Provided by: nfdump_1.6.16-3_amd64 bug

NAME

       nfcapd - netflow capture daemon

SYNOPSIS

       nfcapd [options]

DESCRIPTION

       nfcapd  is  the netflow capture daemon of the nfdump tools. It reads netflow data from the
       network and stores it into files. The output file is  automatically  rotated  and  renamed
       every  n  minutes - typically 5 min - according the timestamp YYYYMMddhhmm of the interval
       e.g.  nfcapd.201107110845 contains the data from July 11th 2011 08:45 onward.

       Netflow version v1, v5, v7 and v9 and IPFIX are transparently supported.

       Extensions: nfcapd supports a large number of v9 tags. In order to optimise disk space and
       performance,  v9  tags  are  grouped  into  a number of extensions which may or may not be
       stored into the data file. Therefore the v9 templates configured on the  exporter  may  be
       tuned  according  the  collector.  Only those tags common to both are stored into the data
       files.

       Sampling: By default, the sampling rate is set to 1 (unsampled)  or  to  any  given  value
       specified  by  the  -s  cmd  line  option. If sampling information is found in the netflow
       stream, it overwrites  the  default  value.  Sampling  is  automatically  recognised  when
       announced in v9 option templates (tags #34, #35 or #48, #49, #50 ) or in the unofficial v5
       header hack.  Note: Not all platforms (or IOS/JunOS versions) support  exporting  sampling
       information  in  netflow data, even if sampling is configured. The number of bytes/packets
       in each netflow record is automatically multiplied by the sampling rate.  The total number
       of  flows  is not changed as this is not accurate enough. (Small flows versus large flows)
       If the default sampling rate given by -s is negative, this will hard overwrite any  device
       specific announced sampling rates.

       NSEL/ASA  Support:  nfcapd  can  be  compiled with NSEL/ASA support included. See notes on
       NSEL/ASA

       NEL (NAT Event logging): nfcapd can be compiled with  CISCO  NEL  support  included.   See
       notes on NEL.

OPTIONS

       -p portnum
          Specifies the port number to listen. Default port is 9995

       -b bindhost
          Specifies  the  hostname/IPv4/IPv6  address  to  bind  for listening. This can be an IP
          address or a hostname, resolving to an IP address attached to an  interface.   Defaults
          to any available IPv4 interface, if not specified.

       -4 Forces  nfcapd  to  listen  on  IPv4  addresses only. Can be used together with -b if a
          hostname has an IPv4 and IPv6 address record.

       -6 Forces nfcapd to listen on IPv6 addresses only. Can be  used  together  with  -b  if  a
          hostname has an IPv4 and IPv6 address record. Depending on the socket implementation -6
          also accepts IPv4 data.

       -J MulticastGroup
          Join the specified IPv4 or IPv6 multicast group for listening.

       -R host[/port}
          Enable packet repeater. Send all incoming packets to another host and  port.   host  is
          either  a  valid  IPv4/IPv6  address, or a valid symbolic hostname, which resolves to a
          IPv6 or IPv4 address. port may be omitted and defaults  to  port  9995.  Note:  Due  to
          IPv4/IPv6 accepted addresses the port separator is '/'.

       -I IdentString ( capital letter i )
          Specifies an ident string, which describes the source e.g. the name of the router. This
          string is put into the stat record to identify the source. Default is 'none'.  This  is
          for compatibility with nfdump 1.5.x and used to specify a single netflow source. See -n

       -l base_directory ( letter ell )
          Specifies  the  base  directory  to  store  the  output  files.   If a sub hierarchy is
          specified with -S the final directory is concatenated to  base_directory/sub_hierarchy.
          This  is  for  compatibility  with  nfdump  1.5.x  and used to specify a single netflow
          source. See -n

       -n <Ident,IP,base_directory>
          Configures a netflow source named Ident and identified by source IP  address  IP.   The
          base  directory  for  the flow files is base_directory. If a sub hierarchy is specified
          with -S the final directory is concatenated to  base_directory/sub_hierarchy.  Multiple
          netflow  sources  can  be specified. All data is sent to the same port specified by -p.
          Note: You must not mix -n option with -I and -l. Use either syntax.

       -f <pcap_file>
          Read netflow packets from a give pcap_file instead of the network. This requires nfcapd
          to be compiled with the pcap option and is intended for debugging only.

       -s <rate>
          Apply  default  sampling  rate rate to all netflow records, unless the sampling rate is
          announced by the exporting device. In that case the announced sampling rate is applied.
          If  <rate> is negative, this will hard overwrite any device specific announced sampling
          rates.

       -S <num>
          Allows to specify an additional directory sub hierarchy to store the  data  files.  The
          default is 0, no sub hierarchy, which means the files go directly in the base directory
          (-l). The base directory (-l) is concatenated with the specified sub  hierarchy  format
          to form the final data directory.  The following hierarchies are defined:
            0 default     no hierarchy levels
            1 %Y/%m/%d    year/month/day
            2 %Y/%m/%d/%H year/month/day/hour
            3 %Y/%W/%u    year/week_of_year/day_of_week
            4 %Y/%W/%u/%H year/week_of_year/day_of_week/hour
            5 %Y/%j       year/day-of-year
            6 %Y/%j/%H    year/day-of-year/hour
            7 %Y-%m-%d    year-month-day
            8 %Y-%m-%d/%H year-month-day/hour

       -T <extension list>
          Specifies  the list of extensions, to be stored in the netflow file.  Regardless of the
          extension list, the following netflow data is  stored  per  record:  first,  last,  fwd
          status,  tcp  flags,  proto,  (src)tos,  src  port,  dst  port, src ipaddr, dst ipaddr,
          in(packets), in(bytes). In addition  nfcapd  recognises  the  extensions  as  described
          below.  Some  are  valid  for  v5/v7/v9,  but  most of them make only sense for v9. Any
          specified extensions which do not exist in the input netflow records are ignored.

          Extensions:
           v5/v7/v9/IPFIX extensions:
            1 input/output interface SNMP numbers.
            2 src/dst AS numbers.
            3 src/dst mask, (dst)TOS, direction.
            4 line Next hop IP addr line
            5 line BGP next hop IP addr line
            6 src/dst vlan id labels
            7 counter output packets
            8 counter output bytes
            9 counter aggregated flows
           10 in_src/out_dst MAC address
           11 in_dst/out_src MAC address
           12 MPLS labels 1-10
           13 Exporting router IPv4/IPv6 address
           14 Exporting router ID
           15 BGP adjacent prev/next AS
           16 time stamp flow received by the collector
           NSEL/ASA/NAT extensions
           26 NSEL     ASA event, xtended event, ICMP type/code
           27 NSEL/NAT xlate ports
           28 NSEL/NAT xlate IPv4/IPv6 addr
           29 NSEL     ASA ACL ingress/egress acl ID
           30 NSEL     ASA username
           NEL/NAT extensions
           31 NAT event, ingress egress vrfid
           32 NAT Block port allocation - block start, end step and size
           latency extension
           64 nfpcapd/nprobe client/server/application latency"},

           IMPORTANT: By  default  only  extension  1  and  2  are  selected  Extensions  can  be
           added/deleted  by  specifying  a  ','  separated list of extension ids. Each id may be
           prepended by an optional sign +/- to add or remove a given id from the extension list.
           Shortcuts: The string 'all' means all extensions. The strings
            'nsel' and 'nel' enable all NSEL or NEL extensions respectively.

           Examples:
           -T all       Enables all possible extensions.
           -T +3,+4     Adds extensions 3 and 4 to the defaults 1 and 2.
           -T all,-8,-9 Set all extensions but 8 and 9
           -T -1,4      Removes default extension 1 and adds extension 4
           -T nsel      Enables all required ASA?NSEL extensions
           -T nel       Enables all required nell extensions
           Note:  Only  those  tags in common with the exporting device and enabled extensions at
           the collector side are stored into the data files. A detailed list which v9  tags  are
           mapped into which extensions is given in the section NOTES

       -t interval
          Specifies  the  time  interval  in seconds to rotate files. The default value is 300s (
          5min ).

       -w Align file rotation with next n minute ( specified  by  -t  )  interval.   Example:  If
          interval is 5 min, sync at 0,5,10... wall clock minutes Default: no alignment.

       -x cmd
          Run  command  cmd  at the end of every interval, when a new file becomes available. The
          following command expansion is available:
           %f   Replaced by the file name e.g nfcapd.200907110845 inluding any
                sub hierarchy. ( 2009/07/11/nfcapd.200907110845 )
           %d   Replaced by the directory where the file is located.
           %t   Replaced by the time ISO format e.g. 200907110845.
           %u   Replaced by the UNIX time format.
           %i   Replaced ident string given by -I

       -X Collect and embed extended statistics. Currently a port and bpp histogram is  embedded.
          Mostly experimental for now

       -e Auto  expire  files  at  every  cycle.  max lifetime and max filesize are defined using
          nfexpire(1)

       -P pidfile
          Specify name of pidfile. Default is no pidfile.

       -D Daemon mode: fork to background and detach from terminal.  Nfcapd terminates on  signal
          TERM, INT and HUP.

       -u userid
          Change to the user userid as soon as possible. Only root is allowed to use this option.

       -g groupid
          Change to the group groupid as soon as possible. Only root is allowed use this option.

       -B bufflen
          Specifies  the  socket  input buffer length in bytes. For high volume traffic ( near GB
          traffic ) it is recommended to set this value as high as possible ( typically > 100k ),
          otherwise you risk to lose packets. The default is OS ( and kernel )  dependent.

       -E Print  netflow  records  in  nfdump  raw format to stdout. This option is for debugging
          purpose only, to see how incoming netflow data is processed and stored.

       -j Compress flows. Use bz2  compression  in  output  file.  Note:  not  recommended  while
          collecting

       -z Compress flows. Use fast LZO1X-1 compression in output file.

       -V Print nfcapd version and exit.

       -h Print help text to stdout with all options and exit.

RETURN VALUE

       Returns 0 on success, or 255 if initialization failed.

LOGGING

       nfcapd logs to syslog with SYSLOG_FACILITY LOG_DAEMON For normal operation level 'warning'
       should be fine.  More information is reported at level 'info' and 'debug'.

       A small statistic about the collected flows, as well as errors are reported at the end  of
       every interval to syslog with level 'info'.

EXAMPLES

       All  flows  are  sent  to  port 9995 from all exporters and stored into a single file. All
       known v9 tags are taken.
              nfcapd  -z  -w  -D  -T  all   -l   /netflow/spool/allflows   -I   any   -S   2   -P
              /var/run/nfcapd.allflows.pid

       All  flows  from  2  different  exporters  are  sent  to  port 8877 and stored in separate
       directory trees. All known v9 tags are taken. Input buffer size is set to 128000 bytes
              nfcapd -z -w -D -T all -p 8877 -n  upstream,192.168.1.1,/netflow/spool/upstream  -n
              peer,192.168.2.1,/netflow/spool/peer -S 2 -B 128000

       Only  accept  from from a single exporter and only extension 3,4 and 5 are accepted. Run a
       given command when files are rotated and automatically expire flows:
              nfcapd -w -D -T 3,4,5 -n upstream,192.168.1.1,/netflow/spool/upstream -p  23456  -B
              128000 -s 100 -x '/path/command -r %d/%f'  -P /var/run/nfcapd/nfcapd.pid -e

NOTES

       Multiple netflow sources:

       Netflow  data may be sent from different exporters to a single nfcapd process.  Use the -n
       option to separate each netflow source to a different data directory.   For  compatibility
       with  nfdump  1.5.x, old style -l/-I options are still valid.  In that case all flows from
       all sources are stored in a single file. For high volume  netflow  streams,  it  is  still
       recommended to have a single nfcapd process per netflow source.

