IPFIX eases network-flow reporting

摘要

Flow-based technologies, increasingly popular for characterizing network traffic, are invaluable to setting QoS policies, deploying applications and engaging in capacity planning. However, network managers have lacked a standard format in which to export traffic flows. The IETF is standardizing flow export under proposed RFC 3917 — IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX). RFC 3917 has been submitted to the IETF for final approval this year. Using Cisco IOS NetFlow Version 9 as its foundation, the IPFIX standard defines unique traffic flows using the following flow keys: source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, Layer 3 protocol type, type-of-service byte and input logical interface.