I/G/C/B-Series Sflow Configuration Disappears over time

[FAQ_User]

Article ID: 13973

Products
I-Series, firmware 6.42.01.0046 and higher
G-Series, firmware 6.03.00.0022 and higher
C5-Series, firmware 6.41.00.0022 and higher
C3-Series, firmware 6.03.00.0022 and higher
B5-Series, firmware 6.41.00.0022 and higher
B3-Series, firmware 6.03.00.0022 and higher

Changes
Configured sFlow as suggested in the Configuration Guide, with the receiver timeout specified at

code:

180000

seconds:

code:

set sflow receiver 1 owner enterasys

timeout 180000

Symptoms
SFlow receiver timeout value continually decreases, as viewed in the output of a '

code:

show sflow receivers

' command or possibly the output of a '

code:

show config sflow

' command.
Over time the sFlow config lines disappear from the switch configuration.
Lost sFlow configuration.

Cause
The sFlow operation design contains an unusual feature, in that the sFlow receiver command includes a timeout value, specified in seconds. From the Configuration Guide:

code:

set sflow receiver

<

index

> owner <

owner-string

>

timeout

<

timeout

>

code:

timeout - The time, in seconds, remaining before the receiver/Collector being configured and all associated samplers and pollers expire. The value can range from 0 to 4294967295 seconds.

code:

Once the timer set by this command expires, the receiver/Collector and all the samplers and pollers associated with this Collector expire and are removed from the switch's configuration. In order to start sending sample data to the Collector again, the Collector must be reconfigured with a new timeout value and samplers and pollers must be configured again. Therefore, you should consider setting the timeout value to the largest value that is reasonable for your environment.

The timer value "

code:

180000

" as shown in the Configuration Guide represents just over two days of elapsed time, so in that case the user would see the sFlow configurations disappear two days after configuring them, when the countdown timer has reached a zero value.

Solution/Workaround
Functions as Designed (FAD).

Set the timer for the desired operational period. If operation is expected to be permanent, then set the timer sufficiently high so that effectively it will never count down to zero. An initial timer value of

code:

3153600000

(100 years) would serve that purpose.

See also: 13974.