Ubuntu Manpage: ipfixDump - Print contents of an IPFIX file as human-readable text

Provided by: libfixbuf-tools_2.4.1+ds-1_amd64

NAME

       ipfixDump - Print contents of an IPFIX file as human-readable text

SYNOPSIS

        ipfixDump [--in FILE_NAME] [--out FILE_NAME]
                  [--rfc5610] [--element-file FILE_NAME] [--yaf]
                  [--templates] [--data] [--stats]
                  [--hexdump[=LEN]]

        ipfixDump [--version]

        ipfixDump [--help]

DESCRIPTION

ipfixDump is a tool to read an IPFIX file and print its contents as human-readable ASCII
to assist the user in analyzing the file. ipfixDump prints all message headers,
templates, data records, options templates, and options records to the output, plus a one
line summary of the file's content.

ipfixDump supports IPFIX structured data in the form of basicLists, subTemplateLists, and
subTemplateMultiLists.

By default, ipfixDump reads the IPFIX file from the standard input and writes the text to
the standard output. To specify the input or output file's location, use the --in or
--out option, respectively.

ipfixDump requires the input file to contain the IPFIX templates that describe the data
records within the file, and the template must appear before the records that use it. Any
records that do not have a corresponding template are ignored.

The default information model used by ipfixDump includes only the standard information
elements defined by IANA <https://www.iana.org/assignments/ipfix/ipfix.xhtml> and provided
by libfixbuf. There are three ways to augment the set of elements:

1. The --rfc5610 option instructs ipfixDump to watch the input for options records that
define private enterprise information elements (as defined by RFC5610
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5610.html>) and to add those elements to the
information model.

2. The --element-file=FILE_NAME option tells ipfixDump to parse the contents of FILE_NAME
and add those information elements to the information model. The argument is an XML
file whose schema is that used by IANA's XML Information Element Registry
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/ipfix/ipfix.xml>, with the following additions:

cert:enterpriseId
A number representing the Private Enterprise Number of the element

cert:reversible
A boolean value ("true", "yes", or 1 for true; "false", "no", or 0 for false) that
specifies whether the element may have a separate identity in a reverse flow.

The --element-file option may be used multiple times to load multiple files, and the
loaded elements replace existing elements with the same identifier.

3. The --yaf option loads the CERT private enterprise information elements into the
information model. These elements are used by the NetSA tools yaf(1), pipeline(8),
super_mediator(1), and rwsilk2ipfix(1). This option is implemented as a wrapper over
the --element-file option where the file name is cert_ipfix.xml and ipfixDump checks
several directories to attempt to find this file, stopping once it finds the first
file. The list of directories, in search order, is

• the directory ../share/libfixbuf relative to the directory containing the
application

• the libfixbuf subdirectory of the "datadir" directory specified when ipfixDump was
configured (defaults to $prefix/share)

• the share/libfixbuf subdirectory installation folder for the GLib-2 library

• the libfixbuf subdirectory of the directories specified by the $XDG_DATA_DIRS
environment variable, or /usr/local/share and /usr/share/libfixbuf when that
variable is empty

ipfixDump exits with an error if it is unable to find the cert_ipfix.xml file. See
<https://tools.netsa.cert.org/cert-ipfix-registry/> for additional information about
this file.

OPTIONS

The following options are available for ipfixDump:

--in FILE_NAME
Sets the input file name to FILE_NAME. When the option is not specified, ipfixDump
reads from the standard input or exits with an error when the standard input is a
terminal. ipfixDump reads from the standard input if FILE_NAME is '"-"'.

--out FILE_NAME
Sets the output file name to FILE_NAME. If FILE_NAME exists, it is overwritten. The
string '"-"' may be used to write to standard output (the default).

--rfc5610
Tells ipfixDump to scan the IPFIX input file for options records that define private
enterprise information elements and to add those elements to the information model.

--element-file FILE_NAME
Loads the XML file FILE_NAME and incorporates information element information found in
it. The format of the file is described above. The option may be used multiple times
to load multiple files, and later elements replace existing elements when they have
the same identifier.

--yaf
Searches for a file named cert_ipfix.xml in several locations and loads that file as
if it was an argument to --element-file. ipfixDump exits with an error if it is
unable to find the cert_ipfix.xml file.

--templates
Suppresses the printing of records, causing the output to contain only message
headers, templates, and a summary line.

--data
Suppresses the printing of templates, causing the output to contain only message
headers, records, and a summary line.

--stats
Suppresses the printing of all message headers, templates, and records. The output
consists of the number of messages, templates, and records present in the input, and a
two-column list showing template IDs found in the input and a count of the number of
records that used that template.

--hexdump
For data record elements whose type is octetArray, prints each octet as a 2-digit
hexadecimal value with a no separator between the values. The length of the element
precedes the hexadecimal output. ipfixDump uses this display for octetArray elements
that are variable length or whose length is greater than eight. Without this option,
only the length of the octetArray elements are printed. Note that fixed-width
octetArray elements whose length is less than or equal to eight are always printed as
a decimal number regardless of this option.

--hexdump=LEN
When the optional parameter LEN is provided to --hexdump, only the first LEN octets of
the value are printed. If LEN is zero, only the length of octetArray values is
printed. A LEN that is negative or larger than 65535 is treated as the maximum,
65535.

--version
Prints version and copyright information to standard error and exits.

--help
Prints a brief usage message to the standard output and exits.

Examples

       In the following examples, the dollar sign ("$") represents the shell prompt.  The text
       after the dollar sign represents the command line.

        $ ipfixDump --in - --out -

        $ ipfixDump --in /data/ipfix.ipfix --out /data/text.txt --yaf

Known Issues

       Bug reports may be sent directly to the Network Situational Awareness team at
       <netsa-help@cert.org>.

AUTHORS

       Emily Sarneso and the CERT Network Situational Awareness Group Engineering Team,
       <http://www.cert.org/netsa>.