NETFLOW

Rashmi Bhardwaj | Blog,Services and Applications
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NetFlow is a network protocol developed by Cisco for collecting IP traffic information and monitoring network traffic. By analyzing flow data, a picture of network traffic flow and volume can be built. Using a NetFlow collector and analyzer, you can see where network traffic is coming from and going to and how much traffic is being generated.

As a general monitoring setup typical flow monitoring setup (using NetFlow) consists of three main components –

  • Flow exporter: aggregates packets into flows and exports flow records towards one or more flow collectors.
  • Flow collector: responsible for reception, storage and pre-processing of flow data received from a flow exporter.
  • Analysis application: analyzes received flow data in the context of intrusion detection or traffic profiling, for example.

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Typical flow analysis information found in a NetFlow data record includes :

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  • Source and destination IP address
  • Source and destination TCP/ UDP ports
  • Type of service
  • Packet and byte counts
  • Timestamps
  • Interface numbers
  • TCP flags and encapsulated protocol (TCP/UDP)
  • Routing information
    • next-hop address
    • source autonomous system (AS) number
    • Destination AS number
    • Source prefix mask
    • Destination prefix mask

 

Netflow Versions over time –netflow

Reference –

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetFlow

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