NetFlow

NetFlow Collector can be used to visualize and monitor Netflow-enabled devices and capture logs to the GuanCe Cloud to help monitor and analyze Netflow anomalies.

What is NetFlow¶

NetFlow is the most widely used traffic data statistics standard, developed by Cisco to monitor and record all traffic downstream and upstream flow. Netflow analyzes the traffic data it collects to provide visibility into flows and traffic volumes, and to track where traffic is coming from, where it is going, and what traffic is being generated at any given time. The logged information can be used for usage monitoring, anomaly detection, and a variety of other network management tasks.

The following protocols are currently supported by DataKit:

• netflow5
• netflow9
• sflow5
• ipfix

Configuration¶

Preconditions¶

• NetFlow enabled device. Enabling method different between devices, referring to official guide is recommended. For example: Enabling NetFlow on Cisco ASA

Collector Configuration¶

[[inputs.netflow]]
    source    = "netflow"
    namespace = "namespace"

    #[[inputs.netflow.listeners]]
    #    flow_type = "netflow9"
    #    port      = 2055

    [[inputs.netflow.listeners]]
        flow_type = "netflow5"
        port      = 2056

    #[[inputs.netflow.listeners]]
    #    flow_type = "ipfix"
    #    port      = 4739

    #[[inputs.netflow.listeners]]
    #    flow_type = "sflow5"
    #    port      = 6343

    [inputs.netflow.tags]
    # some_tag = "some_value"
    # more_tag = "some_other_value"

Log¶

Following is example of a log:

{
    "flush_timestamp":1692077978547,
    "type":"netflow5",
    "sampling_rate":0,
    "direction":"ingress",
    "start":1692077976,
    "end":1692077976,
    "bytes":668,
    "packets":1588,
    "ether_type":"IPv4",
    "ip_protocol":"TCP",
    "device":{
        "namespace":"namespace"
    },
    "exporter":{
        "ip":"10.200.14.142"
    },
    "source":{
        "ip":"130.240.103.204",
        "port":"4627",
        "mac":"00:00:00:00:00:00",
        "mask":"130.240.96.0/20"
    },
    "destination":{
        "ip":"152.222.36.168",
        "port":"424",
        "mac":"00:00:00:00:00:00",
        "mask":"152.0.0.0/8"
    },
    "ingress":{
        "interface":{
            "index":0
        }
    },
    "egress":{
        "interface":{
            "index":0
        }
    },
    "host":"MacBook-Air-2.local",
    "next_hop":{
        "ip":"20.104.52.139"
    }
}

Explain as followings:

• Root/NetFlow node

• device node

• exporter node

• source node

• destination node

• ingress node

• egress node

• next_hop node

Metric¶

For all the following data collections, a global tag named host is appended by default (the tag value is the host name of the DataKit); other tags can be specified in the configuration through [inputs.netflow.tags]:

 [inputs.netflow.tags]
  # some_tag = "some_value"
  # more_tag = "some_other_value"
  # ...

netflow¶

Using source field in the config file, default is default.

• Tags

• Metrics