FLOW-SEND(1)

💖 FLOW-SEND(1) 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about flow-send from the flow-tools manual. this is the girl that takes your flows and sends them. to a collector. over NetFlow. she's giving network telemetry courier and honestly? obsessed. 🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

flow-send — Transmit flow data with the NetFlow protocol.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

flow-send [ -h ]  [ -d debug_level ]  [ -m privacy_mask ]  [ -s ]  [ -x
xmit_delay ]  [ -V pdu_version ]  localip/remoteip/port

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so the whole vibe of flow-send is: it transmits flows in NetFlow format to a collector, and that collector is the one you point at with localip/remoteip/port. that's it, that's the job, and she does it flawlessly, no cap. 👑

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -d debug_level — turn on debugging, bestie. she'll spill the tea about what she's doing.
• -h — Display help. your lil "what does this do again" button. 🫶
• -s — Enable spoofing of source IP address. yes really, she's wearing a disguise, do with that info what you will. 🙈
• -m privacy_mask — Apply privacy_mask to the source and destination IP address of flows. For example a privacy_mask of 255.255.255.0 would convert flows with source/destination IP addresses 10.1.1.1 and 10.2.2.2 to 10.1.1.0 and 10.2.2.0 respectively. it's giving "blur the last octet", iconic, nobody needs to know the whole address. 💖
• -V pdu_version — Use pdu_version format when transmitting. the full menu of formats, and yes you get all of them:
  • 1 — NetFlow version 1 (No sequence numbers, AS, or mask)
  • 5 — NetFlow version 5
  • 6 — NetFlow version 6 (5+ Encapsulation size)
  • 7 — NetFlow version 7 (Catalyst switches)
  • 8.1 — NetFlow AS Aggregation
  • 8.2 — NetFlow Proto Port Aggregation
  • 8.3 — NetFlow Source Prefix Aggregation
  • 8.4 — NetFlow Destination Prefix Aggregation
  • 8.5 — NetFlow Prefix Aggregation
  • 8.6 — NetFlow Destination (Catalyst switches)
  • 8.7 — NetFlow Source Destination (Catalyst switches)
  • 8.8 — NetFlow Full Flow (Catalyst switches)
  • 8.9 — NetFlow ToS AS Aggregation
  • 8.10 — NetFlow ToS Proto Port Aggregation
  • 8.11 — NetFlow ToS Source Prefix Aggregation
  • 8.12 — NetFlow ToS Destination Prefix Aggregation
  • 8.13 — NetFlow ToS Prefix Aggregation
  • 8.14 — NetFlow ToS Prefix Port Aggregation
  • 1005 — Flow-Tools tagged version 5
• -x xmit_delay — Configure a microsecond transmit delay between packets. This may be necessary in some configurations to prevent a transmit buffer overrun. so if she's coming in too hot and the buffer is not handling it, this is your girl. slow it down a lil. ⏳

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Exhibit A: Transmit all flows in the directory /flows/krc4 to the collector at 10.0.0.1 listening on port 9500.

flow-cat /flows/krc4 | flow-send 0/10.0.0.1/9500

Exhibit B: Generate a test pattern of version 7 flows and send them to a collector at 10.0.0.1 listening on port 9500.

flow-gen -V7 | flow-send 0/10.0.0.1/9500

like… pipe it, send it, done. the efficiency. the elegance. 🔥

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💀 BUGS 💀

It is not currently possible to convert between the aggregated formats (8.x) and the non aggregated formats (1,5,6,7).

so yeah, no mixing the aggregated girlies with the non-aggregated girlies. that door is locked. don't try it. 🚫

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Mark Fullmer <maf@splintered.net>

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

flow-tools(1)

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and that's the whole page bestie!! this one was pulled from the flow-tools docs, dated 26 Август 2010 — yeah it's a vintage girly, a classic, an elder icon, and she still serves. go forth and send your flows. periodt. 💜✨🍓