netflow Installation Guide Installation Guide

netflow is a free and open-source flow collection. nfdump provides NetFlow collection and processing

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 2+ cores

RAM: 2GB minimum

Storage: 50GB for flows

Network: NetFlow protocol

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 9995 (default netflow port)

None

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install netflow
sudo dnf install -y netflow

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netflow

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9995/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
netflow --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install netflow
sudo apt install -y netflow

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netflow

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 9995

# Verify installation
netflow --version

bash

# Install netflow
sudo pacman -S netflow

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netflow

# Verify installation
netflow --version

bash

# Install netflow
apk add --no-cache netflow

# Enable and start service
rc-update add netflow default
rc-service netflow start

# Verify installation
netflow --version

bash

# Install netflow
sudo zypper install -y netflow

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netflow

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9995/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
netflow --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install netflow

# Start service
brew services start netflow

# Verify installation
netflow --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install netflow

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'netflow_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service netflow start

# Verify installation
netflow --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install netflow

# Or using Scoop
scoop install netflow

# Verify installation
netflow --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/netflow

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
netflow --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable netflow

# Start service
sudo systemctl start netflow

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop netflow

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart netflow

# Check status
sudo systemctl status netflow

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u netflow -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add netflow default

# Start service
rc-service netflow start

# Stop service
rc-service netflow stop

# Restart service
rc-service netflow restart

# Check status
rc-service netflow status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'netflow_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service netflow start

# Stop service
service netflow stop

# Restart service
service netflow restart

# Check status
service netflow status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start netflow
brew services stop netflow
brew services restart netflow

# Check status
brew services list | grep netflow

powershell

# Start service
net start netflow

# Stop service
net stop netflow

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service netflow
Stop-Service netflow
Restart-Service netflow

# Check status
Get-Service netflow

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream netflow_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:9995;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name netflow.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name netflow.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/netflow.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/netflow.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://netflow_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName netflow.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://netflow.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName netflow.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/netflow.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/netflow.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:9995/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:9995/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend netflow_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/netflow.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend netflow_backend

backend netflow_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server netflow1 127.0.0.1:9995 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R netflow:netflow /etc/netflow
sudo chmod 750 /etc/netflow

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9995/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status netflow

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u netflow -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep netflow)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/netflow"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/netflow-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/netflow /var/lib/netflow

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/netflow-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop netflow

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/netflow/netflow-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start netflow

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u netflow -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/netflow/netflow.log

# Check configuration
netflow --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/netflow

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 9995

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 9995

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep netflow)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep netflow)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 9995

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  netflow:
    image: netflow:latest
    ports:
      - "9995:9995"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/netflow
      - ./data:/var/lib/netflow
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update netflow

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade netflow

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu netflow

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade netflow

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update netflow

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade netflow

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/netflow-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/netflow

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart netflow

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/netflow

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/netflow -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/netflow

Official Documentation: https://docs.netflow.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/netflow/netflow

Community Forum: https://forum.netflow.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.netflow.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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darkstat Installation Guide

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