IP Flow Information Export

Internet Protocol Flow Information Export
Internet Protocol Flow Information Export (IPFIX) is an IETF protocol, as well as the name of the IETF working group defining the protocol. It was created based on the need for a common, universal standard of export for Internet Protocol flow information from routers, probes and other devices that are used by mediation systems, accounting/billing systems and network management systems to facilitate services such as measurement, accounting and billing. The IPFIX standard defines how IP flow information is to be formatted and transferred from an exporter to a collector. Previously many data network operators were relying on Cisco Systems' proprietary NetFlow technology for traffic flow information export. The IPFIX standards requirements were outlined in the original RFC 3917. Cisco NetFlow Version 9 was the basis for IPFIX. The basic specifications for IPFIX are documented in RFC 7011 through RFC 7015, and RFC 5103.

Similar to the NetFlow Protocol, IPFIX considers a flow to be any number of packets observed in a specific timeslot and sharing a number of properties, e. g. "same source, same destination, same protocol". Using IPFIX, devices like routers can inform a central monitoring station about their view of a potentially larger network. IPFIX is a push protocol, i. e. each sender will periodically send IPFIX messages to configured receivers without any interaction by the receiver. The actual makeup of data in IPFIX messages is to a great extent up to the sender. IPFIX introduces the makeup of these messages to the receiver with the help of special Templates. The sender is also free to use user defined data types in its messages, so the protocol is freely extensible and can adapt to different scenarios. IPFIX prefers the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) as its transport layer protocol, but also allows the use of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP).