Internet Draft B. Claise Document: draft-claise-ipfix-eval-netflow-02.txt Cisco Systems Expires: April 2003 October 2002 Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of [RFC 2026]. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsolete by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html Distribution of this document is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This document provides an evaluation of the applicability of the NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9 as an IPFIX protocol. It compares the properties and capabilities of the NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9 to the IPFIX requirements [IPFIX-REQ]. Table of Contents Claise Expires û February 2003 [Page 1] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 1. Introduction...................................................3 2. Architectural Considerations...................................5 2.1 NetFlow Protocol Overview..................................5 2.2 General Applicability......................................6 2.2.1 Flow Definition........................................6 2.2.2 Observation Point......................................7 2.2.3 The Metering Process and the Flow Record...............7 2.2.4 The Exporting Process..................................7 2.2.5 The Collecting Process.................................7 2.3 Architectural Differences..................................8 3. Item Level Compliance Evaluation...............................8 3.1 Terminology (section 2)....................................9 3.1.1 IP Traffic Flow (2.1)..................................9 3.1.2 Observation Point (2.2)................................9 3.1.3 Metering Process (2.3).................................9 3.1.4 Flow Record (2.4).....................................10 3.1.5 Exporting Process (2.5)...............................10 3.1.6 Collecting Process (2.6)..............................10 3.2 Applications Requiring IP Flow Information Export (3).....10 3.3 Distinguishing Flows (4)..................................10 3.3.1 Interface (4.1).......................................10 3.3.2 IP Header Fields (4.2)................................11 3.3.3 Transport Header Fields (4.3).........................11 3.3.4 MPLS (4.4)............................................11 3.3.5 DiffServ Code Point (4.5).............................11 3.3.6 Header Compression and Encryption (4.6)...............11 3.4 Metering Process (5)......................................11 3.4.1 Reliability (5.1).....................................11 3.4.2 Sampling (5.2)........................................11 3.4.3 Overload Behavior (5.3)...............................12 3.4.4 Timestamps (5.4)......................................13 3.4.5 Time Synchronization (5.5)............................13 3.4.6 Flow Expiration (5.6).................................13 3.4.7 Multicast (5.7).......................................14 3.4.8 Packet Fragmentation (5.8)............................14 3.4.9 Ignore Port Copy (5.9)................................14 3.5 Data Export (6)...........................................14 3.5.1 Information Model (6.1)...............................14 3.5.2 Data Model (6.2)......................................15 3.5.3 Data Transfer (6.3)...................................16 3.5.3.1 Congestion Awareness (6.3.1)......................16 3.5.3.2 Reliability (6.3.2)...............................16 3.5.3.3 Security (6.3.3)..................................16 3.5.4 Push and Pull Mode Reporting (6.4)....................16 3.5.5 Regular Reporting Interval (6.5)......................16 3.5.6 Notification on Specific Events (6.6).................17 3.5.7 Anonymization (6.6)...................................17 3.6 Configuration (7).........................................17 3.6.1 Configuration of the Metering Process (7.1)...........17 Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 2] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 3.6.2 Configuration of the Exporting Process (7.2)..........17 3.7 General Requirements Compliance (8).......................18 3.7.1 Openness (8.1)........................................18 3.7.2 Number of Exporting Processes (8.2)...................18 3.7.3 Several Collecting Processes (8.3)....................18 3.8 Compliance Summary........................................18 4. Security Considerations.......................................22 5. References....................................................22 6. Acknowledgments...............................................23 1. Introduction This document provides an evaluation of the applicability of the NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9 as an IPFIX protocol. First, the general NetFlow architecture is introduced and its application to the communication between an IPFIX exporting process and an IPFIX collecting process is discussed in Section 2. Section 3 discusses in detail, to which degree requirements stated in [IPFIX-REQ] are met. This document uses the terminology defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Note that the generic term NetFlow refers to multiple different notions: the metering process, the exporting process and the export protocol, as defined in the IPFIX terminology section of [IPFIX-REQ]. Even if the metering process and exporting process form a single NetFlow process on the Cisco Systems devices, this document will sometimes refer to NetFlow metering process and NetFlow exporting process for the sake of clarity. But the export protocol will always be referred to as the NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9. - How and where is it documented? All documentation related to NetFlow can be found at: http://www.cisco.com/go/netflow More specifically, the ôNetFlow Services Solutions Guideö covers a NetFlow overview, the basic and advanced concepts, the explanation of the different versions along with the data types exported, some