Specifying destinations for flow data forwarding
The Flow Gateway can forward flow data to five destinations. Unlike the data sent to NetProfiler appliances, which is compressed and encrypted, the flow data forwarded to other destinations is sent in the format in which it was received.
If you are using a device with a very limited capacity for sending flow data to monitoring devices, you can conserve that capacity by sending the data to the Flow Gateway instead of to the original destination. The Flow Gateway can then transparently forward the data to the original destination, while also sending it to the NetProfiler.
Additionally, you can make the forwarded data appear to be coming from the Flow Gateway. Use the Overwrite Source option to use the Flow Gateway address as the source address in the forwarded data packets. This may be necessary to prevent packets from appearing to be spoofed.
To specify forwarding destinations,
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Go to the Administration > Flow Forwarding page.
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Click Add New Entry to open a blank entry for specifying a destination NetProfiler.
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Enter the destination IP address, port number, and data type for each destination. (For IPFIX and CascadeFlow data, select NetFlow.)
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If you need to have the data identified as coming from the Flow Gateway, select Overwrite Source to use the Flow Gateway address as the source address in the forwarded data packets. This option does not apply to the forwarding of NetFlow version 9 or IPFIX packets.
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In the Flow Sources box, either:
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Leave the box blank to forward all flow data to the specified device, or
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Enter a comma-separated list of the IP addresses of flow source devices whose traffic is to be sent to the specified destination device.
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You can enter IP addresses by clicking Browse and searching for the flow source device by name, address, or subnet.
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Click Configure Now at the bottom of the page to apply the settings.
The Flow Gateway begins forwarding flow data to the destination devices within 5 minutes after you click Configure Now.
Notes:
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All flow data that is available for forwarding to other devices is also processed and sent to NetProfiler. Flow data cannot be forwarded without also reporting it to NetProfiler.
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Data from sources specified in the Excluded Sources box in the Data Sources section of the Administration > General Settings page cannot be forwarded to other devices.