Powered by Zoomin Software. For more details please contactZoomin

Flowmon User Guide

Table of Contents

Replacing Faulty DA Units

Save PDF
Save selected topicSave selected topic and subtopicsSave all topics
Share
Share to emailCopy topic URL
Print
  • Last Updated: April 5, 2026
  • 7 minute read
    • Flowmon Products
    • Flowmon
    • Documentation

If some of the units connected to the DA fail and need to be reset to the factory default setting or replaced by a new unit, you can do this by following the process described in the following chapters.

If you have installed the Flowmon ADS module in a distributed configuration, check the How to Recover Distributed ADS on Replaced Unit chapter for details about the ADS recovery process.

How to Replace a Faulty TPM Unit When Backup Master Units are Present

This chapter describes how to replace a faulty TPM unit when multiple Master Units are connected to the DA.

  1. On the Master Unit with lower priority, open the Flowmon Configuration Center > Distributed Architecture, and select the option This unit is the top priority master unit.

  2. The lower priority Master Unit is turned into the TPM.

  3. Replace the failed Master unit with a new unit. Select the same IP address on its management interface and enable Distributed Architecture.

  4. On the new TPM, on the Distributed Architecture page:

    1. In the Master Units table, edit the failed Master Unit.

    2. Select the Update HWID checkbox.

    3. Click Save. See the picture below.

  5. The replaced Master Unit is added to the DA with the new HWID and the original Master Unit configuration is applied to the new Unit.

  6. When the new Master Unit status is OK, you can optionally swap the priority back to the original Master.

How to Replace a Faulty TPM Unit When No Backup Master Units are Present

This chapter describes how to replace a faulty TPM if there are no other Master Units connected to the DA. To make this possible, it is necessary to back up your TPM and DA configuration after every change! The guide on how to make it can be found in the How To Backup Configuration of DA Units and Source Groups section.

If you have a backup ready, you can replace the faulty TPM by following these steps:

  1. Replace/fix the faulty TPM unit. Important: Ensure that the Flowmon OS and all modules are installed in the same versions as on the failed TPM.

  2. Check if the Flowmon license is still valid. It might become invalid if some part of the hardware has been replaced. Request a new license if needed and upload it to the device.

  3. Log in to the command line (CLI interface) and run the following command. It will restore the unit to the factory settings:

./restore_factory_settings.sh autorun

  • On the replaced TPM, configure the same IP address.

  • Enable DA and TPM mode.

  • Upload the backup configuration.
  • Select all sections for import (including Distributed Architecture). Choose the Add and modify mode. Then click Import Selected.
  • Now the TPM unit is recovered.

Important: No data is lost on the proxy or slave units. However, the profile graphs are not recovered. They start to be computed once the new TPM is configured. However, as the flow data is available, users can still make a query and report over older data with no graph. Also, the Reports data have to be recomputed manually for the history.

How to Replace a Faulty Unit

This chapter describes how to replace any other DA unit apart from the TPM (for example, the Slave Unit). The failed unit can be replaced as follows:

  • Replace/fix the failed unit with a new unit.

  • Check if the Flowmon license is still valid. It might become invalid if some part of the hardware has been replaced. Request a new license if necessary and upload it to the device.

  • Log in to the command line (CLI interface) and run the following command. It will restore the unit to the factory settings:

./restore_factory_settings.sh autorun

  • Select the same IP address on its management interface and enable Distributed Architecture.

  • On the TPM, on the Distributed Architecture page:

    • In the Master Units table, edit the failed Unit.

    • Select the Update HWID option.

    • Click SAVE.

  • The Replaced Unit is added to the DA with the new HWID and the configuration of the original Unit is applied to the new Unit.

How to Recover Distributed ADS on a Replaced Unit

The ADS configuration and events are stored on the Master Unit only. Distributed ADS does not support more than one Master Unit (backup). We recommend you manually back up the ADS configuration after every change using the Flowmon Configuration Center. There is no simple way to back up/restore the whole database of detected events. We recommend sending the event to a third-party system using syslog event reporting to archive. The Flowmon ADS Distributed Architecture is configured independently on the Flowmon Distributed Architecture and needs to be fixed manually.

Configuration of Flowmon ADS Distributed Architecture is stored in the configuration file /data/ads/KADS.cfg on each unit. The file contains information about the unit mode (master, slave, proxy) and IP addresses of related units from the unit point of view. KADS.cfg can be managed manually or using the ADS DA configuration wizard (recommended). See the ADS user guide for more information.

