Before You Begin

What does NTA expect?

Network Traffic Analysis expects flow export to be enabled on NetFlow exporters (also referred to as "source devices"):

• Flow Export (required and best practice). Traffic flow summaries such as NetFlow, NetFlow-Lite, sFlow, J-flow, and IPFIX. (By default NTA listens on port 9999.)
• SNMP (optional). SNMP polling can be used for traffic totals when NetFlow source export is not enabled or for cases where only sampled flow (sFlow, for example) is available. Also, for most Cisco switches, SNMP can be used to remotely auto-configure flow source devices.
  Tip: SNMP can also be used for returning packet inspection and classification (NBAR) as well as class-based quality of service (CBQoS) metrics. SNMP polling is useful when NBAR and CBQoS information is not embedded in traffic flow data.

How do I see data really quickly?

Check if NTA is already gathering data from flow sources (NTA detects flow sources it can reach and begins collecting traffic flow data —automatically.) Open the NTA Dashboards (ANALYZE> Network Traffic Analysis > Traffic Analysis Dashboard). In the sources drop-down list, select a row and click All NTA Sources.

Best Option: Check for Active Flow Sources

Easy Option: Check for Ready-to-configure Flow Sources

Another Option: Configure Your Source Device(s)

If you have devices such as routers that are discovered by WhatsUp Gold but do not display in the NTA Sources Library, this typically means that SNMP support for flow metrics and remote configuration of the device are not available at the device. To work around these limitations, this section outlines how to manually configure a device to serve as a flow source.