Port mirroring for sampling measurement of network flows

摘要

Mechanisms are provided for analyzing data traffic through a network. The mechanisms sample data packets of a data flow through a normal port of a network forwarding device of the network. The sampling is performed at least by configuring the network forwarding device to implement port mirroring of the normal port to a designated mirror port of the network forwarding device. The mechanisms forward sampled data packets, copied to the mirror port by virtue of the port mirroring, to a collector computing device. The mechanisms process, by the collector computing device, the sampled data packets to analyze the data flow through the normal port of the network forwarding device. The mechanisms perform, by the collector computing device, an operation based on results of the analysis.

主权项

1. A method, in a data processing system, for analyzing data traffic through a network, the method comprising:
sampling data packets of a data flow through a normal port of a network forwarding device of the network, wherein the sampling is performed at least by configuring the network forwarding device to implement port mirroring of the normal port to a designated mirror port of the network forwarding device; forwarding sampled data packets, copied to the mirror port by virtue of the port mirroring, to a collector computing device; processing, by the collector computing device, the sampled data packets to analyze the data flow through the normal port of the network forwarding device; and performing, by the collector computing device, an operation based on results of the analysis, wherein a number of mirror ports and a number of normal ports in the network forwarding device are configured according to a desired sampling size or desired sampling rate.