FLOW SAMPLING WITH TOP TALKERS

An improved network flow sampling apparatus and corresponding method more intelligently selects flows to be reported beyond random flow or packet sampling intervals. Evaluation of flows selects top talkers or heavy hitters as important flows that most impact traffic and therefore should be reported. Top talkers are flows defined based on a customized definition according to, for example, number of packets in a flow, number of bytes in a flow, or bandwidth consumed by a flow. An external collector can thus proceed with traffic profiling or other flow monitoring purposes with a more intelligently determined network flow sample.