DELL N3000 User Manual

Monitoring Switch Traffic

This chapter describes sFlow features, Remote Monitoring (RMON), and 

Port Mirroring features.
The topics covered in this chapter include:

• Traffic Monitoring Overview
• Default Traffic Monitoring Values
• Monitoring Switch Traffic (Web)
• Monitoring Switch Traffic (CLI)
• Traffic Monitoring Configuration Examples

The switch maintains statistics about network traffic that it handles. It also 

has embedded technology that collects and sends information about traffic to 

other devices. Dell Networking series switches include support for flow-based 

monitoring through sFlow and Remote Network Monitoring (RMON) 

agents. 

sFlow is an industry standard technology for monitoring high-speed switched 

and routed networks. Dell Networking N2000, N3000, and N4000 series 

switches software has a built-in sFlow agent that can monitor network traffic 

on each port and generate sFlow data to an sFlow receiver (also known as a 

collector). sFlow helps to provide visibility into network activity, which 

enables effective management and control of network resources. sFlow is an 

alternative to the NetFlow network protocol, which was developed by Cisco 

Systems. The switch supports sFlow version 5.
As illustrated in Figure 16-1, the sFlow monitoring system consists of sFlow 

Agents (such as Dell Networking series switches) and a central sFlow receiver. 

sFlow Agents use sampling technology to capture traffic statistics from