       The current v9 implementation of nfdump supports the following v9 elements: fields:
           v9 element          v9 ID     Extension
           NF9_LAST_SWITCHED      21       default
           NF9_FIRST_SWITCHED     22       default
           NF9_IN_BYTES            1       default
           NF9_IN_PACKETS          2       default
           NF9_IN_PROTOCOL         4       default
           NF9_SRC_TOS             5       default
           NF9_TCP_FLAGS           6       default
           NF9_FORWARDING_STATUS  89       default
           NF9_IPV4_SRC_ADDR       8       default
           NF9_IPV4_DST_ADDR      12       default
           NF9_IPV6_SRC_ADDR      27       default
           NF9_IPV6_DST_ADDR      28       default
           NF9_L4_SRC_PORT         7       default
           NF9_L4_DST_PORT        11       default
           NF9_ICMP_TYPE          32       default
           NF9_INPUT_SNMP         10             1
           NF9_OUTPUT_SNMP        14             1
           NF9_SRC_AS             16             2
           NF9_DST_AS             17             2
           NF9_DST_TOS            55             3
           NF9_DIRECTION          61             3
           NF9_SRC_MASK            9             3
           NF9_DST_MASK           13             3
           NF9_IPV6_SRC_MASK      29             3
           NF9_IPV6_DST_MASK      30             3
           NF9_V4_NEXT_HOP        15             4
           NF9_V6_NEXT_HOP        62             4
           NF9_BGP_V4_NEXT_HOP    18             5
           NF9_BPG_V6_NEXT_HOP    63             5
           NF9_SRC_VLAN           58             6
           NF9_DST_VLAN           59             6
           NF9_OUT_PKTS           24             7
           NF9_OUT_BYTES          23             8
           NF9_FLOWS_AGGR          3             9
           NF9_IN_SRC_MAC         56            10
           NF9_OUT_DST_MAC        57            10
           NF9_IN_DST_MAC         80            11
           NF9_OUT_SRC_MAC        81            11
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_1       70            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_2       71            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_3       72            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_4       73            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_5       74            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_6       75            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_7       76            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_8       77            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_9       78            12
           NF9_MPLS_LABEL_10      79            12
           NF9_SAMPLING_INTERVAL  34            Sampling
           NF9_SAMPLING_ALGORITHM 35            Sampling
           NF9_FLOW_SAMPLER_ID    48            Sampling
           FLOW_SAMPLER_MODE      49            Sampling
           NF9_FLOW_SAMPLER_RANDOM_INTERVAL 50  Sampling
           IP addr of exporting router          13
           NF9_ENGINE_TYPE        38            14
           NF9_ENGINE_ID          39            14
           NF9_BGP_ADJ_NEXT_AS   128            15
           NF9_BGP_ADJ_PREV_AS   129            15
           collector received timestamp         16
       32 and 64 bit are supported for all counters. 32it AS numbers are supported.

       IPFIX  support  is  experimental.  Due to lack of implementation of sampling in many IPFIX
       exporters, sampling for IPFIX is not yet supported.

       The format of the data files is netflow version independent.

       Socket buffer: Setting the socket buffer size is  system  dependent.   When  starting  up,
       nfcapd  returns  the  number of bytes the buffer was actually set. This is done by reading
       back the buffer size and may differ from what you requested.

SEE ALSO

       nfdump(1), nfprofile(1), nfreplay(1)

BUGS

       No software without bugs! Please report any bugs back to me.

                                            2009-09-09                                  nfcapd(1)