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Top 7 Cisco Catalyst Switches for NetFlow Reporting

My engineering contact at Cisco told me that Flexible NetFlow Performance Monitoring is now available on several of the Cisco Catalyst switches.  It’s supported on the SUP2T and a host of other devices like 3750-X and 4500E.

ONLY the devices below support Flexible NetFlow Performance Monitoring aka Cisco

Table 2. Switches and Minimum Cisco IOS Software Release Requirements

Platform

Minimum Cisco IOS Software Release

Package

Capabilities

Cisco Catalyst® 2960S and Catalyst 2960 Series Switches

12.2(55) SE or later

LAN Base or higher

Autoconfiguration:

• Auto Smartports

• Location

• Cisco AutoQoS

Cisco Catalyst 3750-X, 3750-E***, 3750G*** and 3750V2 Series Switch

12.2(55) SE or later

LAN Base or higher

Autoconfiguration:

• Auto Smartports

• Location

• Cisco AutoQoS

12.2(58)SE2 or later

IP Base or higher

Media monitoring:

• Performance Monitor

• Mediatrace

• IPSLA Video Operation

Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 7-E and 7L-E

XE 3.3.0 SG* or later

LAN Base or higher

Autoconfiguration:

• Auto Smartports

• Location

XE 3.3.0SG* or later

IP Base or higher

Media monitoring:

• Performance Monitor

• Mediatrace

• IPSLA Video Operation-Sender an Responder**

XE 3.3.0SG* or later

IP Base or higher

Media Awareness:

• Flow Metadata

• Media Services Proxy

Cisco Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 6-E and Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6L-E

12.2(54)SG1

LAN Base or higher

Autoconfiguration:

• Auto Smartports

15.1(1)SG* or later

LAN Base or higher

Autoconfiguration:

• Auto Smartports

• Location

15.1. (1)SG* or later

IP Base or higher

Media monitoring:

• Performance Monitor

• Mediatrace

• IPSLA Video Operation-Responder

15.1. (1)SG* or later

IP Base or higher

Media Awareness:

• Flow Metadata

• Media Services Proxy

Cisco Catalyst 4900M**, Catalyst 4948, Catalyst 4948-10GE, Catalyst 4948E, and Catalyst 4948E-F Switches

**no longer supported. See end of post.

12.2(54)SG1

LAN Base or higher

Autoconfiguration:

• Auto Smartports

15.1(1)SG or later

LAN Base or higher

Autoconfiguration:

• Auto Smartports

• Location

Cisco Catalyst 6500-E Series Switches Supervisor Engine 2T

15.0(1)SY or later

IP Services

Media monitoring:

• Performance Monitor

• Mediatrace

Updated information.

If you’re unfamiliar with Flexible NetFlow Performance Monitoring, you’re in for a treat!  Medianet is a cutting-edge technology great for ensuring you the best possible quality in your voice and video data.  You can run reports on jitter, packet loss and even latency.

Technologies like Cisco AutoQoS, IOS Mediatrace, NBAR (Network Behavior Application Recognition) and IOS Performance Monitor make it easier than ever to smoothly route the right type of traffic, and limit those pesky YouTube or heavy BYOD bandwidth hogs using technologies like Cisco Performance Routing.

Used in conjunction with Medianet, our Network Management Solution Scrutinizer has the ability to give you the most detail in reporting available.  Since Plixer has worked closely with Cisco as a registered partner since our early days – it’s easy to see why Scrutinizer is featured in the Medianet Deployment Guide (7,8,10).

If the detail in your Cisco Prime Assurance Manager just isn’t enough, give us a call, and we’d be happy to get Scrutinizer up and running for your Flexible NetFlow Performance Monitoring exports.

 

JULY 2012 UPDATE: The Supervisor Engine 6-E and the Cisco Catalyst 4900M do not support NetFlow.