The analyzer (e.g., ntopng, pmacct, InMon Traffic Sentinel, ELK with sFlow plugin) runs a high-performance UDP receiver. It tags each sample with arrival time and validates the datagram.
The analyzer keeps an in-memory hash table keyed by (src_ip, dst_ip, src_port, dst_port, protocol) . It adds the extrapolated bytes and packets to that key. sflow analyzer
A dashboard shows:
The switch sends this tiny UDP packet to the analyzer's IP:Port (usually 6343). The analyzer (e
Let's walk through a real packet crossing a switch, and how the analyzer sees it. The analyzer (e.g.