configuration examples, etc. For reference, see: http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/intsolns/netflsol/nfwhite .htm Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 3] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 The new flexible and extensible NetFlow flow record export version 9 is described in the IETF draft "Cisco Systems NetFlow Services Export Version 9" [NETFLOW9], as well as in the following document: http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/iosw/prodlit/ntfo_wp.htm Note that [NETFLOW9-1] is about to be submitted to the rfc-editor. - Are there concrete plans for standardizing it? The way to standardize NetFlow is via the IETF IPFIX Working Group. In parallel, Cisco Systems intention is to produce an Information RFC out of [NETFLOW9]. - Is standardization already in progress? No other standardization than the participation to the IETF IPFIX Working Group is currently taking place. - Is it proprietary to a certain company? NetFlow is a proprietary protocol from Cisco Systems. - Does it include any technology protected by patents? NetFlow is protected by the following patent: United States Patent 6,243,667 Kerr, et al. June 5, 2001 Abstract: The invention provides a method and system for switching in networks responsive to message flow patterns. A message "flow" is defined to comprise a set of packets to be transmitted between a particular source and a particular destination. When routers in a network identify a new message flow, they determine the proper processing for packets in that message flow and cache that information for that message flow. Thereafter, when routers in a network identify a packet which is part of that message flow, they process that packet according to the proper processing for packets in that message flow. The proper processing may include a determination of a destination port for routing those packets and a determination of whether access control permits routing those packets to their indicated destination. Nevertheless, Cisco Systems has no intention to use this patent to prevent other vendors to implement a NetFlow-like solution. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 4] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 An Intellectual Property Right message has been sent to the IETF rfc- editor team to post a similar message at http://www.ietf.org/ipr.html - Is it already implemented? The NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9 protocol is currently at the stage of the Early Field Test, while NetFlow flow record export versions 1, 5, 7 and 8 have been implemented for years now. - Is it already in commercial use? Some Cisco Systems partners are currently developing NetFlow Collectors (the correct term is ôcollecting processö according to [IPFIX-REQ]) able to receive NetFlow version 9 flow records. While many different companies or organizations have already implemented NetFlow Collectors for the previous NetFlow flow record export protocols versions. Ex: Concord Communications, Hewlett Packard, Narus, Xacct, Portal, Apogee Networks, Infovista, etc. to name just a few. - Is it available from more than one source? As the inventor of NetFlow, Cisco Systems is the only company implementing this new version 9 on its devices. But, if we speak of the previous NetFlow flow record export protocol versions, then the majority of our competitors implemented those versions. - Is it already widely used? The new NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9 is in Early Field Test right now, while the previous NetFlow flow record export versions have been implemented by our competitors. As a consequence, NetFlow is widely used through out the industry. 2. Architectural Considerations This section introduces the architecture of the NetFlow and suggests a way of applying it to the communication between an IPFIX exporting process and an IPFIX collecting process. 2.1 NetFlow Protocol Overview This section discusses the most recent evolution of the NetFlow flow record export protocol, which is known as Version 9. The distinguishing Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 5] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 feature of the NetFlow Version 9 format compared to the previous versions, is that it is template based. Template is a collection of fields along with the description of their structure and semantics. This approach gives the following advantages: - The template mechanism being flexible, allows the export of the required fields alone from the IP Flows to the collecting process. This helps to reduce the exported flow data volume, and generates possible memory savings at the metering process and collecting process. Sending the required information only, reduces the network load too. - Using the template mechanism, new fields can be added to NetFlow export records without changing the structure of export record format. With the previous NetFlow flow record export versions, adding a new field in the flow record implied a new version of the export protocol format and a new version of the collecting process that supports the parsing of this new export protocol format. - Templates which are sent to the collecting process contains the structural information about the exported Flow Records fields. So, even if the collecting process does not understand the semantics of new fields, it can still interpret the Flow Record. - Even if the NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9 has been created with a IP flow record background in mind, note that the Information Model can be extended with any data types and could potentially serve any reporting purposes. E.g. the NetFlow metering process configuration. 