Cisco Net Flow in the Data Center
Cisco NetFlow provides network traffic visibility that can help in identifying and classifying potential DDoS attempts and other security threats. In addition, it provides valuable information about application usage that can be beneficial for network planning and traffic engineering. You can enable NetFlow in data center infrastructure devices, such as your distribution switches or routers. A new version of NetFlow called Flexible NetFlow is now available on Cisco IOS routers starting with IOS Version 12.4(9)T. Cisco is working to provide this functionality in other platforms such as the Catalyst 6500 series switches.
NOTE You can use the Cisco Feature Navigator tool to find information about platform support. To access this tool, go to http://tools.cisco.com/ITDIT/CFN/jsp/index.jsp.
With Flexible NetFlow, you can configure a range of parameters for traffic analysis and data export on a networking device. For instance, you can define your own records by specifying the key and nonkey fields to customize the data collection to your specific requirements. In previous versions of NetFlow, a flow was based on a set of seven IP packet attributes:
• Destination IP
• Source port
• Destination port
• Layer 3 Protocol
• Input interface
Flexible NetFlow adds the ability to check other information, such as the number of bytes and packets in a flow. You can also create custom records for functions like quality of service (QoS), bandwidth monitoring, application and end user traffic profiling, and security monitoring.
The main limitation is that, currently, Flexible NetFlow is not supported in the Cisco Catalyst 6500. In most cases, it is recommended that you enable NetFlow at the data center distribution switches. In large data centers, Cisco Catalyst 6500 switches are used as distribution switches. However, the benefits of NetFlow Versions 5 and 9 are still extremely valuable, because NetFlow is one of the most helpful tools for identifying and classifying security threats. In addition, you can use network monitoring tools such as the Cisco Security Monitoring, Analysis, and Response System (CS-MARS) to analyze NetFlow and other telemetry data from many different network devices.
Continue reading here: CSA Architecture
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