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PRTG Manual: IPFIX Sensor

The IPFIX sensor receives traffic data from an Internet Protocol Flow Information Export (IPFIX) compatible device and shows traffic by type. This sensor has several filter options to divide traffic into different channels.

Make sure that the target device supports IPFIX if you want to use this sensor.

IPFIX Sensor

For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: IPFIX
French: IPFIX
German: IPFIX
Japanese: IPFIX
Portuguese: IPFIX
Russian: IPFIX
Simplified Chinese: IPFIX
Spanish: IPFIX

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark	Description
Performance impact	This sensor has a very high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 50 of this sensor on each probe.
IPFIX	This sensor requires that the IPFIX export is enabled on the target system. The target system must send the flow data stream to the IP address of the probe system.
Channels	This sensor does not officially support more than 50 channels.
Cluster probe	This sensor does not support cluster probes. You can only set it up on local probes or remote probes.
IPv4	This sensor only supports IPv4.
Knowledge Base	Knowledge Base: What is the Active Flow Timeout in flow sensors?
Hosted probe	You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.

Basic Sensor Settings

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

bandwidthsensor
netflowsensor

For more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

IPFIX Specific Settings

Setting	Description
Receive Packets on UDP Port	Enter the UDP port number on which PRTG receives the flow packets. It must match the UDP port number in the IPFIX export options of the hardware router device. Enter an integer.
Sender IP Address	Enter the IP address of the sending device that you want to receive the IPFIX data from. Enter an IP address to only receive data from a specific device or leave the field empty to receive data from any device on the specified port.
Receive Packets on IP Address	Select the IP addresses on which PRTG listens to IPFIX packets. The list of IP addresses is specific to your setup. To select an IP address, enable a check box in front of the respective line. The IP address that you select must match the IP address in the IPFIX export options of the hardware router device.
Active Flow Timeout (Minutes)	Enter a time span in minutes after which the sensor must receive new flow data. If the timeout elapses and the sensor receives no new data during this time, it shows the Unknown status. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout is 60 minutes. We recommend that you set the timeout one minute longer than the timeout in the hardware router device. If you set this value too low, flow information might be lost. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What is the Active Flow Timeout in flow sensors?
Sampling Mode	Define if you want to use the sampling mode: Disable (default): Use the standard flow. Enable: Use the sampling mode and specify the Sampling Rate below. This setting must match the setting in the xFlow exporter.
Sampling Rate	This setting is only visible if you select Enable above. Enter a number that matches the sampling rate in the exporting device. If the number is different, monitoring results will be incorrect. Enter an integer.
Stream Data Handling	Define what PRTG does with the stream and packet data: Discard stream data (default): Do not store the stream and packet data. Store stream data only for the 'Other' channel: Only store stream and packet data that is not otherwise filtered and is therefore accounted to the default Other channel. PRTG stores this data in the \StreamLog subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Streams Sensor [ID] (1).csv. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval. Store all stream data: Store all stream and packet data. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval. Use with caution. It can create huge data files. We recommend that you only use this setting for a short time.

Channel Configuration

Setting	Description
Channel Selection	Define the categories that the sensor accounts the traffic to: Web: Internet web traffic. File Transfer: Traffic from FTP. Mail: Internet mail traffic. Chat: Traffic from chat and instant messaging. Remote Control: Traffic from remote control applications such as RDP, SSH, Telnet, and Virtual Network Computing (VNC). Infrastructure: Traffic from network services such as DHCP, DNS, Ident, ICMP, and SNMP. NetBIOS: Traffic from NetBIOS communication. Citrix: Traffic from Citrix applications. Other Protocols: Traffic from various other protocols via UDP and TCP. For each group, you can select how many channels the sensor uses, that is, how detailed the sensor divides the traffic: No (): Do not account traffic of this group in its own channel. The sensor accounts all traffic of this group to the default channel named Other. Yes (): Count all traffic of this group and summarize it in one channel. Detail (): Count all traffic of this group and further divide it into different channels. The traffic appears in several channels that you can see in the Content column. Extensive use of this option can cause load problems on the probe system. We recommend that you set specific, well-chosen filters for the data that you really want to analyze. You can change the default configuration for groups and channels. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How can I change the default groups and channels for flow and Packet Sniffer sensors?

Setting

Description

Channel Selection

Define the categories that the sensor accounts the traffic to:

Web: Internet web traffic.
File Transfer: Traffic from FTP.
Mail: Internet mail traffic.
Chat: Traffic from chat and instant messaging.
Remote Control: Traffic from remote control applications such as RDP, SSH, Telnet, and Virtual Network Computing (VNC).
Infrastructure: Traffic from network services such as DHCP, DNS, Ident, ICMP, and SNMP.
NetBIOS: Traffic from NetBIOS communication.
Citrix: Traffic from Citrix applications.
Other Protocols: Traffic from various other protocols via UDP and TCP.

For each group, you can select how many channels the sensor uses, that is, how detailed the sensor divides the traffic:

No (): Do not account traffic of this group in its own channel. The sensor accounts all traffic of this group to the default channel named Other.
Yes (): Count all traffic of this group and summarize it in one channel.
Detail (): Count all traffic of this group and further divide it into different channels. The traffic appears in several channels that you can see in the Content column.
Extensive use of this option can cause load problems on the probe system. We recommend that you set specific, well-chosen filters for the data that you really want to analyze.

You can change the default configuration for groups and channels. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How can I change the default groups and channels for flow and Packet Sniffer sensors?

Filtering

For more information, see section Filter Rules.

Filtering

Setting	Description
Include Filter	Define if you want to filter any traffic. If you leave this field empty, the sensor includes all traffic. To include specific traffic only, define filters using a special syntax.
Exclude Filter	First, the sensor considers the filters in Include Filter. From this subset, you can explicitly exclude traffic, using the same syntax.

Sensor Display

Setting	Description
Primary Channel	Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor. You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.
Graph Type	Define how this sensor shows different channels: Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel. Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).
Stack Unit	This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above. Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Setting

Description

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how this sensor shows different channels:

Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.

Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Primary Toplist

Setting	Description
Primary Toplist	Define which Toplist is the primary Toplist of the sensor: Top Talkers Top Connections Top Protocols [Any custom Toplists you add] PRTG shows the primary Toplist in maps when you add a Toplist object.

Setting

Description

Primary Toplist

Define which Toplist is the primary Toplist of the sensor:

Top Talkers
Top Connections
Top Protocols
[Any custom Toplists you add]

PRTG shows the primary Toplist in maps when you add a Toplist object.

Inherited Settings

By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Toplists

For all Flow (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) and Packet Sniffer sensors, Toplists are available on the sensor's Overview tab. Using Toplists, you can review traffic data for small time periods in great detail.

For more information, see section Toplists.

Filter Rules

For more information, see section Filter Rules for Flow, IPFIX, and Packet Sniffer Sensors.

Channel List

Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel	Description
Chat	The traffic from chat and instant messaging (IRC, AIM)
Citrix	The traffic from Citrix applications
Downtime	In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status.
FTP/P2P	The traffic from file transfer (FTP/P2P)
Infrastructure	The traffic from network services (DHCP, DNS, Ident, ICMP, SNMP)
Mail	The internet mail traffic (IMAP, POP3, SMTP)
NetBIOS	The traffic from NetBIOS communication
Other	The traffic from various other protocols (UDP, TCP)
Remote Control	The traffic from remote control applications (RDP, SSH, Telnet, Virtual Network Computing (VNC))
Total	The total traffic This channel is the primary channel by default.
Various	The traffic from various other sources
WWW	The traffic from the web (HTTP, HTTPS)