2.2 General Applicability 2.2.1 Flow Definition A NetFlow flow is identified as a unidirectional stream of packets between a given source and destinationùboth defined by a network-layer IP address and transport-layer source and destination port numbers. Typically in case of ingress NetFlow, a flow is identified as the combination of the following seven key fields: source IP address, destination IP address, source port number, destination port number, layer 3 protocol type, ToS byte, input logical interface (ifIndex). In case of egress NetFlow, a flow is identified as the combination of the following seven key fields: source Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 6] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 IP address, destination IP address, source port number, destination port number, layer 3 protocol type, ToS byte, output logical interface (ifIndex). These seven key fields define a unique flow. If a new observed packet contains a different set of these seven key fields, then this packet will create a new flow. Note that a flow contains other accounting fields (such as the number of packets, number of bytes, the BGP AS, etc). 2.2.2 Observation Point NetFlow can be enabled per interface (physical/logical) per linecard or per system. However implementation restrictions apply on a platform basis. 2.2.3 The Metering Process and the Flow Record NetFlow operates by creating a NetFlow cache that contains the information for all active flows. A flow record is maintained within the NetFlow cache for all active flows. Each flow record in the NetFlow cache contains key fields that can be later used for exporting to a collecting process. 2.2.4 The Exporting Process The NetFlow enabled platform checks the NetFlow cache on regular basis and expires the flows if no more traffic of these flows is observed. Once expired, the flow records are directly exported to the collecting process. To achieve efficiency in terms of processing at the Exporter while handling high volume of export, the NetFlow export packet is encapsulated into UDP [UDP] datagrams for export to the collecting process. Nevertheless NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9 has been designed to be transport protocol independent. Hence, it can also operate over congestion aware protocols like TCP [TCP] or SCTP [SCTP]. Note that the UDP port to which the NetFlow flow records are exported is configurable. 2.2.5 The Collecting Process The NetFlow Collector (the collecting process) provides the data collection from multiple export devices exporting NetFlow flow records. It will process and store the flow records. Some extra actions on these flow records could be executed on the collecting process but per [IPFIX-REQ], these actions are out of the scope of the IPFIX work. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 7] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 2.3 Architectural Differences +----------------+ +----------------+ |[*Application 1]| ..|[*Application n]| +--------+-------+ +-------+--------+ ^ ^ ~ ~ +~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+ ! v +----------------------+ +------------------+ |Device(i) | | Collector(j) | |[Obsv Point(s)] |--------------->| [*Application(s)]| |[Metering Process(es)]| +---->| | |[Export Process] | | +------------------+ +----------------------+ . .... . +----------------------+ | |Device(m) | | |[Obsv Point(s)] |----------+ |[Metering Process(es)]| |[Export Process] | +----------------------+ Except the terminology difference again described below, there is no difference between the NetFlow and IPFIX architecture. Note that the generic term NetFlow refers to multiple different notions: the metering process, the exporting process and the export protocol, as defined in the IPFIX terminology section of [IPFIX-REQ]. Even if the metering process and exporting process form a single NetFlow process on the Cisco Systems devices, this document will sometimes refer to NetFlow metering process and NetFlow exporting process for the sake of clarity. But the export protocol will always be referred to as the NetFlow flow record export protocol version 9. 3. Item Level Compliance Evaluation This section evaluates the compliance of the NetFlow protocol with the IPFIX requirements item by item. Requirements are addressed by their section numbers and item numbers in [IPFIX-REQ]. For each requirement it is explained to what degree protocol NetFlow flow export version 9 meets the requirement and how this is achieved. The degree of compliancy is explicitly stated using five grades: -T Total compliance: The requirement is met completely by the Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 8] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 protocol specification without any extensions required. -E Extension required for total compliance: The protocol is prepared to be extended and it is possible to extend it in a way that it meets the requirement. This grade is only applicable to protocols that are explicitly open to externally defined extensions, such as SNMP is extended by MIB modules or DIAMETER is extended by application modules. It is not applicable to protocols, where the protocol specification itself needs to be extended in order to comply with the requirement. -P Partial compliance: The requirement is met partially by the protocol specification. -U Upcoming compliance: The requirement is not met or met partially by the protocol specification, but there is a concrete plan for an upcoming version of the protocol. -F Failed compliance: The requirement is not met by the protocol specification. 3.1 Terminology (section 2) 3.1.1 IP Traffic Flow (2.1) Total Compliance of NetFlow Flow definition with the IPFIX IP Traffic Flow definition. 3.1.2 Observation Point (2.2) Total Compliance of NetFlow Observation Point definition with the IPFIX Observation Point definition. NetFlow is enabled by interface or per subinterface. NetFlow can be enable on multiple interfaces at the same time, e.g. all interfaces belonging to one line card, or all the interfaces from the device. On specific device, NetFlow is enabled for the entire platform. 3.1.3 Metering Process (2.3) Total Compliance of NetFlow with the IPFIX Metering Process definition, for all aspects: packet header capturing, timestamping, Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 9] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 sampling, classifying, and maintaining flow records. 3.1.4 Flow Record (2.4) Total Compliance of NetFlow Flow Record definition with the IPFIX Flow Record definition. 3.1.5 Exporting Process (2.5) Total Compliance of NetFlow Exporting Process with the IPFIX Exporting Process definition. The NetFlow Exporting Process may send the flow records to 2 different collecting processes. 3.1.6 Collecting Process (2.6) Total Compliance of NetFlow Collector with the IPFIX collecting process definition. 3.2 Applications Requiring IP Flow Information Export (3) Total Compliance of NetFlow regarding the different applications described in [IPFIX-REQ] which require IP flow information export, i.e. Usage-based Accounting, Traffic Profiling, Traffic Engineering, Attack/Intrusion Detection and QoS Monitoring. Actually, the Information Model associated with NetFlow flow record export version 9 [NETFLOW9] contains all the data types needed to satisfy the requirements of the different applications described in the section ôApplications Requiring IP Flow Information Exportö from [IPFIX- REQ]. 3.3 Distinguishing Flows (4) 3.3.1 Interface (4.1) Total Compliance of the interface as a flow distinguisher. In case of ingress NetFlow, a flow is identified, amongst other fields, by the input logical interface (ifIndex). In case of egress NetFlow, a flow is identified, amongst other fields by output logical interface (ifIndex). All flow records will report both the input and output ifIndexes. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 10] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 3.3.2 IP Header Fields (4.2) source IP address (MUST): Total Compliance destination IP address (MUST): Total Compliance protocol type (TCP,UDP,ICMP,...) (MUST): Total Compliance IP version number (SHOULD): Upcoming Compliance 3.3.3 Transport Header Fields (4.3) Total Compliance of the port numbers of the transport header as a flow distinguisher. 3.3.4 MPLS (4.4) Total Compliance of the MPLS label as a flow distinguisher, if the observation point is located at a device supporting Multiprotocol Label Switching. 3.3.5 DiffServ Code Point (4.5) Total Compliance, as NetFlow distinguishes flow by the TOS byte (DiffServ Code Point). 3.3.6 Header Compression and Encryption (4.6) Total Compliance. 3.4 Metering Process (5) 3.4.1 Reliability (5.1) Total Compliance. The metering process is reliable. 3.4.2 Sampling (5.2) ôThe metering process MAY support packet sampling.ö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]ô. Total Compliance. NetFlow supports packet sampling. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 11] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 ôIf sampling is supported the sampling configuration MUST be well defined. The sampling configuration includes the sampling method and all its parameters.ö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Total Compliance. See the Options Template from [NETFLOW9]: a template that describes the format of the Flow measurement parameters (like the sampling algorithm, sampling interval) done at the metering process. ôIf the sampling configuration is changed during operation, the new sampling configuration with its parameters MUST be indicated to all collecting processes receiving the affected flow records. Changing the sampling configuration includes: start sampling, stop sampling, change sampling method, and change sampling parameter.ô, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]ô. Start sampling: Total Compliance Stop sampling: Extension Required Change sampling method: Total Compliance Change sampling parameter: Total Compliance 3.4.3 Overload Behavior (5.3) ôIn case of an overload, for example lack of memory or processing power, the metering process MAY change its behavior in order to cope with the lack of resources.ö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Total Compliance. ôFor some flows, the change of behavior might have an impact on the data that would be stored in the associated flow records after the change, for example if the packet classification is changed or the sampling rate. These flows MUST be considered as terminated and the associated flow records MUST be exported separately from new ones generated after the behavior change. ö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. ôThe terminated flow records and new ones generated after the behavior change MUST NOT be merged by the metering process.ö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. ôThe collecting process MUST be able to distinguish the affected flow records generated before and after the change of behavior.ö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Let me address the 3 requirements above together. If the metering process configuration is changed, then Total Compliance. A new Template ID for the new template configuration will be generated and the collecting process will be able to distinguish the new flow records from the old ones. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 12] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 In case of memory, flow records or CPU overload, Total Compliance. Overload of memory: not possible because NetFlow allocates the entire cache memory at initialization. Overload of flow records: not possible because in case the NetFlow cache becomes full, the flow records will be expired with a smaller timeout! This change in the exporting process behavior doesnÆt need to be reported: anyway the flow records contain the absolute timestamps. Overload of CPU: the throughput will be lowered in order for NetFlow to account all traffic. In case of cpu overload, in order to avoid a lower throughput, some new automatic actions (like new template with sampling NetFlow instead of full NetFlow or new template with higher sampling rate etcà) could be implemented without much effort. Note that in both examples above, a new Template ID for the new template configuration will be generated and the collecting process will be able to distinguish the new flow records from the old ones. 3.4.4 Timestamps (5.4) Total Compliance. 3.4.5 Time Synchronization (5.5) Total Compliance. The export packet header contains the UTC time of the export packet generation. This header also contains the router sysUpTime at the time of the export packet generation. The UTC time the router booted can therefore be deduced. The flow records contain the flow start and flow end sysUpTime, so that the NetFlow collector can deduce the flow start and flow end UTC time. 3.4.6 Flow Expiration (5.6) Total Compliance of the NetFlow flow expiration mechanism with the IPFIX requirements. The routing device checks the NetFlow cache once per second and expires the flow in the following instances: 1. Transport is completed (TCP FIN or RST). 2. The flow cache has become full. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 13] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 3. The inactive timer has expired after 15 seconds of traffic inactivity. This inactive timer is configurable, with a minimum value of 0 for a immediate expiration. 4. The active timer has expired after 30 minutes of traffic activity. This active timer is configurable. 3.4.7 Multicast (5.7) Total Compliance of the multicast support with the IPFIX requirements. 3.4.8 Packet Fragmentation (5.8) ôThe metering process MAY keep state of IP packet fragmentation in order to map fragments that do not contain sufficient header information correctly to flows.ö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Extension Required for Total Compliance. 3.4.9 Ignore Port Copy (5.9) Total Compliance. The metering process ignores packets that are generated by a port copy function acting at the device where the observation point of a flow is located. 3.5 Data Export (6) 3.5.1 Information Model (6.1) ôThe exporting process MUST be able to report the following attributes for each metered flowö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]: 1. IP version number: Total Compliance 2. source IP address: Total Compliance 3. destination IP address: Total Compliance 4. IP protocol type (TCP,UDP,ICMP,...) : Total Compliance 5. source TCP/UDP port number: Total Compliance 6. destination TCP/UDP port number: Total Compliance 7. packet counter: Total Compliance 8. byte counter: Total Compliance 9. type of service octet (in case of IPv4), traffic class octet (in case of IPv6): Total Compliance Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 14] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 10. in case of IPv6, Flow Label: Total Compliance 11. if MPLS is supported at the observation point: the top MPLS label or the corresponding forwarding equivalence class (FEC, [RFC3031]) bound to that label. Total Compliance for the top MPLS label and the corresponding FEC. 12. timestamp of the first packet of the flow: Total Compliance 13. timestamp of the last packet of the flow: Total Compliance 14. if sampling is used, sampling configuration: Total Compliance 15. unique identifier of the observation point: Total Compliance (the ifIndex) 16. unique identifier of the exporting process: Total Compliance (the IP address and the Observation Domain Identifier) ôThe exporting process SHOULD be able to report the following attributes for each metered flowö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]: 17. input interface (ifIndex): Total Compliance 18. output interface (ifIndex): Total Compliance 19. multicast replication factor. Total Compliance ôThe exporting process MAY be able to report the following attributes for each metered flowö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]: 20. Time To Live: Extension required for Total Compliance 21. IP header flags: Extension required for Total Compliance 22. TCP header flags: Total Compliance 23. dropped packet counter at the observation point: Extension required for Total Compliance 24. fragmented packet counter: Extension Required for Total Compliance 25. Next hop IP address: Total Compliance In addition, the exporting process MAY be able to report attributes related to inter-autonomous system routing of a flow, for example by reporting BGP Autonomous System numbers. Total Compliance 3.5.2 Data Model (6.2) ôThe data model MUST be extensibleö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Total Compliance. While all data types discussed in [NETFLOW9] concern the IP flows and the metering process, nothing prevents NetFlow version 9 to export whatever type of data. For example, a MIB variable or the output of a ôshow commandö on the router. NetFlow version 9 is extensible to whatever data type. ôThe data model used for exporting flow information MUST be flexible concerning the flow attributes contained in flow recordsö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Total Compliance. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 15] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 ôThe Data Model SHOULD be independent of the underlying transport protocol, i.e. the data transferö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Total Compliance. 3.5.3 Data Transfer (6.3) 3.5.3.1 Congestion Awareness (6.3.1) ôFor the data transfer, a congestion aware protocol MUST be supportedö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Upcoming Compliance with SCTP. Note that the flow record export protocol version 9 is independent of the underlying transport protocol. 3.5.3.2 Reliability (6.3.2) Total Compliance. A sequence ID exists per export packet so that the collecting process would know if it misses export packets or if packets reordering occurred in the network. 3.5.3.3 Security (6.3.3) Extension Required for total Compliance for confidentiality, integrity and authenticity for the flow record export protocol version 9 itself. But note that exporting the NetFlow flow records from the exporting process to the metering process over an IPSEC [IPSEC] tunnel would fulfill all the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity requirements. 3.5.4 Push and Pull Mode Reporting (6.4) NetFlow is a Push Mode Reporting mechanism and doesnÆt support the Pull Mode. 3.5.5 Regular Reporting Interval (6.5) Total Compliance. For long aging flows, the exporting process exports the flow records on regular basis, in order to: Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 16] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 1. report the flow records periodic accounting information to the collecting process 2. avoid counter wrapping This activity timeout is configurable 3.5.6 Notification on Specific Events (6.6) Failed Compliance. 3.5.7 Anonymization (6.6) ôThe exporting process MAY be capable of anonymizing source and destination IP addresses in flow data before exporting them.ö Total Compliance. ôThe exporting process MAY support anonymization of port numbers and other fields.ö Total Compliance. Router-based aggregations of flow records can be enabled in order to aggregate the flow records and as a consequence, anonymize some of the flow records data types. Typical example: the source and destination IP addresses will be hidden. Instead the network prefixes will be reported. Another solution would simply be not to report the data types we want to anonymize. Typical example: the network prefixes are reported instead of the IP addresses but the network prefixes are meaningful. As a consequence, the template would export none of the IP addresses and the prefixes. 3.6 Configuration (7) 3.6.1 Configuration of the Metering Process (7.1) Total Compliance. 3.6.2 Configuration of the Exporting Process (7.2) Total Compliance. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 17] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 3.7 General Requirements Compliance (8) 3.7.1 Openness (8.1) Total Compliance. 3.7.2 Number of Exporting Processes (8.2) ôData collection from hundreds of different exporting processes MUST be supported.ö, as defined in [IPFIX-REQ]. Total Compliance. ôThe collecting process MUST be able to distinguish several hundred exporting processes by their identifiers.ö, as defined in [IPFIX- REQ]. Total Compliance, the identifier being the IP address of the exporting process and the Observation Domain identifier. The Observation Domain is defined as: The set of observation points which is the largest aggregatable set of flow information at the metering process is termed as an Observation Domain. The Observation Domain presents itself a unique identifier to the collecting process for identifying the export packets generated by it. One or more Observation Domains can interface with the same export process. Example: The Observation Domain could be a router line-card, composed of several interfaces with each interface being an observation point. 3.7.3 Several Collecting Processes (8.3) Total Compliance. The exporting process is able to export flow information to two different collecting processes and the flow records can be identified thanks to a sequence ID, the Observation Domain and the Exporter IP address. 3.8 Compliance Summary M: MUST S: SHOULD May: MAY ----------------------------------------------. B: IPFIX Requirement Status | Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 18] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 ----------------------------------------. | A: NetFlow Version 9 Compliance | | ----------------------------------. | | | | | | Sect. | Requirement | | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 2. | Terminology | T | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 3. | Applicatitons | T | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4. | DISTINGUISHING FLOWS | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.1 | Interfaces | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.2 | Source IP address | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.2 | Destination IP address | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.2 | Protocol Type | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.2 | IP version | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.3 | Transport Header Fields | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.4 | MPLS | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.5 | DiffServ Code Point | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 4.6 | Header Compres/Encrypt. | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5. | METERING PROCESS | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.1 | Reliability | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.2 | Sampling | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.3 | Overload Behavior | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.4 | TimeStamps | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.5 | Time Synchronization | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.6 | Flow Expiration | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.7 | Multicast Flows | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.8 | Packet Fragmentation | E | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 5.9 | Ignore Port Copy | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6. | DATA EXPORT | Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 19] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | INFORMATION MODEL | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | IP Version | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | src IP address | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | dst IP address | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | protocol type | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | src TCP/UDP port | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | dst TCP/UPD port | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Packet counter | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Byte counter | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | TOS/Traffic Class | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Flow Label | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | MPLS label/FEC | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Timestamps for | T | M | | | first packet | | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Timestamps for | T | M | | | last packet | | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Sampling configuration | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | observation point | T | M | | | identifier | | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | export process | T | M | | | identifier | | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Input Interface | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | OutputInterface | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Multicast Replication | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Time to Live | E | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | IP Header Flags | E | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | TCP Header Flags | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 20] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 | 6.1. | Dropped Packet Counter | E | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | Fragmented Pkt Counter | E | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | IP Next Hop | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.1. | BGP AS Info | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.2. | DATA MODEL | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.2. | Flexibility | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.2. | Extensibility | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.2. | Transport Independant | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.3. | DATA TRANSFER | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.3.1.| Congestion aware | U | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.3.2.| Reliability | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.3.3.| Confidentiality | E | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.3.4.| Integrity | E | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.3.5.| Authenticity | E | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.4. | Push mode | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.4. | Pull mode | F | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.5 | Regular Interval | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.6. | Notifications | F | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 6.7. | Anonymization | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 7. | CONFIGURATION | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 7. | Config Metering Process | T | M | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 7. | Config Exporting Process| T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 7. | Config Flow | T | S | | | Specifications | | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 7. | Config Flow Timeouts | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 7. | Config Sampling | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 21] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 | 7. | Config Report | T | S | | | Data Format | | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 7. | Config Notifications | F | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 7. | Config Anonymization | T | May | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 8. | GENERAL REQUIREMENTS | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 8.1. | Openness | T | S | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 8.2. | Scalability: | | | | | data collection | T | M | | | from hundreds of | | | | | measurement devices | | | |-------+-------------------------+-----+-----| | 8.3. | Several Collectors | T | May | .-------+-------------------------+-----+-----. Note that some of the requirements in the table above are not necessarily applicable for the strict selection of the candidate protocol. Up to the evaluation team not to consider those. 4. Security Considerations Security considerations for the IPFIX protocol are covered by the comparison against the specific Security requirements in the IPFIX requirements document [IPFIX-REQ] where they are specifically addressed by sections 6.3.3 and 10. The NetFlow flow record export protocol could be run on the top of IPSEC [IPSEC] to assure security. 5. References [IPFIX-REQ] J. Quittek et al., "Requirements for IP Flow Information Export", draft-ietf-ipfix-reqs-06.txt, work in progress, July 2002. [NETFLOW9] B. Claise et al., "Cisco Systems NetFlow Services Export Version 9", draft-bclaise-netflow-9-00.txt, work in progress, June 2002. [NETFLOW9-1] B. Claise et al., "Cisco Systems NetFlow Services Export Version 9", draft-bclaise-netflow-9-01.txt, work in progress, About to be submitted. Claise Expires April 2003 [Page 22] Evaluation Of NetFlow Version 9 Against IPFIX Requirements Oct. 2002 [UDP] J. Postel, "User Datagram Protocol", RFC 768, August 1980 [TCP] "TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL DARPA INTERNET PROGRAM PROTOCOL SPECIFICATION", RFC 793, September 1981 [SCTP] R. Stewart et al, "Stream Control Transmission Protocol", RFC 2960, October 2000 [IPSEC] Kent, S., "Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol", RFC 2401, Nov. 1998, 6. Acknowledgments I would like to thank Ganesh Sadasivan, Vamsidhar Valluri, Martin Djernaes and Pritam Shah from Cisco Systems for the valuable technical feedback on this Internet Draft. Author's Address Benoit Claise Cisco Systems De Kleetlaan 6a b1 1831 Diegem Belgium Phone: +32 2 704 5622 Email: bclaise@cisco.com Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved. 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