Export of Structured Data in IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)
RFC 6313

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         B. Claise
Request for Comments: 6313                                 G. Dhandapani
Updates: 5102                                                  P. Aitken
Category: Standards Track                                       S. Yates
ISSN: 2070-1721                                      Cisco Systems, Inc.
                                                               July 2011

    Export of Structured Data in IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)

Abstract

   This document specifies an extension to the IP Flow Information
   Export (IPFIX) protocol specification in RFC 5101 and the IPFIX
   information model specified in RFC 5102 to support hierarchical
   structured data and lists (sequences) of Information Elements in data
   records.  This extension allows definition of complex data structures
   such as variable-length lists and specification of hierarchical
   containment relationships between Templates.  Finally, the semantics
   are provided in order to express the relationship among multiple list
   elements in a structured data record.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   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).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in 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/rfc6313.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of

Claise, et al.               Standards Track                    [Page 1]
RFC 6313           Export of Structured Data in IPFIX          July 2011

   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1. Overview ........................................................5
      1.1. IPFIX Documents Overview ...................................5
      1.2. Relationship between IPFIX and PSAMP .......................6
   2. Introduction ....................................................6
      2.1. The IPFIX Track ............................................7
      2.2. The IPFIX Limitations ......................................8
      2.3. Structured Data Use Cases ..................................8
      2.4. Specifications Summary ....................................11
   3. Terminology ....................................................11
      3.1. New Terminology ...........................................12
      3.2. Conventions Used in This Document .........................12
   4. Linkage with the IPFIX Information Model .......................12
      4.1. New Abstract Data Types ...................................12
           4.1.1. basicList ..........................................12
           4.1.2. subTemplateList ....................................12
           4.1.3. subTemplateMultiList ...............................12
      4.2. New Data Type Semantic ....................................13
           4.2.1. List ...............................................13
      4.3. New Information Elements ..................................13
           4.3.1. basicList ..........................................13
           4.3.2. subTemplateList ....................................13
           4.3.3. subTemplateMultiList ...............................13
      4.4. New Structured Data Type Semantics ........................13
           4.4.1. undefined ..........................................14
           4.4.2. noneOf .............................................14
           4.4.3. exactlyOneOf .......................................14
           4.4.4. oneOrMoreOf ........................................15
           4.4.5. allOf ..............................................16
           4.4.6. ordered ............................................16
      4.5. Encoding of IPFIX Data Types ..............................16
           4.5.1. basicList ..........................................17
           4.5.2. subTemplateList ....................................19
           4.5.3. subTemplateMultiList ...............................21
   5. Structured Data Format .........................................25