Three Values for Network Flow

ADE

NetFlow is a networking protocol developed by Cisco that collects and analyzes network traffic data. It is used for monitoring and analyzing network traffic and provides insights into the sources and destinations of network traffic, as well as the protocols and applications used.

To consider a sequence of packets as a network flow, three values must be the same:

1. Source IP address: This is the IP address of the sender of the packet. It identifies the device that is sending the packet and is used to identify the source of the network flow.

2. Destination IP address: This is the IP address of the receiver of the packet. It identifies the device that is receiving the packet and is used to identify the destination of the network flow.

3. Transport protocol: This is the protocol used to transport the data within the packet, such as TCP or UDP. It is used to identify the type of traffic in the network flow.

These values must be the same for all packets in a network flow in order for NetFlow to consider them a single flow. This allows NetFlow to track and analyze traffic between two devices or endpoints, and to provide statistics on the traffic volume, type, and patterns.

The other options listed in the question (source MAC address, egress interface, ingress interface, and IP next-hop) are not required to be the same for a sequence of packets to be considered a network flow by NetFlow. The source MAC address and ingress interface may change as packets traverse different network segments, and the egress interface and IP next-hop may differ depending on the routing path taken by the packets.