Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) A. Kobayashi, Ed.
Request for Comments: 5982 NTT PF Lab.
Category: Informational B. Claise, Ed.
ISSN: 2070-1721 Cisco Systems, Inc.
August 2010
IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Mediation: Problem Statement
Abstract
Flow-based measurement is a popular method for various network
monitoring usages. The sharing of flow-based information for
monitoring applications having different requirements raises some
open issues in terms of measurement system scalability, flow-based
measurement flexibility, and export reliability that IP Flow
Information Export (IPFIX) Mediation may help resolve. This document
describes some problems related to flow-based measurement that
network administrators have been facing, and then it describes IPFIX
Mediation applicability examples along with the problems.
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents
approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5982.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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Kobayashi and Claise Informational [Page 1]RFC 5982 IPFIX Mediation: Problem Statement August 2010
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................3
2. Terminology and Definitions .....................................3
3. IPFIX/PSAMP Documents Overview ..................................5
3.1. IPFIX Documents Overview ...................................5
3.2. PSAMP Documents Overview ...................................5
4. Problem Statement ...............................................5
4.1. Coping with IP Traffic Growth ..............................6
4.2. Coping with Multipurpose Traffic Measurement ...............7
4.3. Coping with Heterogeneous Environments .....................7
4.4. Summary ....................................................7
5. Mediation Applicability Examples ................................8
5.1. Adjusting Flow Granularity .................................8
5.2. Collecting Infrastructure ..................................8
5.3. Correlation for Data Records ...............................9
5.4. Time Composition ...........................................9
5.5. Spatial Composition .......................................10
5.6. Data Record Anonymization .................................11
5.7. Data Retention ............................................11
5.8. IPFIX Export from a Branch Office .........................12
5.9. Distributing Data Record Types ............................13
5.10. Flow-Based Sampling and Selection ........................14
5.11. Interoperability between Legacy Protocols and IPFIX ......15
6. IPFIX Mediators' Implementation-Specific Problems ..............15
6.1. Loss of Original Exporter Information .....................15
6.2. Loss of Base Time Information .............................16
6.3. Transport Sessions Management .............................16
6.4. Loss of Options Template Information ......................16
6.5. Template ID Management ....................................17
6.6. Consideration for Network Topology ........................18
6.7. IPFIX Mediation Interpretation ............................18
6.8. Consideration for Aggregation .............................19
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