Licensing
Considering many questions around NetFlow licensing, please find a summary below :
1. Licensing
· From OnLine Help : Apply when using nG1 standalone server (not nG1 for Flows) https://my.netscout.com/mcp/
Counting NetFlow Monitored Elements
The nGenius NetFlow Collector and nGenius Collector can be deployed in one or both of two modes:
Device Mode — Each Flow Collector supports up to 10 NetFlow-enabled devices with a total of up to 1,000 interfaces. Each device consumes one Type I monitored element, regardless of the number of enabled interfaces. Each NetFlow virtual interface also consumes one Type II monitored element.
Interface Mode — Each Flow Collector supports any number of NetFlow-enabled devices up to a total of 250 interfaces. Five interfaces consume one Type I monitored element. Each individual interface also consumes one Type II monitored element.
Using the extd_vifn_mode command, you can increase the virtual interface support on nGenius Flow Collector and nGenius Collector appliances to 5000.
· From nG1 for Flows Admin Guide : https://my.netscout.com/mcp/
· One license supports an unlimited number of nGenius Collector appliances.
· The nGenius Collectors are deployed in Device and/or Interface (preferred) mode.
· The maximum number of interfaces supported per server is 40,000. The maximum number of interfaces per Global Manager is 120,000, as a Global Manager can manage up to three local
· From nG1 Admin Guide : https://my.netscout.com/mcp/
nGenius for Flows is a separately licensed product for analyzing NetFlow, IP SLA, and MIB-II data. While nGeniusONE can also analyze NetFlow and IP SLA, an nGenius for Flows license is required for collecting MIB-II data. Workflows for NetFlow and IP SLA are identical in nGeniusONE and nGenius for Flows
· IPSLA is consuming 1 Type1 License (https://my.netscout.com/mcp/
2. Sizing
This rules helps to roughly size the needs. More precise information (number of interfaces for example) will help to better adjust the sizing.
Our flow solution scalability requirements are determined by the total number of (router/switch) interfaces customer has in their environment.
We should ask, "How many devices (routers/switches) will be monitored?" and then use a 1:5 rule of thumb in determining total number of interfaces.
Once we have that, we decide on the number of flow collector/nG for Flows servers as below:
1 flow collector per 5000 router/switch interfaces
1 nG for Flows server per 20,000 router/switch interfaces (even if 40,000 is max supported
1 nG Global Manager if they have >1 nG for Flows servers
nG for Flows is an enterprise license, so customers can replicate N copies of the server with one license.
On performance side, our flow collector(3300D) supports 2 million flow records processing per minute or 10 million per 5min ASI sample.
Our nG1 Server(standard appliance) supports 12million ASI records logging per 5min sample.