what is sFlow 2147483647 interface/instance?

[Igoris_1]

I am running Scrutinizer sFlow analyzer from plixer.com, collecting sflow from Procurve 28XX, 5304 switches. Noticed some strange interfaces with a number of 2147483647, what is it, SNMP tester does not show interfaces with such number. Attached screenshot of raw flows, which shows incoming interface 12 and outgoing interface 2147483647. More interestingly packets going to that interface floods other switches, connected via the same VLAN. Any ideas?

[Richard Brodie_1 · Accepted solution]

I guess 2147483647 (0x7fffffff) is what it uses for Unknown when it is going to flood packets.

A central syslog receiver is one of the things that is likely to drop out of the forwarding tables on switches. The  assumption is that traffic on a line is bidirectional, or at least acknowledged. If it troubles you, you can add static MAC mappings, or have the syslog receiver send a 'hello' packet every few minutes.

[Igoris_1]

indeed, I set ping out of syslog collector every 30 mins and it solved an issue, switch is no longer flooding packets to interface 2147483647, which stands for 'unknown'.