[c-nsp] 6500 NDE aging "prematurely"

Tassos Chatzithomaoglou achatz at forthnet.gr
Wed Jun 4 09:44:49 EDT 2008


The numbers/reasons given are for software platforms.

This is the default output from a 7200:

7200#sh ip cache flow | i timeout
   Active flows timeout in 30 minutes
   Inactive flows timeout in 15 seconds


On the 6500, the NDE is a different story, but according to Cisco:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/12.2SXF/native/configuration/guide/nde.html#wp1140433

---------------------
NDE packets go to the external data collector either when the number of recently expired flows reaches a predetermined maximum or 
after:

.30 seconds for version 5 export.
.10 seconds for version 9 export.
---------------------

I wish it was more clear...

--
Tassos

Phil Mayers wrote on 4/6/2008 4:06 μμ:
> Tassos Chatzithomaoglou wrote:
>> A flow is exported when :
>>
>> 1) it is inactive for a specific time (default 15 secs)*
> 
> I don't think that's correct. I think the default is 300 seconds.
> 
>> 2) it is active and has lasted longer than a specific time (default 30 
>> mins)*
> 
> Sure; that's not this
> 
>> 3) a TCP flag (FIN/RST?) is received, indicating that the flow is 
>> terminated
> 
> Really? Are you certain about that? I was under the impression that the 
> PFC did not act on TCP flags.
> 
>>
>> (*) 6500 uses different timers, if i remember right..
>>
>> -- 
>> Tassos
>>
>> Phil Mayers wrote on 4/6/2008 3:42 μμ:
>>> Ben Hicks wrote:
>>>> Forgive me if I'm missing something but you are looking at the 
>>>> actual end times of the TCP flows, not the exports (which happen 
>>>> continuously in chunks anyway). The flows will be reported as they 
>>>> end. So a 30 second connection will be reported once its finished, 
>>>> not at the end of the 5 minute period.
>>>
>>> That was not my understanding. My understanding was that the flow 
>>> start and end times were of the first and last packets seen, and that 
>>> a flow should be exported when:
>>>
>>>  now - last_packet >= 300 seconds
>>>
>>> ...with default aging timers.
>>>
>>> So, if we have 3 packets:
>>>
>>>  12:35:00
>>>  12:36:00
>>>  12:37:00
>>>
>>> ...the flow should be exported at ~12:42 i.e. 300 seconds after the 
>>> last packet.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Ben
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net on behalf of Phil Mayers
>>>> Sent: Wed 04/06/2008 12:53
>>>> To: cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
>>>> Subject: [c-nsp] 6500 NDE aging "prematurely"
>>>>
>>>> All,
>>>>
>>>> We use nfdump/nfsen to gather our flows. The "nfcap" daemon writes the
>>>> flows to 5-minute-window files, the filename being the *start* of the
>>>> 5-minute window.
>>>>
>>>> If I look at e.g. nfcapd.200806041235 I see the following distribution
>>>> of flow *end* times:
>>>>
>>>>      732 2008-06-04 12:29
>>>>    16492 2008-06-04 12:30
>>>>    19769 2008-06-04 12:31
>>>>    22704 2008-06-04 12:32
>>>>    21701 2008-06-04 12:33
>>>>    91460 2008-06-04 12:34
>>>>   148540 2008-06-04 12:35
>>>>   153881 2008-06-04 12:36
>>>>   177542 2008-06-04 12:37
>>>>   184133 2008-06-04 12:38
>>>>   143340 2008-06-04 12:39
>>>>
>>>> Given that we are running with the default aging parameters:
>>>>
>>>>               enable timeout  packet threshold
>>>>               ------ -------  ----------------
>>>> normal aging true       300        N/A
>>>> fast aging   false      32         100
>>>> long aging   true       1920       N/A
>>>>
>>>> ...I'm puzzled; surely during the window 12:35:00 -> 12:39:59 we should
>>>> only ever receive flows with end time up to 12:35:00 (plus or minus a
>>>> few tens of seconds, depending on the aging)
>>>>
>>>> Why is the router exporting flows which have been inactive for 
>>>> "only" ~1
>>>> minute?
>>>>
>>>> The box isn't busy with regards netflow (considering we have fast aging
>>>> disabled and lot of 1-packet flows) so I don't think that's the cause.
>>>>
>>>> TCAM utilization:       Module       Created      Failed       %Used
>>>>                          1              72227           0         55%
>>>>                          2              65312           0         49%
>>>>                          5                 75           0          0%
>>>>                          6                 70           0          0%
>>>>                          8              71824           0         54%
>>>>                          9              37572           0         28%
>>>> ICAM utilization:       Module       Created      Failed       %Used
>>>>                          1                  1           0          0%
>>>>                          2                  3           0          2%
>>>>                          5                  0           0          0%
>>>>                          6                  0           0          0%
>>>>                          8                  4           0          3%
>>>>                          9                  0           0          0%
>>>>
>>>>         Flowmasks:   Mask#   Type        Features
>>>>                IPv4:     0   reserved    none
>>>>                IPv4:     1   Intf FulFM_GUARDIAN
>>>>                IPv4:     2   unused      none
>>>>                IPv4:     3   reserved    none
>>>>
>>>>                IPv6:     0   reserved    none
>>>>                IPv6:     1   unused      none
>>>>                IPv6:     2   unused      none
>>>>                IPv6:     3   reserved    none
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> cisco-nsp mailing list  cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
>>>> https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-nsp
>>>> archive at http://puck.nether.net/pipermail/cisco-nsp/
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> cisco-nsp mailing list  cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
>>> https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-nsp
>>> archive at http://puck.nether.net/pipermail/cisco-nsp/
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> cisco-nsp mailing list  cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
>> https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-nsp
>> archive at http://puck.nether.net/pipermail/cisco-nsp/
> 
> 


More information about the cisco-nsp mailing list