NetFlow: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Communications protocol}}

'''NetFlow''' is a feature that was introduced on [[Cisco]] routers around 1996 that provides the ability to collect IP network traffic as it enters or exits an interface. By analyzing the data provided by NetFlow, a network administrator can determine things such as the source and destination of traffic, class of service, and the causes of congestion. A typical flow monitoring setup (using NetFlow) consists of three main components:<ref name="Flow_Monitoring_Tutorial">{{cite journal

[[File:NetFlow Architecture 2012.png|thumb|right|512px|NetFlow architecture]]

'''NetFlow''' is a feature that was introduced on [[Cisco]] routers around 1996 that provides the ability to collect IP network traffic as it enters or exits an interface. By analyzing the data provided by NetFlow, a network administrator can determine things such as the source and destination of traffic, class of service, and the causes of congestion. A typical flow monitoring setup (using NetFlow) consists of three main components:<ref name="Flow_Monitoring_Tutorial">{{cite journal

| last1 = Hofstede | first1 = Rick

| last2 = Čeleda | first2 = Pavel

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* One packet randomly selected in an interval of ''n'' packet, in Random Sampled NetFlow, used on modern Cisco routers.

Some implementations have more complex methods to sample packets, like per-flow sampling on Cisco Martinez Catalysts.

The sampling rate is often the same for all interfaces, but can be adjusted per interface for some routers.

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* Rflow for [[Ericsson]]

* AppFlow [[Citrix]]

* [[sFlow]] vendors include: [[Alaxala]], [[Alcatel Lucent]], [[Allied Telesis]], [[Arista Networks]], [[Brocade Communications Systems|Brocade]], [[Cisco Systems|Cisco]], [[Dell]], [[D-Link]], [[Enterasys]], [[Extreme Networks|Extreme]], [[F5 Networks|F5 BIG-IP]], [[Fortinet]], [[Hewlett-Packard]], [[Hitachi]], [[Huawei]], [[IBM]], [[Juniper Networks|Juniper]], [[LG-Ericsson]], [[Mellanox]], [[MRV Communications|MRV]], [[NEC]], [[Netgear]], [[Proxim Wireless]], [[Quanta Computer]], [[Vyatta]], [[Telesoft Technologies|Telesoft]], [[ZTE]] and [[ZyXEL]]<ref name="sFlow Vendors">{{cite web

| url = http://www.sflow.org/products/network.php

| title = sFlow Products: Network Equipment

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| | [[Linux]] [[FreeBSD]] [[NetBSD]] [[OpenBSD]]

| | v5, v9, IPFIX

| | Software like fprobe,<ref>{{cite web | title = fprobe | url=httphttps://sourceforge.net/projects/fprobe/ }}</ref> ipt-netflow,<ref>{{cite web | title = ipt-netflow | url=httphttps://sourceforge.net/projects/ipt-netflow/ }}</ref> pflow,<ref>{{cite web |author1= Henning Brauer |author2= Joerg Goltermann |url= http://bxr.su/o/share/man/man4/pflow.4 |title= pflow — kernel interface for pflow data export |website= BSD Cross Rererence |publisher= [[OpenBSD]] |date= 2014-03-29 |access-date= 2019-08-09}}

*{{cite book |section=pflow — kernel interface for pflow data export |title=OpenBSD manual page server |url=http://mdoc.su/o/pflow.4}}</ref> flowd,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://ports.su/net/flowd |title= flowd-0.9.1.20140828 – NetFlow collector |work= [[OpenBSD ports]] |date= 2019-07-17 |access-date= 2019-08-09 }}</ref> [[Netgraph]] ng_netflow<ref>{{cite web |author= Gleb Smirnoff |url= http://bxr.su/f/share/man/man4/ng_netflow.4 |title= ng_netflow — Cisco's NetFlow implementation |website= BSD Cross Rererence |publisher= [[FreeBSD]] |date= 2005 |access-date= 2019-08-09}}

*{{cite book |section=ng_netflow -- Cisco's NetFlow implementation |title=FreeBSD Manual Pages |url=http://mdoc.su/f/ng_netflow.4}}</ref> or softflowd

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|-

! | VMware servers

| | [[vSphere]] 5.x<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.vmware.com/networking/2011/08/vsphere-5-new-networking-features-netflow.html |title = vSphere 5 New Networking Features - NetFlow - VMware vSphere Blog| date=15 August 2011 }}</ref>

| | v5, IPFIX (>5.1)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/Whats-New-VMware-vSphere-51-Network-Technical-Whitepaper.pdf |title=vSphere 51 Network Technical Whitepaper|website=vmware.com|access-date=1 July 2023}}</ref>

| | Software