Configuring F5 BIG-IP

The latest TMOS 11.2.0 release includes an initial, partial (counters only), implementation of sFlow. The following steps enable export of interface counters and CPU/memory statistics:

1. On the Main tab, click System > Performance > sFlow. The sFlow screen opens.
2. Click Add. The New sFlow Receiver screen opens.
3. In the Name field, type a name for the sFlow receiver.
4. In the Address field, type the IPv4 or IPv6 address on which the sFlow receiver listens for UDP datagrams.
5. Click Finished.

The article, Link utilization, describes some of the benefits of using sFlow to export performance counters. Fully implemented, sFlow delivers detailed visibility into L2-7 traffic. Additional information can be found on the F5 web site.

June 11, 2013 Update: TMOS 11.4.0 now includes comprehensive L2-7 support for sFlow, from packet sampling and interface counters to application response times, URLs and status codes. 

See Trying out sFlow for suggestions on getting started with sFlow monitoring and reporting.

Configuring Pica8 Pronto switches

The following commands configure a Pica8 Pronto series switch to sample packets at 1-in-1024, poll counters every thirty seconds and send sFlow to an analyzer (10.0.0.50) over UDP using the default sFlow port (6343):

XorPlus# set open-flow sflow sflow-1 address 10.0.0.50
XorPlus# set open-flow sflow sflow-1 port 6343
XorPlus# set open-flow sflow sflow-1 polling-interval 30
XorPlus# set open-flow sflow sflow-1 sampling-rate 1024
XorPlus# set open-flow sflow sflow-1 interface ge-1/1/1 
... 
XorPlus# set open-flow sflow sflow-1 interface ge-1/1/24
XorPlus# commit

A previous posting discussed the selection of sampling rates. Additional information can be found on the Pica8 web site.

See Trying out sFlow for suggestions on getting started with sFlow monitoring and reporting.