Internet Engineering Task Force

IP Flow Information Export (ipfix)

Last Modified: 2011-08-18

Additional information is available at tools.ietf.org/wg/ipfix

Chair(s):

Operations and Management Area Director(s):

Operations and Management Area Advisor:

Dan Romascanu <dromasca@avaya.com>

Mailing Lists:

General Discussion: ipfix@ietf.org
To Subscribe: http://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipfix
Archive: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ipfix

Description of Working Group:

The IPFIX working group has specified the information model (to describe
IP flows) and the IPFIX protocol (to transfer IP flow data from IPFIX
exporters to collectors). Several implementers have already built
applications using the IPFIX protocol. As a result of a series of IPFIX
interoperability testing events the WG has produced guidelines for IPFIX
implementation and testing as well as recommendations for handling
special cases such as bidirectional flow reporting and reducing
redundancy in flow records.

The IPFIX WG has developed a mediation framework, that defines IPFIX
mediators for processing flow records for various purposes including
aggregation, anonymization, etc. For configuring IPFIX devices, a YANG
module has been developed.

1. Having a solid standardized base for IPFIX deployment and operation
and several existing implementations, the IPFIX WG will revisit the
IPFIX protocol specifications (RFC 5101) and the IPFIX information
element specification (RFC 5102) in order to in order to advance them to
the next stage on the standards track.

All following items 2.-7. will be in line with the revised versions of
the IPFIX protocol specifications and the IPFIX information model.

2. In order to provide guidelines to developers and reviewers (including
IE doctors) of new IPFIX information elements and for better defining
the process of registering new information elements at IANA the IPFIX WG
will create an information element developers and reviewers guideline
document.

3. The export of IPFIX flow records from IPFIX mediators introduces a
set of potential issues at the protocol level, such as the loss of
information on the original exporter, loss of base time information,
loss of original options template information, etc. The IPFIX WG will
define a set of specifications for applying the IPFIX protocol at
mediators, including new specifications for protocol issues not
envisioned by the IPFIX protocol itself.

4.In order to support the aggregation of flow records at IPFIX mediators
the IPFIX WG will define how to export aggregated flow information using
IPFIX. An aggregated flow is essentially an IPFIX flow representing
packets from multiple original Flows sharing some set of common
properties.

5. The IPFIX WG will investigate the use of the IPFIX protocol for
exporting MIB objects, avoiding the need to define new IPFIX information
elements for existing management information base objects that are
already fully specified. This method requires the specification of new
template set and options template sets to allow the export of MIB
objects along with IPFIX information elements.

6. The IPFIX MIB module (RFC 5815) defined a way to register packet
selector functions at IANA. The WG agreed that another method would be
preferable that requires a minor change of RFC 5815. The IPFIX WG will
produce a new version of RFC 5815 with small modifications of the IANA
actions and DESCRIPTION clauses in the MIB modules.

7. Operational experiences showed that it would be useful to define
several new information elements for data link monitoring covering frame
size, type, sections of frames, and VLAN information. The IPFIX WG will
create a document defining these new information elements.

Goals and Milestones:

Done		Submit Revised Internet-Draft on IP Flow Export Requirements
Done		Submit Internet-Draft on IP Flow Export Architecture
Done		Submit Internet-Draft on IP Flow Export Data Model
Done		Submit Internet-Draft on IPFIX Protocol Evaluation Report
Done		Submit Internet-Draft on IP Flow Export Applicability Statement
Done		Select IPFIX protocol, revise Architecture and Data Model drafts
Done		Submit IPFX-REQUIREMENTS to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit IPFIX Protocol Evaluation Report to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit IPFX-ARCHITECTURE to IESG for publication as Proposed Standard RFC
Done		Submit IPFX-INFO_MODEL to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit IPFX-APPLICABILITY to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit IPFX-PROTOCOL to IESG for publication as Proposed Standard RFC
Done		Publish Internet Draft on IPFIX Implementation Guidelines
Done		Publish Internet Draft on Reducing Redundancy in IPFIX data transfer
Done		Publish Internet Draft on Handling IPFIX Bidirectional Flows
Done		Publish Internet Draft on IPFIX Testing
Done		Publish Internet Draft on IPFIX MIB
Done		Submit IPFIX Implementation Guidelines draft to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit IPFIX Reducing Redundancy draft to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit IPFIX Testing draft to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit IPFIX Biflows draft to IESG for publication as Standards Track RFC
Done		Publish Internet draft on IPFIX Type Information Export
Done		Publish Internet draft on IPFIX File Format
Done		Publish Internet draft on IPFIX Configuration Data Model
Done		Publish Internet draft on Single SCTP Stream Reporting
Done		Submit File Format draft to IESG for publication as Standards track RFC
Done		Publish Internet draft on IPFIX Mediation Problem Statement
Done		Submit IPFIX MIB draft to IESG for publication as Standards track RFC
Done		Submit Type Export draft to IESG for publication as Standards track RFC
Done		Submit Single SCTP Stream draft to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit Mediation Problem Statement I-D to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit initial draft on anonymization support
Done		Submit initial draft on flow selection
Done		Submit initial draft on structuring information elements
Done		Submit final version of PSAMP MIB module
Done		Submit Configuration Data Model draft to IESG for publication as Standards track RFC
Done		Submit Mediation Framework I-D to IESG for publication as Informational RFC
Done		Submit anonymization support I-D to IESG for publication as Experimental RFC
Done		Submit structuring information elements I-D to IESG for publication as Standards Track RFC
Nov 2011		Publish Internet-Draft on guidelines for IE developers and Reviewers
Nov 2011		Publish Internet-Draft on IPFIX use at mediators
Nov 2011		Publish Internet-Draft on intermediate aggregation
Nov 2011		Publish Internet-Draft on exporting MIB objects
Nov 2011		Publish Internet-Draft on data link IEs
Nov 2011		Publish Internet-Draft on revised IPFIX MIB
Dec 2011		Publish Internet-Draft revising RFC 5101
Dec 2011		Publish Internet-Draft revising RFC 5102
Dec 2011		Submit flow selection I-D to IESG for publication as Standards Track RFC
Apr 2012		Submit guidelines for IE developers and reviewers for publication as Informational BCP RFC
Apr 2012		Submit IPFIX use at mediators for publication as Standards track RFC
Apr 2012		Submit intermediate aggregation for publication as Standards track RFC
Apr 2012		Submit data link IEs for publication as Standards track RFC
Apr 2012		Submit revised RFC 5101 for publication as Standards track RFC
Apr 2012		Submit revised IPFIX MIB for publications as Standards track RFC
Apr 2012		Submit revised RFC 5102 for publication as Standards track RFC
Sep 2012		Submit export of MIB objects for publication as Standards track RFC

Internet-Drafts:

IPFIX Export per SCTP Stream (58667 bytes)
Configuration Data Model for IPFIX and PSAMP (278935 bytes)
Flow Selection Techniques (81952 bytes)
Definitions of Managed Objects for Packet Sampling (57766 bytes)
Definitions of Managed Objects for IP Flow Information Export (137997 bytes)
Flow Aggregation for the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol (105443 bytes)
Guidelines for Authors and Reviewers of IPFIX Information Elements (67728 bytes)
Specification of the IP Flow Information eXport (IPFIX) Protocol for the Exchange of IP Traffic Flow Information (165389 bytes)
Specification of the Protocol for IPFIX Mediation (81471 bytes)

Request For Comments: