There are two ways of monitoring your network traffic. SNMP Traffic sensor will show you incoming, outgoing, and total amount of traffic, but if you want to identify the major sources of traffic and eliminate bottlenecks, you should be using PRTG's flow sensors. This comprehensive guide focuses on Aruba sFlow monitoring and shows you how to configure sFlow via CLI and add a native sFlow sensor to PRTG.
Aruba sFlow monitoring provides comprehensive network visibility for HPE Aruba switches, enabling IT administrators to identify traffic bottlenecks, analyze bandwidth consumption, and optimize network performance. This guide covers complete Aruba sFlow configuration from CLI setup to PRTG sensor implementation.
Aruba sFlow (short for "sampled flow") is a powerful sampling technology for network monitoring that was originally developed by InMon and HP. This technology is specifically optimized for HP Aruba switches and provides efficient network traffic analysis. InMon later open-sourced sFlow to ensure it could be used across networks based on multiple vendors' switches such as Huawei, MikroTik, Arista, Allied Telesis, and many others.
The sFlow sensor receives traffic data from an sFlow v5-compatible device and shows the traffic by type. Because PRTG fully supports sFlow Version 5 (the most common version), switches and routers supplying data via sFlow can be monitored with a great deal of ease.
PRTG provides multiple options to process and display bandwidth consumption data from your Aruba switches. sFlow technology puts little strain on the CPU load and data line, and allows for the collection of detailed data. As part of monitoring, you can read or export graphs that show bandwidth metrics (live data, 2 days, 30 days, 365 days).
Aruba sFlow offers several advantages for HP switch monitoring:
You must first enable sFlow v5 export on the HP Aruba switch for this sensor to work. The switch must send the flow data stream to the IP address of the probe system that has this sensor (either a local probe or a remote probe). Please note that the configuration of your HP switch might differ depending on the switch model you have, so please check the official HP documentation.
Open PuTTY, add your HPE Aruba switch IP/port, choose SSH and click Open to connect to switch. You need to include credentials to access your switch.
Connect to your switch using SSH
Type the following sFlow commands to enable and configure sFlow instances via the CLI. You need first to enter configuration mode, and then enable and configure sFlow:
#config
#sFlow 1 destination <PRTG Probe IP> <port number>
#sFlow 1 polling 1-28 20
#sFlow 1 sampling all 1-28 100
#write memoryFor newer Aruba AOS-CX switches (10.07+), use the updated sFlow commands that differ from legacy ProCurve syntax. Consult the AOS-CX Command-Line Reference Guide for your specific firmware version.
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Once you have enabled sFlow export on your HP Aruba switch, you need to add an sFlow sensor to PRTG. This sensor will receive and process the sFlow data stream from your Aruba infrastructure.
PRTG's sFlow sensor supports sFlow v5 with the following specifications:
The sFlow sensor has several critical limitations you must consider:
PRTG's sFlow (Custom) sensor allows you to define custom channel definitions to divide traffic into different channels. With careful configuration, this can include VLAN-based traffic monitoring. The Custom sensor allows you to:
Note: The sFlow (Custom) sensor does not officially support more than 50 channels.
Paessler recommends using our free sFlow Tester tool for debugging sFlow configurations. Use this tool to:
PRTG Network Monitor provides full compatibility with HP Aruba switch implementations, supporting all standard sFlow v5 features without additional configuration or plugins.
Define specific monitoring channels for Aruba VLAN traffic, allowing granular visibility into your network segments that many competitors cannot match.
Combine sFlow traffic analysis with SNMP monitoring for complete Aruba switch visibility, including:
Adjust sampling rates based on your network traffic volume:
Configure how PRTG processes sFlow stream data:
With the PRTG Map Designer feature, you can create custom web pages as maps, or dashboards, that represent your network. You can add the primary toplist of a sensor by navigating to Graphs > Primary toplist of a sensor.
For complete Aruba switch monitoring, we recommend monitoring all other relevant metrics:
Aruba sFlow monitoring with PRTG provides unparalleled visibility into your network traffic patterns. The combination of efficient sampling technology and comprehensive analysis capabilities makes it the ideal solution for monitoring HP Aruba switch infrastructures.
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Are you running HP or any other sFlow capable device in your network? Share your experiences and questions in the comments below, or contact our technical support team for personalized assistance with your Aruba sFlow implementation.