Replacing the Master Unit

  • Follow Flowmon OS instructions for replacing a faulty TPM unit first

    • A working TPM and installed ADS are expected before continuing

  • Upload the ADS configuration from your backup

  • Select the ADS configuration group

    • Unselect all configuration groups by clicking None

    • Select the ADS group only by clicking All in the ADS section

  • Clean the previous Flowmon ADS Distributed Architecture configuration (optional)

    • Open the configuration file /data/ads/KADS.cfg

      • Comment out lines starting with the following keywords:

        • kadsmode, child_ip, parent_ip, authkey_path

    • Remove the ADS DA SSH auth public key:

      • Open /home/flowmon/.ssh/authorized_keys

      • Remove the line with the ADS DA auth key

    • Remove the ADS DA SSH auth private key:

      • Remove files /data/ads/tmp/auth.key*

    • Restart the Flowmon ADS module:

      • sudo /etc/flowmon/plugins/flowmon-ads/start_stop.sh stop

      • sudo /etc/flowmon/plugins/flowmon-ads/start_stop.sh start

    • This step can be skipped when the ADS DA was configured using the kads wizard before (not manually) and only the Master Unit is replaced (all other units will be reconfigured during new initialization).

    • Log in to each unit as the flowmon user using the SSH protocol and perform the following steps:

  • Initialize Flowmon ADS Distributed Architecture

Log in to the Flowmon OS terminal on the Master unit and execute the kads-wizard.py command to start the Flowmon ADS DA configuration wizard.

ADS Wizard initialization…
...checking local configuration files.
...reading local configuration.
! No 'kadsmode' configuration found.

Do you want to start master configuration? (yes/no):

  • Type yes and press enter to initialize ADS DA

After successful initialization, add all Slave/Proxy units using the Assign New unit to Master menu option.

Welcome to KADS Configuration Wizard.

Master: 192.168.1.1 (NO CHILDS DEFINED)

What do you want to do?

  1. Assign new Unit to Master
  2. Deinitialize Distributed Architecture
  3. Show status
  4. Exit

Select number:

  • See the Distributed Architecture Quickstart Guide or ADS user guide for more information.

  • Check the Flowmon ADS quotas on the Master Unit:

    • FCC - Quota Manager (used for storing events, 10 GB at least)

    • FCC - Distributed Architecture - Source Group - Open FCC - Quota Manager (used for backend processing on Slaves, set to 50 GB for each Source Group)

Replacing the Proxy/Slave Unit

  • Remove the replaced unit from related units:

    • Remove the line with the IP address of the replaced unit

    • Log in to each related unit as the flowmon user using the SSH protocol

    • Open the configuration file /data/ads/KADS.cfg

  • Clean the replaced unit (optional)

    • Comment out lines starting with these keywords:

      • kadsmode, child_ip, parent_ip, authkey_path

    • Open /home/flowmon/.ssh/authorized_keys

    • Remove the line with the ADS DA auth key

    • Remove the files /data/ads/tmp/auth.key*

    • sudo /etc/flowmon/plugins/flowmon-ads/start_stop.sh stop

    • sudo /etc/flowmon/plugins/flowmon-ads/start_stop.sh start

    • This step can be skipped when the unit is not available anymore (dead, reinstalled completely) or removed (deinitialized) using the kads wizard cleanly.

    • Log in to replace the failed unit as the flowmon user using the SSH protocol

    • Open the configuration file /data/ads/KADS.cfg

    • Remove the ADS DA SSH auth public key

    • Remove the ADS DA SSH auth private key

    • Restart the Flowmon ADS module

  • Add a new unit:

    • Log in to the Master unit as the flowmon user using the SSH protocol

    • Open /home/flowmon/.ssh/known_hosts and remove the line with the old Slave identity

    • Run kads-wizard.py

    • Assign the new Unit to Master/Proxy using the wizard menu

  • Check the Flowmon ADS quotas on the Master Unit

    • FCC - Quota Manager (used for storing events, 10 GB at least)

    • FCC - Distributed Architecture - Source Group - Open FCC - Quota Manager (used for backend processing on Slaves, set to 50 GB for each Source Group)

TitleResults for “How to create a CRG?”Also Available inAlert