Configuring Cflowd Traffic Flow Monitoring

Cflowd Configuration Components

Cflowd configuration is done using the basic components of centralized data policy. You configure cflowd template options, including the location of the cflowd collector (if you are sending the flow to a collector), and you must configure cflowd as an action in the data policy.

To create a centralized data policy that enables cflowd, you include the following components in the configuration on a vSmart controller:

General Configuration Procedure

Following are the high-level steps for configuring a cflowd centralized data policy to perform traffic monitoring and to export traffic flows to a collector:

1. Create a list of overlay network sites to which the cflowd centralized data policy is to be applied (in the apply-policy command):
   vSmart(config)# policy​
   vSmart(config-policy)# lists site-list list-name 
   vSmart(config-lists-list-name)# site-id site-id 
   The list can contain as many site IDs as necessary. Include one site-id command for each site ID. For contiguous site IDs, you can specify a range of numbers separated with a dash (–). Create additional site lists, as needed.
2. Create a list of VPN for which the cflowd centralized data policy is to be configured (in the policy data-policy command):
   vSmart(config)# policy lists 
   vSmart(config-lists)# vpn-list list-name 
   vSmart(config-lists-list-name)# vpn vpn-id
3. Create lists of IP prefixes, as needed:
   vSmart(config)# policy lists 
   vSmart(config-lists)# prefix-list list-name 
   vSmart(config-lists-list-name)# ip-prefix prefix/length 
4. Configure a cflowd-template, and optionally, configure template parameters, including the location of the cflowd collector and the flow export timers:
   vSmart(config)# policy cflowd-template template-name 
   vSmart(config-cflowd-template-template-name)# collector vpn vpn-id address ip-address port port-number transport (transport_tcp | transport_udp) source-interface interface-name
   vSmart(config-cflowd-template-template-name)# flow-active-timeout seconds
   vSmart(config-cflowd-template-template-name)# flow-inactive-timeout seconds
   vSmart(config-cflowd-template-template-name)# template-refresh seconds
   You must configure a cflowd-template, but it need not contain any parameters. With no parameters, the data flow cache on vEdge nodes is managed using default settings, and no flow export occurs.
   You can configure one cflowd template per vEdge router, and it can export to a maximum of four collectors. By default, an actively flowing data set is exported to the collector every 600 seconds (10 minutes), a data set for a flow on which no traffic is flowing is sent every 60 seconds (1 minute), and the cflowd template record fields (the three timer values) are sent to the collector every 90 seconds.
   If you modify the configuration of the template record fields, the changes take effect only on flows that are created after the configuration change has been propagated to the vEdge router. Because an existing flow continues indefinitely, to have configuration changes take effect, clear the flow with the clear app cflowd flows command.
5. Create a data policy instance and associate it with a list of VPNs:
   vSmart(config)# policy data-policy policy-name 
   vSmart(config-data-policy-policy-name)# vpn-list list-name
6. Create a sequence to contain a single match–action pair:
   vSmart(config-vpn-list-list-name)# sequence number 
   vSmart(config-sequence-number)# 
   The match–action pairs are evaluated in order, by sequence number, starting with the lowest numbered pair and ending when the route matches the conditions in one of the pairs. If no match occurs, the default action is taken.
7. Define match parameters for the data packets:
   ​​vSmart(config-sequence-number)#  match parameters 
8. In the action, enable cflowd:
   vSmart(config-sequence-number)# action accept cflowd
9. Create additional numbered sequences of match–action pairs within the data policy, as needed.
10. If a route does not match any of the conditions in one of the sequences, it is rejected by default. If you want nonmatching prefixes to be accepted, configure the default action for the policy:
    vSmart(config-policy-name)# default-action accept
11. Apply the policy and the cflowd template to one or more sites in the overlay network:
    vSmart(config)# apply-policy site-list list-name data-policy policy-name
    vSmart(config)# apply-policy site-list list-name cflowd-template template-name

Structural Components of Policy Configuration for Cflowd

Here are the structural components required to configure cflowd on a vSmart controller. Each component is explained in more detail in the sections below.

policy
  lists
    prefix-list list-name
      ip-prefix prefix
    site-list list-name
      site-id site-id
    vpn-list list-name
      vpn-id vpn-id
  cflowd-template template-name
    collector vpn vpn-id address ip-address port port-number transport transport-type
      source-interface interface-name
    flow-active-timeout seconds
    flow-inactive-timeout seconds
    template-refresh seconds
  data-policy policy-name
    vpn-list list-name
      sequence number
        match
          match-parameters
        action
          accept
            cflowd
       default-action
         (accept | drop)
apply-policy site-list list-name
  data-policy policy-name
  cflowd-template template-name

Lists

Centralized data policy uses the following types of lists to group related items. You configure lists under the policy lists command hierarchy on vSmart controllers.

