Configure Netflow timers

Just know that these are available:

flow timeout active 120 (default is 1800 seconds)
flow timeout inactive 32 (default is 15 seconds)
flow timeout fast 32 threshold 100 (default is disabled)
flow timeout session (default is disabled)
flow timeout aggresive threshold 75 (default is disabled)

Show commands

show flow record netflow-original
show flow record custom-netflow-record
show flow exporter < This is where you'll see statistics
show flow monitor netflow-monitor
show sampler

Verify statistics:

N7K1# show flow export
Flow exporter exporter-1:
    Description: Fluke Collector
    Destination: 10.255.255.100
    VRF: default (1)
    Destination UDP Port 2055
    Source Interface Vlan10 (10.10.10.5)
    Export Version 9
    Exporter Statistics
        Number of Flow Records Exported 726
        Number of Templates Exported 1
        Number of Export Packets Sent 37
        Number of Export Bytes Sent 38712
        Number of Destination Unreachable Events 0
        Number of No Buffer Events 0
        Number of Packets Dropped (No Route to Host) 0
        Number of Packets Dropped (other) 0
        Number of Packets Dropped (LC to RP Error) 0
        Number of Packets Dropped (Output Drops) 0
        Time statistics were last cleared: Tue Jul  8 21:12:06 2014

Full sample config:

feature netflow
flow record custom-netflow-record
	description Custom Netflow Record
	match ipv4 source address
	match ipv4 destination address
	match transport destination-port
	collect counter bytes
	collect counter packets
flow exporter exporter-1
	description Fluke Collector
	destination 10.255.255.100
	source Vlan10
	transport udp 2055
	version 9
flow monitor netflow-monitor-1
	record custom-netflow-record
	exporter exporter-1
interface eth3/10
 ip flow monitor netflow-monitor-1 input
!
sampler netflow-sampler
  mode 1 out-of 10
interface vlan 10
  ip flow monitor netflow-monitor-1 input sampler netflow-sampler