Flow Monitor provides IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) and K-Mirror support based on RFC 7011 to collect and export flow records for Universal platforms. Flow Monitor builds on IPFIX by providing additional metering and exporting processes. Flow Monitor enables switches to gather information about flows through different ports on each switch and export the flow records (via UDP) to a remote collector(s). This information can be used to analyze application and network usage, and monitor real-time network infrastructure.
Flow Monitor supports up to eight external collectors.
The following table lists feature and version support for Flow Monitor:
| Feature | Switch Engine Version |
|---|---|
| FTFP match rules, Keygen, Group/Profile, Collector, and Template structures | 32.2 and later |
| Packet sampling (aka, K-mirror) via local port or ERSPANv3 | 32.2 and later |
| Flow state transition (TCP SYN/ACK/FIN) | 32.2 and later |
| Hardware-based flow export in RFC7011 IPFIX format | 32.2 and later |
| Hardware aging and flushing of the flow table | 32.2 and later |
| Status to ingress field processor allows flow status to be an input to ACL rule matching | 32.2 and later |
This feature is supported on ExtremeSwitching 5420 and 5520 series switches.