Cflowd Templates

For each cflowd data policy, you must create a template that defines the location of the flow collector:

vSmart(config)# policy cflowd-template template-name 

The template can specify cflowd parameters or it can be empty. With no parameters, the data flow cache on vEdge nodes is managed using default settings, and no flow export occurs.

In the cflowd template, you can define the location of the flow collection:
vSmart(config-cflowd-template-template-name)# collector vpn vpn-id address ip-address port port-number transport transport-type source-interface interface-name

You can configure one cflowd template per vEdge router, and it can export to a maximum of four collectors.

You can configure flow export timers:

vSmart(config)# policy cflowd-template template-name
vSmart(config-cflowd-template-template-name)# flow-active-timeout seconds
vSmart(config-cflowd-template-template-name)# flow-inactive-timeout seconds
vSmart(config-cflowd-template-template-name)# template-refresh seconds

By default, an actively flowing data set is exported to the collector every 600 seconds (10 minutes), a data set for a flow on which no traffic is flowing is sent every 60 seconds (1 minute), and the cflowd template record fields are sent to the collector every 90 seconds.

For a single vEdge router, you can configure a maximum of four collectors.

Data Policy Instance

For each centralized data policy, you create a named container for that policy with a policy data-policy policy-name command. For a single vEdge router, you can configure a maximum of four cflowd policies.

VPN Lists

Each centralized data policy instance applies to the VPNs contained in a VPN list. Within the policy, you specify the VPN list with the policy data-policy vpn-list list-name command. The list name must be one that you created with a policy lists vpn-list​ list-name command.

Sequences

Within each VPN list, a centralized data policy contains sequences of match–action pairs. The sequences are numbered to set the order in which data traffic is analyzed by the match–action pairs in the policy. You configure sequences with the policy data-policy vpn-list sequence command.

Each sequence in a centralized data policy can contain one match command and one action command.

Match Parameters

Centralized data policy can match IP prefixes and fields in the IP headers. You configure the match parameters under the policy data-policy vpn-list sequence match command.

For data policy, you can match these parameters:

Action Parameters

When data traffic matches the conditions in the match portion of a centralized data policy, the packet can be accepted or rejected, and you can configure a counter for the accepted or rejected packets. You configure the action parameters under the policy data-policy vpn-list sequence action command.

For a packet that is accepted, configure the parameter cflowd to enable packet collection.

Default Action

If a data packet being evaluated does not match any of the match conditions in a control policy, a default action is applied to this route. By default, the route is rejected. To modify this behavior, include the policy data-policy vpn-list default-action accept command.

Applying Cflowd Policy

For a centralized data policy to take effect, you must apply it to a list of sites in the overlay network:

vSmart(config)# apply-policy site-list list-name data-policy policy-name

To activate the cflowd template, associate it with the data policy:

vSmart(config)# apply-policy cflowd-template template-name

While you can configure site lists that contain overlapping site IDs, when you apply more than one data policy, you must ensure that the site lists you apply the policies to have no overlapping site IDs. If you apply more than one data policy to the same site, one policy is applied and the other is ignored. However, the decision about which policy to apply is not under user control and so is not predictable. Which policy is applied is a function of the internal behavior of Viptela software when it processes the configuration. Therefore, you must design control policy carefully to ensure that more than one policy is not applied to the same site.

As soon as you successfully activate the configuration by issuing a commit command, the vSmart controller pushes the data policy to the vEdge routers located in the specified sites. To view the policy as configured on the vSmart controller, use the show running-config command on the vSmart controller. To view the policy that has been pushed to the vEdge router, use the show policy from-vsmart command on the vEdge router.

To display the centralized data policy as configured on the vSmart controller, use the show running-config

vSmart# show running-config policy
vSmart# show running-config apply-policy

To display the centralized data policy that has been pushed to the vEdge router, issue the show omp data-policy command on the vEdge router:

vEdge# show policy from-vsmart

Enable Cflowd Visibility on vEdge Routers

You can enable cflowd visibility directly on vEdge routers, without configuring data policy, so that you can perform traffic flow monitoring on traffic coming to the router from all VPNs in the LAN. To do this, configure cflowd visiblity on the router:

vEdge(config)# policy flow-visibility

To monitor the applications, use the show app cflowd flows and show app cflowd statistics commands on the vEdge router.

Additional Information

Cflowd Traffic Flow Monitoring Configuration Example
Traffic Flow Monitoring with Cflowd