Network Monitoring: NetFlow vs. sFlow

摘要

Ah, the choices one has to make in life: Paper or plastic? Kirk or Picard? sFlow or Net-Flow? Both of these network protocols are used to collect traffic information from IP switch/routers, but they do it differently and each has its partisans. According to Jeffrey Nudler, senior analyst for Enterprise Management Associates, "NetFlow is an 'afterthought' technology. It was initially designed to improve performance of routers and only subsequently evolved into what it is today. In contrast, sFlow was designed to produce some broader information on flow behavior, and so flexible data collection points were incorporated to gather more data."