HP Switch 5412Rzl2 (J9851A) Configuration

HP Procurve devices are capable of exporting sFlow datagrams which can be used for bandwidth monitoring and traffic analysis. NetFlow Analyzer is capable of analyzing the sFlow datagram exported from the HP Procurve to give you the traffic statiscs on each active ports.

sFlow export on the HP Procurve device can be configured using two different methods, We can enable sFlow on the HP device either by logging in to the router and configuring them for sFlow export. However, this is available only in the older device models or OS.

On the new HP devices, sFlow can be enabled only through SNMP. To make the sFlow configuration on HP device a simple task, NetFlow Analyzer provides scripts to enable and disable the sFlow export. So, let's see how we can use the script and enable sFlow.

sFlow Enable utility:

The script to enable sFlow, named as sFlowEnable.bat (for Windows and .sh for Linux), is present under <\AdventNet\ME\NetFlow\troubleshooting> directory.

The usage of the script is as follows:

Once sFlow is enabled on the HP devices, NetFlow Analyzer server will receive the packets and the product will capture the packets to automatically generate the reports. You also need to ensure that no access control lists (ACLs) or firewalls block the NetFlow packets (on UDP 9996) and that even the software firewalls on the server are allowing the packets to reach the NetFlow Analyzer installation.

After enabling the sFlow on the HP devices, we need ensure a few points to get the accurate traffic statistics about the device in NetFlow Analyzer.

The first and foremost is the sampling rate. We suggest setting the sampling rate to 4096. We have observed from various setups and from our existing customers feedback that the sampling rate of 4096 gives the most accurate traffic statistics in NetFlow Analyzer.Most of the other sFlow collectors in the market suggest the sampling rate to 256 which means more number of exported sFlow datagrams. With a sampling rate of 4096, you get the additional benefit that the device is not being overloaded by sampling large number of datagrams and exporting to the NetFlow Analyzer.

Next point we need verify is the “sFlow receiver timeout”. This determines how long sFlow remains active on the exporting device. When the value has expired, sFlow also gets disabled on the device forcing you to re-enable sFlow export. Due to this, we recommend setting the sFlow Receiver Timeout to the maximum possible value, which is 2147483647 seconds which is 68 years ! The command to be used on the HP device for setting the sFlow receiver timeout is:

Of course. We have thought about that too. Just in case you want to export sFlow to different server or stop the flows for some time or whatever be the reason, NetFlow Analyzer provides you the script to disable sFlow export on the HP device.

The disable can be done using the script sFlowDisable.bat (for Windows and .shfor Linux) and the file is present under <\AdventNet\ME\NetFlow\troubleshooting > directory. The usage of the script is as below: