Editing NetFlow (section)

==== Packet transport protocol ====

NetFlow records are traditionally exported using User Datagram Protocol ([[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]]) and collected using a NetFlow collector. 
The IP address of the NetFlow collector and the destination UDP port must be configured on the sending router. A common value is UDP port 2055, but other values like 9555 or 9995, 9025, 9026 etc. can also be used.

For efficiency reasons, the router traditionally does not keep track of flow records already exported, so if a NetFlow packet is dropped due to [[network congestion]] or packet corruption, all contained records are lost forever. The UDP protocol does not inform the router of the loss so it can send the packets again.
This can be a real problem, especially with NetFlow v8 or v9 that can aggregate a lot of packets or flows into a single record. A single UDP packet loss can cause a huge impact on the statistics of some flows.

That is why some modern implementations of NetFlow use the Stream Control Transmission Protocol ([[Stream Control Transmission Protocol|SCTP]]) to export packets so as to provide some protection against packet loss, and make sure that NetFlow v9 templates are received before any related record is exported. Note that TCP would not be suitable for NetFlow because a strict ordering of packets would cause excessive buffering and delays.

The problem with SCTP is that it requires interaction between each NetFlow collector and each router exporting NetFlow. There may be performance limitations if a router has to deal with many NetFlow collectors, and a NetFlow collector has to deal with many routers, especially when some of them are unavailable due to failure or maintenance.

SCTP may not be efficient if NetFlow must be exported toward several independent collectors, some of which may be test servers that can go down at any moment.
UDP allows simple replication of NetFlow packets using Network taps or L2 or L3 Mirroring. Simple stateless equipment can also filter or change the destination address of NetFlow UDP packets if necessary. Since NetFlow export almost only use network backbone links, packet loss will often be negligible. If it happens, it will mostly be on the link between the network and the NetFlow collectors.