Format

A config file is a plain text file in YAML format also you can be able to configure through the command line. in case you configure a key at config file and command line, the command line would be preferred.

config file

key: value

command line

-key value

Configuration Keys

The vFlow configuration contains the following keys

Key	Default	Description
log-file	stdError	name of log file to send logging output to
verbose	false	enable the full logging
pid-file	/var/run/vflow.pid	file in which server should write its process ID
cpu-cap	the number of available CPUs	sets the maximum number of CPUs
ipfix-enabled	true	enable/disable IPFIX decoders
ipfix-port	4739	server IPFIX UDP port
ipfix-addr	-	server IPFIX UDP IP address to bind to
ipfix-workers	200	IPFIX concurrent decoders
ipfix-topic	vflow.ipfix	ipfix message queue topic name
ipfix-udp-size	1500	maximum IPFIX UDP packet size
ipfix-mirror-addr	-	IPFIX 3rd party collector address
ipfix-mirror-port	4172	IPFIX 3rd party collector port
ipfix-mirror-workers	5	IPFIX replicator concurrent packet generator
ipfix-tpl-cache-file	/tmp/vflow.templates	IPFIX templates cache file
ipfix-rpc-enabled	true	enable/disable IPFIX RPC
sflow-enabled	true	enable/disable sFlow decoders
sflow-port	6343	server sFlow UDP port
sflow-workers	200	sFlow concurrent decoders
sflow-udp-size	1500	maximum sFlow UDP packet size
sflow-topic	vflow.sflow	sFlow message queue topic name
sflow-type-filter	-	filter sflow type(s)
netflow5-enabled	true	enable/disable netflow v5 decoders
netflow5-port	9996	server netflow v5 UDP port
netflow5-workers	50	netflow v5 concurrent decoders
netflow5-topic	vflow.netflow5	netflow v5 message queue topic name
netflow5-udp-size	1500	maximum netflow v9 UDP packet size
netflow9-enabled	true	enable/disable netflow v9 decoders
netflow9-port	4729	server netflow v9 UDP port
netflow9-workers	50	netflow v9 concurrent decoders
netflow9-topic	vflow.netflow9	netflow v9 message queue topic name
netflow9-udp-size	1500	maximum netflow v9 UDP packet size
netflow9-tpl-cache-file	/tmp/netflow9.templates	netflow v9 templates cache file
dynamic-workers	true	enable/disable dynamic workers feature
stats-enabled	true	enable/disable web stats listener
stats-format	prometheus	set prometheus or restful format
stats-http-addr	*	web stats address option at server startup
stats-http-port	8081	web stats TCP port
mq-name	kafka	message queues
mq-config-file	/etc/vflow/mq.conf	message queue config file
producer-enabled	true	enable/disable producer message queue

The default configuration path is /etc/vflow/vflow.conf but you can change it as below:

vflow -config /usr/local/etc/vflow.conf

The vFlow version shows as below:

vflow -version

Example

ipfix-workers: 600
sflow-workers: 300
log-file: /var/log/vflow.log

Message Queues

The vFlow supports these message queuing

• kafka
• kafka.segmentio
• nsq
• nats
• rawSocket

Note: there are two kafka drivers: Kafka Sarama (Default) and Kafka Segmentio (Kafka-Go)

Kafka Configuration

Format

A config file is a plain text file in YAML format.

key: value

The default configuration file is /etc/vflow/mq.conf, you can be able to change it through vFlow configuration.

Configuration Keys (Default / Sarama)

The Kafka configuration contains the following key

Key	Default	Environment variable	Description
brokers	-	VFLOW_KAFKA_BROKERS	kafka broker addresses
compression	none	VFLOW_KAFKA_COMPRESSION	compression codecs: gzip, snappy, lz4
retry-max	2	VFLOW_KAFKA_RETRY_MAX	the total number of times to retry
request-size-max	104857600	VFLOW_KAFKA_REQUEST_SIZE_MAX	the maximum size (in bytes) of any request that will be attempted to send to Kafka
retry-backoff	10	VFLOW_KAFKA_RETRY_BACKOFF	wait for leader election to occur before retrying in milliseconds
tls-enabled	false	VFLOW_KAFKA_TLS_ENABLED	connect using TLS
tls-cert	none	VFLOW_KAFKA_TLS_CERT	certificate file for client authentication
tls-key	none	VFLOW_KAFKA_TLS_KEY	key file for client authentication
ca-file	none	VFLOW_KAFKA_CA_FILE	certificate authority file for TLS client authentication
tls-skip-verify	true	VFLOW_KAFKA_TLS_SKIP_VERIFY	if true, the server's certificate will not validate
sasl-username	none	VFLOW_KAFKA_SASL_USERNAME	username for SASL authentication
sasl-username	none	VFLOW_KAFKA_SASL_PASSWORD	password for SASL authentication

Example

brokers:
    - 192.16.1.25:9092
retry-max: 1
retry-backoff: 30

Configuration Keys (Segmentio)

The Kafka configuration contains the following key

Key	Default	Environment variable	Description
brokers		VFLOW_KAFKA_BROKERS
bootstrap-server		VFLOW_KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVER
client-id		VFLOW_KAFKA_CLIENT_ID
compression		VFLOW_KAFKA_COMPRESSION
max-attempts		VFLOW_KAFKA_MAX_ATTEMPTS
queue-size		VFLOW_KAFKA_QUEUE_SIZE
batch-size		VFLOW_KAFKA_BATCH_SIZE
keepalive		VFLOW_KAFKA_KEEPALIVE
connect-timeout		VFLOW_KAFKA_CONNECT_TIMEOUT
required-acks		VFLOW_KAFKA_REQUIRED_ACKS
pflush		VFLOW_KAFKA_PERIODIC_FLUSH
tls-cert		VFLOW_KAFKA_TLS_CERT
tls-key		VFLOW_KAFKA_TLS_KEY
ca-file		VFLOW_KAFKA_CA_FILE
verify-ssl		VFLOW_KAFKA_VERIFY_SSL

NSQ Configuration

Format

A config file is a plain text file in YAML format.

key: value

The default configuration file is /etc/vflow/mq.conf, you can be able to change it through vFlow configuration.

Configuration Keys

The NSQ configuration contains the following key

Key	Default	Environment variable	Description
server	localhost:4150	NA	NSQ server addresse and port

NATS Configuration

Format

A config file is a plain text file in YAML format.

key: value

The default configuration file is /etc/vflow/mq.conf, you can be able to change it through vFlow configuration.

Configuration Keys

The NATS configuration contains the following key

Key	Default	Environment variable	Description
url	nats://localhost:4222	NA	URL addresse

Raw Socket Configuration

Note that for messages sent over TCP and UDP using this producer, the message deliminator is a new line character ("\n").

Format

A config file is a plain text file in YAML format.

key: value

The default configuration file is /etc/vflow/mq.conf, you can be able to change it through vFlow configuration.

Configuration Keys

The rawSocket configuration contains the following key

Key	Default	Environment variable	Description
url	localhost:9555	NA	URL address to send to. Includes the hostname and port.
protocol	tcp	NA	Protocol to use to send. Can be either "tcp" or "udp"
retry-max	2	NA	The number of times a message will be retried before giving up on it