Netflow feature in ESXi 5 - how to enable on vswitch

[santosh42]

Hi,

I was eager to understand if i can configure netflow on my ESXi 5.

I came across several posts on websites which mentioned about enabling netflow on Distributed virtual switches but could not find any links on virtual switches ( cases where we dont have a vcenter server).

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

[elgreco81]

Hi,

Netflow control is a Distributed Switch feature, hence the references you mention. You need the appropiate licenses to use it.

Which kind of vSphere licenses do you have?

Regards,

elgreco81

[santosh42]

Thanks for a quick response.

Well, it is a enterprise license. However, i dont have access to the vcenter server - my access is limited to the ESX alone. Hence cannot enable this on vds.

What i imagined is  - configure the vswitch internally to send the netflow data to a collector residing on the same ESX.

But i assume this feature is not available this way.

Thanks.

[elgreco81 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

You need Ent+ for distributed switch.

http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vsphere/compare-editions.html

You could give this a try anyways...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=101341...

Regards and good luck!

elgreco81

[Sreejesh_D]

netflow was also available with standard switches as experimental feature in ESX 3.5. VMware made it as a vDS only feature later.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35_25_netflow.pdf