IPFIX support {#ipfix}

VPP includes a high-performance IPFIX record exporter. This note explains how to use the internal APIs to export IPFIX data, and how to configure and send the required IPFIX templates.

As you'll see, a bit of typing is required.

First: create an ipfix "report"

Include the flow report header file, fill out a @ref vnet_flow_report_add_del_args_t structure, and call vnet_flow_report_add_del.

   #include <vnet/ipfix-export/flow_report.h>
   /* Defined in flow_report.h, of interest when constructing reports */

   /* ipfix field definitions for a particular report */
   typedef struct
   {
     u32 info_element;
     u32 size;
   } ipfix_report_element_t;

   /* Report add/del argument structure */
   typedef struct
   {
     /* Callback to flush current ipfix packet / frame */
     vnet_flow_data_callback_t *flow_data_callback;

     /* Callback to build the template packet rewrite string */
     vnet_flow_rewrite_callback_t *rewrite_callback;

     /* List of ipfix elements in the report */
     ipfix_report_element_t *report_elements;
     u32 n_report_elements;
     /* Kept in flow report, used e.g. by flow classifier */
     opaque_t opaque;
     /* Add / delete a report */
     int is_add;
     /* Ipfix "domain-ID", see RFC, set as desired */
     u32 domain_id;
     /* ipfix packet source port, often set to UDP_DST_PORT_ipfix */
     u16 src_port;
     /* Set by ipfix infra, needed to send data packets */
     u32 *stream_indexp;
   } vnet_flow_report_add_del_args_t;

   /* Private header file contents */

   /* Report ipfix element definition */
   #define foreach_simple_report_ipfix_element     \
   _(sourceIPv4Address, 4)                         \
   _(destinationIPv4Address, 4)                    \
   _(sourceTransportPort, 2)                       \
   _(destinationTransportPort, 2)                  \
   _(protocolIdentifier, 1)                        \
   _(flowStartMicroseconds, 8)                     \
   _(flowEndMicroseconds, 8)

   static ipfix_report_element_t simple_report_elements[] = {
   #define _(a,b) {a,b},
     foreach_simple_report_ipfix_element
   #undef _
   };

   typedef struct
   {
     /** Buffers and frames, per thread */
     vlib_buffer_t **buffers_by_thread;
     vlib_frame_t **frames_by_thread;
     u32 *next_record_offset_by_thread;

     /** Template ID's */
     u16 *template_ids;

     /** Time reference pair */
     u64 usec_time_0;
     f64 vlib_time_0;

     /** Stream index */
     u32 stream_index;

     /* Convenience */
     flow_report_main_t *flow_report_main;
     vlib_main_t *vlib_main;
     vnet_main_t *vnet_main;
   } my_logging_main_t;
   
   extern my_logging_main_t my_logging_main;

   ...

   /* Recitations */
   flow_report_main_t *frm = &flow_report_main;
   my_logging_main_t *mlm = &my_logging_main;
   vnet_flow_report_add_del_args_t a;
   int rv;
   u16 template_id;

   ... 

   /* Init function: set up time reference pair */
   mlm->vlib_time_0 = vlib_time_now (vm);
   mlm->milisecond_time_0 = unix_time_now_nsec () * 1e-6;

   ...

   /* Create a report */
   memset (&a, 0, sizeof (a));
   a.is_add = 1 /* to enable the report */;
   a.domain_id = 1 /* pick a domain ID */;
   a.src_port = UDP_DST_PORT_ipfix /* src port for reports */;

   /* Use the generic template packet rewrite string generator */
   a.rewrite_callback = vnet_flow_rewrite_generic_callback;

   /* Supply a list of ipfix report elements */
   a.report_elements = simple_report_elements;
   a.n_report_elements = ARRAY_LEN (simple_report_elements);

   /* Pointer to the ipfix stream index, set by the report infra */
   a.stream_indexp = &mlm->stream_index;
   a.flow_data_callback = my_flow_data_callback;

   /* Create the report */
   rv = vnet_flow_report_add_del (frm, &a, &template_id);
   if (rv) 
     oops...

   /* Save the template-ID for later use */
   mlm->template_id = template_id;

Several things are worth describing in more detail.

vnet_flow_rewrite_generic_callback programming

This generic callback helps build ipfix template packets. When registering an ipfix report, pass an (array, count) of ipfix elements as shown above.

my_flow_data_callback

The ipfix flow export infrastructure calls this callback to flush the current ipfix packet; to make sure that ipfix data is not retained for an unreasonably long period of time.

We typically code it as shown below, to call an application-specific function with (uninteresting arguments), and "do_flush = 1":


vlib_frame_t *my_flow_data_callback (flow_report_main_t * frm, flow_report_t * fr, vlib_frame_t * f, u32 * to_next, u32 node_index) { my_buffer_flow_record (0, ... , 0, 1 /* do_flush */); return f; }

