Nutanix NetFlow configuration

Nutanix is a cloud OS for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI). It allows you to control from one place your entire IT infrastructure, with a simple interface and/or on smartphones. Nutanix is usually used as a private cloud infrastructure, where the whole stack - processing, data, virtualization, and network resources - is integrated into Nutanix.

Since you are putting all your eggs in one basket, you would definitely want to monitor traffic arriving in and from Nutanix. Unfortunately, Nutanix does not support NetFlow/sFlow out-of-the-box at the moment, so the configuration procedure described in this blog post is developed after excessive research and testing. So let's have a look on how it is done.

When you log onto Nutanix via terminal, you will be addressed with a warning:

Now, we need to configure collector and options inside /etc/hsflowd.conf, so it should something look similar to the following:

 Meaning, you only need to edit these three lines, and then start the hsflowd service:

To check what to configure for sFlow export, you should look at the /etc/hsflowd.auto file:

The sampling is set at 400 by default, and if you need finer granulation you can set it to, for example, 50. However, beware it will cost you in CPU cycles.

Since we are not dealing with a NetFlow network device, device discovery will not work as the default. We need to install SNMP package:

 Next, we need to edit the file /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf in this manner, for example:

 Lastly, we need to allow access to port 161 to reach NetVizura:

Keep in mind that SNMP and iptables configuration is just an example, and that you should always provide better security control to SNMP and port 161.