To continue creating a port mirroring session, specify the name, description, and session details for the new port mirroring session.

Procedure

  1. Set the session properties. Different options are available for configuration depending on which session type you selected.
    Option Description
    Name You can enter a unique name for the port mirroring session, or accept the automatically generated session name.
    Status Use the drop down menu to enable or disable the session.
    Session type Displays the type of session you selected.
    Encapsulation Type Select GRE, ERSPAN TWO, or ERSPAN THREE.
    Note:

    This option is enabled when session type is set to Encapsulated Remote Mirroring (L3) Source.
    Session ID Specify an ERSPAN ID if encapsulation type is set to ERSPAN TWO or ERSPAN THREE.
    Note:

    This option is enabled when session type is set to Encapsulated Remote Mirroring (L3) Source.
    Encapsulation VLAN ID
    VLAN ID that encapsulates all frames at the destination ports.
    Note: If the original frames have a VLAN and Preserve original VLAN is not selected, the encapsulation VLAN replaces the original VLAN.
    This option is enabled when session type is set to Remote Mirroring Source.
    Preserve original VLAN

    Select Preserve original VLAN to keep the original VLAN in an inner tag so mirrored frames are double encapsulated.

    This option is enabled when session type is set to Remote Mirroring Source.
    Normal I/O on destination ports

    Use the drop-down menu to allow or disallow normal I/O on destination ports. This property is only available for uplink and distributed port destinations.

    If you disallow this option, mirrored traffic will be allowed on outgoing destination ports, but incoming traffic will not be allowed.
    TCP/IP Stack Use the drop down menu to select the type of TCP/IP stack.
    • Default: The default TCP/IP stack.
    • Mirror: Using mirror stack instead of default TCP/IP netstack can separate mirror traffic from management traffic. Without mirror stack, mirror traffic is bound to default TCP/IP stack. The management traffic also uses the default TCP/IP stack. If the mirror traffic is large, then it affects the management traffic. If you want to separate the mirror traffic from the default TCP/IP stack, then you can have a dedicated mirror netstack on the ESXi. You can enable this dedicated netstack while configuring Encapsulated Remote Mirroring sessions.
    Note:

    This option is enabled when session type is set to Encapsulated Remote Mirroring (L3) Source.
    Mirrored packet length (Bytes) Use the check box to enable mirrored packet length in bytes. This puts a limit on the size of mirrored frames. If this option is selected, all mirrored frames are truncated to the specified length.
    Sampling rate Select the rate at which packets are sampled. This is enabled by default for all port mirroring sessions except legacy sessions.
    Description You have the option to enter a description of the port mirroring session configuration.
  2. Click Next.