my_flow_data_header

This function creates the packet header for an ipfix data packet


static inline void my_flow_report_header (flow_report_main_t * frm, vlib_buffer_t * b0, u32 * offset) { my_logging_main_t *mlm = &my_logging_main; flow_report_stream_t *stream; ip4_ipfix_template_packet_t *tp; ipfix_message_header_t *h = 0; ipfix_set_header_t *s = 0; ip4_header_t *ip; udp_header_t *udp; stream = &frm->streams[mlm->stream_index]; b0->current_data = 0; b0->current_length = sizeof (*ip) + sizeof (*udp) + sizeof (*h) + sizeof (*s); b0->flags |= (VLIB_BUFFER_TOTAL_LENGTH_VALID | VNET_BUFFER_F_FLOW_REPORT); vnet_buffer (b0)->sw_if_index[VLIB_RX] = 0; vnet_buffer (b0)->sw_if_index[VLIB_TX] = frm->fib_index; tp = vlib_buffer_get_current (b0); ip = (ip4_header_t *) & tp->ip4; udp = (udp_header_t *) (ip + 1); h = (ipfix_message_header_t *) (udp + 1); s = (ipfix_set_header_t *) (h + 1); ip->ip_version_and_header_length = 0x45; ip->ttl = 254; ip->protocol = IP_PROTOCOL_UDP; ip->flags_and_fragment_offset = 0; ip->src_address.as_u32 = frm->src_address.as_u32; ip->dst_address.as_u32 = frm->ipfix_collector.as_u32; udp->src_port = clib_host_to_net_u16 (stream->src_port); udp->dst_port = clib_host_to_net_u16 (frm->collector_port); udp->checksum = 0; h->export_time = clib_host_to_net_u32 ((u32) (((f64) frm->unix_time_0) + (vlib_time_now (frm->vlib_main) - frm->vlib_time_0))); h->sequence_number = clib_host_to_net_u32 (stream->sequence_number++); h->domain_id = clib_host_to_net_u32 (stream->domain_id); *offset = (u32) (((u8 *) (s + 1)) - (u8 *) tp); }

fixup and transmit a flow record

   
   static inline void
   my_send_ipfix_pkt (flow_report_main_t * frm,
        		 vlib_frame_t * f, vlib_buffer_t * b0, u16 template_id)
   {
     ip4_ipfix_template_packet_t *tp;
     ipfix_message_header_t *h = 0;
     ipfix_set_header_t *s = 0;
     ip4_header_t *ip;
     udp_header_t *udp;
     vlib_main_t *vm = frm->vlib_main;

     tp = vlib_buffer_get_current (b0);
     ip = (ip4_header_t *) & tp->ip4;
     udp = (udp_header_t *) (ip + 1);
     h = (ipfix_message_header_t *) (udp + 1);
     s = (ipfix_set_header_t *) (h + 1);

     s->set_id_length = ipfix_set_id_length (template_id,
   					  b0->current_length -
   					  (sizeof (*ip) + sizeof (*udp) +
   					   sizeof (*h)));
     h->version_length = version_length (b0->current_length -
   				      (sizeof (*ip) + sizeof (*udp)));

     ip->length = clib_host_to_net_u16 (b0->current_length);
     ip->checksum = ip4_header_checksum (ip);
     udp->length = clib_host_to_net_u16 (b0->current_length - sizeof (*ip));

     if (frm->udp_checksum)
       {
         udp->checksum = ip4_tcp_udp_compute_checksum (vm, b0, ip);
         if (udp->checksum == 0)
   	udp->checksum = 0xffff;
       }

     ASSERT (ip->checksum == ip4_header_checksum (ip));

     vlib_put_frame_to_node (vm, ip4_lookup_node.index, f);
   }  

my_buffer_flow_record

This is the key routine which paints individual flow records into an ipfix packet under construction. It's pretty straightforward (albeit stateful) vpp data-plane code. The code shown below is thread-safe by construction.

static inline void
my_buffer_flow_record_internal (my_flow_record_t * rp, int do_flush,
                                    u32 thread_index)
{
  vlib_main_t *vm = vlib_mains[thread_index];
  my_logging_main_t *mlm = &jvp_ipfix_main;
  flow_report_main_t *frm = &flow_report_main;
  vlib_frame_t *f;
  vlib_buffer_t *b0 = 0;
  u32 bi0 = ~0;
  u32 offset;

  b0 = mlm->buffers_by_thread[thread_index];

  if (PREDICT_FALSE (b0 == 0))
    {
      if (do_flush)
	return;

      if (vlib_buffer_alloc (vm, &bi0, 1) != 1)
	{
	  clib_warning ("can't allocate ipfix data buffer");
	  return;
	}

      b0 = vlib_get_buffer (vm, bi0);
      VLIB_BUFFER_TRACE_TRAJECTORY_INIT (b0);
      offset = 0;
      mlm->buffers_by_thread[thread_index] = b0;
    }
  else
    {
      bi0 = vlib_get_buffer_index (vm, b0);
      offset = mlm->next_record_offset_by_thread[thread_index];
    }

  f = mlm->frames_by_thread[thread_index];
  if (PREDICT_FALSE (f == 0))
    {
      u32 *to_next;
      f = vlib_get_frame_to_node (vm, ip4_lookup_node.index);
      mlm->frames_by_thread[thread_index] = f;
      to_next = vlib_frame_vector_args (f);
      to_next[0] = bi0;
      f->n_vectors = 1;
      mlm->frames_by_thread[thread_index] = f;
    }

  if (PREDICT_FALSE (offset == 0))
    my_flow_report_header (frm, b0, &offset);

  if (PREDICT_TRUE (do_flush == 0))
    {
      /* Paint the new ipfix data record into the buffer */
      clib_memcpy (b0->data + offset, rp, sizeof (*rp));
      offset += sizeof (*rp);
      b0->current_length += sizeof (*rp);
    }

  if (PREDICT_FALSE (do_flush || (offset + sizeof (*rp)) > frm->path_mtu))
    {
      /* Nothing to send? */
      if (offset == 0)
	return;

      send_ipfix_pkt (frm, f, b0, mlm->template_ids[0]);
      mlm->buffers_by_thread[thread_index] = 0;
      mlm->frames_by_thread[thread_index] = 0;
      offset = 0;
    }
  mlm->next_record_offset_by_thread[thread_index] = offset;
}  

static void
my_buffer_flow_record (my_flow_record_t * rp, int do_flush)
{
  u32 thread_index = vlib_get_thread_index();
  my_buffer_flow_record_internal (rp, do_flush, thread_index);
}