- Why should I use the NetFlow Analyzer Distributed Edition ?
- Handles excess of 10000 interfaces & several million flows per minute.
- Targeted for large enterprises with distributed networks
- Scalable architecture - Seamless collector addition allowed to cater to growing network.
- Secure & reliable data transfer via Https
- What is the difference between Professional Edition(PE) and Distributed Edition(EE) ?
Please check out the comparison document.
- What is a Central Server?
The Central Reporting Server does the following
- provides a centralized web console
- manages the collectors
- receives and stores the data
- What is a collector?
The collector
- should be deployed near the routers
- collects and processes the NetFlow data from routers
- compresses the received data and sends to Central Server
- How many interfaces / flow rate can a single collector handle?
Based on the hardware configuration of the system, a collector can handle around 2000 interfaces. It can handle a flow rate of up to 8000 flows / second. Refer sizing guide for hardware configuration
- How many collectors can a single Central Server handle ?
Central Server can handle any number of collectors. Refer sizing guide for hardware configuration. New collectors can be added seamlessly at anytime.
- How does the collector contact the Central Server?
The communication between Central Server & collector is one way communication, i.e. only collector can communicate with the Central Server. Collector communicates through the https port of Central Server.
- Where to configure the SNMP parameters?
SNMP parameters like read community, port can be configured while installing the collector. If you want to change after installing the collector, you can do so from collector web client. Click on the Settings page under the Admin Operations and then click the NetFlow settings tab and then give the necessary SNMP parameters.
You can also change the individual router SNMP parameters by clicking the "Set SNMP parameters" icon which is placed next to the Router's Name in both the Central Server/ Collector Web-client.
- What happens if the network connection between collector and Central Server is down temporarily?
Collector will hold the data and sends them once connection is re-established. Thus collector ensures reliable data transfer.
- How frequently does the collector contact Central Server?
Collector contacts Central Server for two purposes. One is to send the collected NetFlow data and another is to get any new configurations like IP Group, Alert Profile, etc created by the user at the Central Server. The frequency to send NetFlow data is 10 minutes and the frequency to get the configuration is one minute.
- How secure is my data?
Collector sends the data through secure https connection. We have bundled SSL certificates generated using Java's keytool. If you like to change the certificates, you can use the sslgen.bat ( sslgen.sh in case of linux) script bundled under the [Product Home]/bin directory.
- Why am I getting "The collector is incompatible with the Central Server" message?
The following could be the possible reasons.
1. The Central Server is new / reinitialized whereas the collector is old.
In this case, please reinitialize the collector and restart it.
2. The Collector has been deleted in the "Collector Details" page in the Central Server's web client.
In this case, collector needs to be enabled in Collector Details page and it has to be restarted
- What is the bandwidth usage between collector & Central Server?
You can view the actual bandwidth used for data transfer from the "Collector Details" page in the Central Server's web client. You can find the link to this page under Admin Operations.
- What is shown in Collector Dashboard view ? How can I customize it?
The Collector Dashboard view shows top 10 interfaces in each collector by default. You can also customize it to show either the "Top 10/20/30 Interfaces" or "Selected List of Interfaces". To customize it, please use the "Customize" link beside Dashboard link.
- How to move Central Server from one machine to another machine ?
On Central Server side:
a) Stop Central Reporting Server.
b) Execute the file [Product Home]/troubleshooting/BackupDB.bat/sh.
c) It creates a zip file containing the backup of Database and configuration information under [Product Home]
d) Install Central Reporting Server in the new location
e) Make sure the new machine has the same time zone & time as the old one
f) Unzip the backup zip file under [Product Home]
Once the Central Server is moved make the following changes on collector side
a) Navigate to the Settings page of Collector and change the Central Server Hostname/IP
b) Restart NetFlow Collector
- How to move collector from one machine to another machine ?
- Stop the collector
- Copy the [Product Home]/conf/NetFlow/collectorFile.txt to the new machine under [Product Home]/conf/NetFlow/ directory.
- Make sure you specified the correct Central Server name or IP address & https port.
- Start the collector.
- While the collector is starting, it will prompt for "Do you want to start it as same collector? ". Please type "y" in order to start as same collector.
- What should I do if Collector/CentralServer is behind a proxy ?
If the collector is behind a proxy, then enter the proxy settings either in Collector's Installation screen or in the Settings page in web client. If the Central Server is behind the proxy, please NAT the name & https port and provide the NATed values in Collector's Installation screen.
- Is migration from Professional Edition to Distributed Edition supported ?
No.It is not possible to migrate your data from Professional Edition to Distributed Edition or vice versa.
- What is the licensing based on?
The licensing is based on the number of interfaces. The licensing cost is totally independent of the number of Collectors.
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