Subject: [ipfix-info] draft-ietf-ipfix-info-01 issue: byte/packet count sign/direction

From: Simon Leinen <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 22:54:02 +0200

The current definitions for the packetCount, byteCount, and
droppedPacketCount fields specify their types as "int" (signed
32-bit).  I think this is a waste of a bit, because I cannot imagine
flows with negative values for these...

Also, the descriptions say the each of these fields "can be for
{bytes,packets} received (towards source) or {bytes,packets} sent
(towards destination) or both (bidirectional flow)."  Although I'm
personally not very interested in bi-directional flows, I definitely
think it would be an error to use a single field type for these three
attributes.

For bi-directional flows, the source/destination terminology seems
totally inappropriate.  Please consider talking about something like
"PortA", "AddressV6B".

The descriptions also say "The {packet,byte} count can be a delta
counter and is the count since the last report for this flow."

I don't think this is something that should be mentioned as the
semantics of specific fields; there should be a general requirement
that a flow record only refers to the part of the flow since the last
export.  This would be relevant for e.g. flowCreationTime as well!

I suggest to remove the text from the individual field descriptions.

Suggested text changes:

6.10 (packetCount), and
6.11 (byteCount), and
6.22 (droppedPacketCount) to be replaced with

    6.10 packetCount

    Description:

    Contains the number of packets in the flow, in the "downstream"
    (source-to-destination) direction.

    Type: The packetCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is packets.

    Field Id: 2

    6.11 inversePacketCount

    Description:

    Contains the number of packets against the flow, i.e. in the
    "upstream" (destination-to-source) direction.

    Type: The inversePacketCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is packets.

    6.12 totalPacketCount

    Field Id: TBD

    Description:

    Contains the number of packets in both directions of the flow,
    i.e. from source to destination and from destination to source.

    Type: The totalPacketCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is packets.

    Field Id: TBD

    6.13 byteCount

    Description:

    Contains the number of bytes in the flow, in the "downstream"
    (source-to-destination) direction.

    Type: The byteCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is bytes.

    Field Id: 1

    6.14 inverseByteCount

    Description:

    Contains the number of bytes against the flow, i.e. in the
    "upstream" (destination-to-source) direction.

    Type: The inverseByteCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is bytes.

    Field Id: TBD

    6.15 totalByteCount

    Description:

    Contains the number of bytes in both directions of the flow,
    i.e. from source to destination and from destination to source.

    Type: The totalByteCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is bytes.

    Field Id: TBD

    6.22 droppedPacketCount

    Description:

    Contains the number of dropped packets in the flow, in the
    "downstream" (source-to-destination) direction.

    Type: The droppedPacketCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is packets.

    Field Id: TBD

    6.23 inverseDroppedPacketCount

    Description:

    Contains the number of dropped packets against the flow, i.e. in
    the "upstream" (destination-to-source) direction.

    Type: The inverseDroppedPacketCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is packets.

    Field Id: TBD

    6.24 totalDroppedPacketCount

    Description:

    Contains the number of dropped packets in both directions of the
    flow, i.e. from source to destination and from destination to
    source.

    Type: The totalDroppedPacketCount element is of type unsigned.

    Units: The unit of measure is packets.

    Field Id: TBD
-- 
Simon.

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