If you’ve been looking for Avaya IPFIX support on our Configuring NetFlow, IPFIX & sFlow page and are coming up empty, it’s because it was originally listed as Nortel ERS 5500 & 8600 series routers.
The Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 5500 & 8600 series routers were originally designed by Nortel. Then, in December 2009, Avaya purchased these ERS series routers and included them in their product listings.
Which means that references to the ERS 8600 prior to Avaya’s purchase would have these routers listed as Nortel ERS 8600, and after December 2009, as Avaya ERS 8600.
Avaya IPFIX support
So, whether you call it Nortel IPFIX support or Avaya IPFIX support, the configuration and the end result are the same. Different names, same animal.
We did publish a blog on Avaya IPFIX support several years ago, with instructions on how to configure IPFIX on the ERS 8600. Today I’ll take the opportunity to dig a little deeper and show you some IPFIX reporting you can get from the Avaya IPFIX exports.
Configuration can be completed either by CLI (Command Line Interface) or by PPCLI (Passport Command Line Interface). Well, if you are as inquisitive as I am, you are probably now asking, what is Passport Command Line Interface? Good question.
Which brings us back around to our history lesson. Passport was the original branding of the ERS 8600 until 2004 when Nortel retired the Passport brand, renaming it to Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS). Which leads me to believe that PPCLI was Nortel’s proprietary command line interface.
IPFIX configuration
There are three basic steps to the IPFIX configuration:
- Enable IPFIX globally and on a port level
- Setting IPFIX timers
- Add the IPFIX collector
The basic commands are listed in the Avaya IPFIX configuration blog referenced above, but for additional information, including extended options/parameters, the Avaya IPFIX configuration guide for the ERS 8600 is a great resource.
For example, some of the additional port parameters are:
| hash-key | to set hash-key |
| sampling-rate | to set sampling rate |
Some of the IPFIX timers available for configuration are:
| active-timeout <value in mins> |
Specifies the active timeout in minutes. Range is from 1 to 60 minutes. |
| aging-interval <value in secs> |
Specifies the interval, in minutes, when to flush out the old flows after they have stopped. Range is from 10 to 3600 seconds. Default setting is 30 minutes. |
| template-refresh [refresh-interval <value>] [packets <value>] |
Specifies the interval, in seconds, between refreshes and the interval, in number of packets, between refreshes. Range for interval is 300 to 3600 seconds. Range for packets is 10,000 to 100,000. |
And then, lastly, for step 3, adding the collector, the following parameters are available:
| add <ipaddr> | Specifies the IP address of the collector. |
| protocol <value> | Specifies the protocol to use. UDP is the default. |
| dest-port <value> | Specifies the destination port. |
| exporter-ip <value> | Specifies the IP address of the exporter. If you do not specify an exporter-ip, the source-ip is chosen from Virtual IP, management IP, or outgoing interface IP based on collectorip reachability. |
| protocol-version <value> | Selects the protocol version (ipfix|ipfixv9|preipfixv5). Default is ipfixv9. |
| enable <true|false> | Set this to add the collector (true) or not add collectors (false) |
Avaya IPFIX reporting
What are the results of that configuration? IPFIX reporting, as shown in the example below. You can report, filter, and set thresholds on the IPFIX flow data that you export from your Avaya ERS 8600.
If you would like help in getting Avaya IPFIX reporting for your network monitoring, give us a call and we’ll work with you to set this up.
