Methods and Systems of Information Protection, Information Security

RESEARCH OF FUNCTIONALITY AND CONFIGURATION OF THE SFLOW PROTOCOL ON THE BASIS OF vESR SOLUTIONS

Download PDF

Abstract

The article analyses the sFlow network telemetry protocol and describes its practical configuration and security zone setup on the vESR virtual service router. The relevance of the work is driven by the need for effective monitoring of corporate networks amid digitalisation, the growing number of connected devices and increasingly stringent information security requirements for critical information infrastructure. In detail, the paper examines the architecture of the sFlow protocol in accordance with RFC 3176, the roles of the sFlow agent and collector, the main mechanisms of statistical packet sampling and periodic polling of interface counters, as well as the structure of the data packet, including the header and samples of the Flow Sample and Counter Sample types. Using a practical example of deploying a laboratory testbed, the article demonstrates how to determine the sFlow agent configuration parameters, configure the export of telemetry data to a UDP datagram receiver, and set up the TRUSTED and UNTRUSTED security zones. The work is educational and methodological in nature: the configuration of sFlow on vESR and the fact of telemetry arrival at the receiver are demonstrated.

Online viewer

References

  1. Phaal, P., Panchen, S., & McKee, N. (2001). RFC 3176 – InMon Corporation's sFlow: A Method for Monitoring Traffic in Switched and Routed Networks. https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3176
  2. Eltex documentation. (n.d.). https://docs.eltex-co.ru/
  3. Uymin, A. G., & Tolmachev, I. M. (2025). Primenenie otechestvennogo setevogo oborudovaniya Eltex i EcoRouter v ramkakh spetsialnosti 09.02.06 «Setevoe i sistemnoe administrirovanie». Voprosy importozameshcheniya i podgotovki kvalifitsirovannykh kadrov v setevom oborudovanii [Application of domestic Eltex and EcoRouter network equipment within specialty 09.02.06 "Network and system administration": Import substitution and training of qualified network equipment personnel]. Avtomatizatsiya i informatizatsiya TEK, (11), 58–62.
  4. Skoromnikov, V. S., & Andriukhina, A. P. (2025). Issledovanie realizatsii IPsec IKEv2 na baze vESR [Study of IPsec IKEv2 implementation on the basis of vESR]. Professionalitet, (1), 5–11.
  5. Bigarov, R. (2007). Opisanie tekhnologii: sFlow D-Link HQ [Description of technology: sFlow D-Link HQ].
  6. Cisco Systems. (n.d.). NetFlow and sFlow Key Concepts. In Cisco IOS XR Netflow Configuration Guide for Cisco 8000 Series Routers, Release 26.1.1. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/iosxr/cisco8000/netflow/configuration/b-netflowconfiguration-ios-xr-8000/netflow-sflow-key-concepts.pdf
  7. OpenNet. (n.d.). Obzor protokolov NetFlow i sFlow [Overview of NetFlow and sFlow protocols]. https://www.opennet.ru/docs/RUS/netflowbsd/
  8. Baeldung. (2024). Key Differences Between NetFlow and sFlow. Baeldung on Computer Science. https://www.baeldung.com/cs/cisco-netflow-vs-innom-sflow
  9. Eltex. (n.d.). Nastroyka Netflow, sFlow, SNMP [Setup Netflow, sFlow, SNMP]. https://docs.eltex-co.ru/plugins/viewsource/viewpagesrc.action?pageId=383648346
  10. Pavlenko, A. (2021). Primer nastroyki sFlow-seti [Example of configuration sFlow-network]. OTUS. https://otus.ru/nest/post/22371
  11. sFlow Version 5: spetsifikatsiya protokola [sFlow Version 5: protocol specification]. (n.d.). https://www.protokols.ru/WP/wp-content/uploads/2004/07/sFlow5.pdf
  12. OpenNix. (n.d.). sFlow – monitoring setevogo trafika v VyOS [sFlow – Network traffic monitoring in VyOS]. https://opennix.org/docs/vyos/system/vyos-sflow/
  13. GOST R 57580.1-2017. (2017). Zashchita informatsii. Bezopasnost finansovykh (bankovskikh) operatsiy. Zashchita informatsii pri osushchestvlenii perevodov denezhnykh sredstv [Information protection. Security of financial (bank) transactions. Protection of information when carrying out cash transfers]. Standartinform.
  14. Oracle VirtualBox: ofitsialnaya dokumentatsiya i rukovodstvo polzovatelya [Oracle VirtualBox: official documentation and user guide]. (n.d.). https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Documentation

License

Copyright (c) 2026 E. S. Tsagaraeva, D. V. Perlova (Author)

Keywords