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Network flows format reference

These are the specifications for network flows format, used both internally and when exporting flows to Kafka.

Network Flows format reference

This is the specification of the network flows format. That format is used when a Kafka exporter is configured, for Prometheus metrics labels as well as internally for the Loki store.

The "Filter ID" column shows which related name to use when defining Quick Filters (see spec.consolePlugin.quickFilters in the FlowCollector specification).

The "Loki label" column is useful when querying Loki directly: label fields need to be selected using stream selectors.

Name Type Description Filter ID Loki label

Bytes

number

Number of bytes

n/a

no

DnsErrno

number

Error number returned from DNS tracker ebpf hook function

dns_errno

no

DnsFlags

number

DNS flags for DNS record

n/a

no

DnsFlagsResponseCode

string

Parsed DNS header RCODEs name

dns_flag_response_code

no

DnsId

number

DNS record id

dns_id

no

DnsLatencyMs

number

Time between a DNS request and response, in milliseconds

dns_latency

no

Dscp

number

Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) value

dscp

no

DstAddr

string

Destination IP address (ipv4 or ipv6)

dst_address

no

DstK8S_HostIP

string

Destination node IP

dst_host_address

no

DstK8S_HostName

string

Destination node name

dst_host_name

no

DstK8S_Name

string

Name of the destination Kubernetes object, such as Pod name, Service name or Node name.

dst_name

no

DstK8S_Namespace

string

Destination namespace

dst_namespace

yes

DstK8S_OwnerName

string

Name of the destination owner, such as Deployment name, StatefulSet name, etc.

dst_owner_name

yes

DstK8S_OwnerType

string

Kind of the destination owner, such as Deployment, StatefulSet, etc.

dst_kind

no

DstK8S_Type

string

Kind of the destination Kubernetes object, such as Pod, Service or Node.

dst_kind

yes

DstK8S_Zone

string

Destination availability zone

dst_zone

yes

DstMac

string

Destination MAC address

dst_mac

no

DstPort

number

Destination port

dst_port

no

Duplicate

boolean

Indicates if this flow was also captured from another interface on the same host

n/a

yes

Flags

number

Logical OR combination of unique TCP flags comprised in the flow, as per RFC-9293, with additional custom flags to represent the following per-packet combinations:
- SYN+ACK (0x100)
- FIN+ACK (0x200)
- RST+ACK (0x400)

n/a

no

FlowDirection

number

Flow direction from the node observation point. Can be one of:
- 0: Ingress (incoming traffic, from the node observation point)
- 1: Egress (outgoing traffic, from the node observation point)
- 2: Inner (with the same source and destination node)

direction

yes

IcmpCode

number

ICMP code

icmp_code

no

IcmpType

number

ICMP type

icmp_type

no

IfDirection

number

Flow direction from the network interface observation point. Can be one of:
- 0: Ingress (interface incoming traffic)
- 1: Egress (interface outgoing traffic)

n/a

no

Interface

string

Network interface

interface

no

K8S_ClusterName

string

Cluster name or identifier

cluster_name

yes

K8S_FlowLayer

string

Flow layer: 'app' or 'infra'

flow_layer

no

Packets

number

Number of packets

n/a

no

PktDropBytes

number

Number of bytes dropped by the kernel

n/a

no

PktDropLatestDropCause

string

Latest drop cause

pkt_drop_cause

no

PktDropLatestFlags

number

TCP flags on last dropped packet

n/a

no

PktDropLatestState

string

TCP state on last dropped packet

pkt_drop_state

no

PktDropPackets

number

Number of packets dropped by the kernel

n/a

no

Proto

number

L4 protocol

protocol

no

SrcAddr

string

Source IP address (ipv4 or ipv6)

src_address

no

SrcK8S_HostIP

string

Source node IP

src_host_address

no

SrcK8S_HostName

string

Source node name

src_host_name

no

SrcK8S_Name

string

Name of the source Kubernetes object, such as Pod name, Service name or Node name.

src_name

no

SrcK8S_Namespace

string

Source namespace

src_namespace

yes

SrcK8S_OwnerName

string

Name of the source owner, such as Deployment name, StatefulSet name, etc.

src_owner_name

yes

SrcK8S_OwnerType

string

Kind of the source owner, such as Deployment, StatefulSet, etc.

src_kind

no

SrcK8S_Type

string

Kind of the source Kubernetes object, such as Pod, Service or Node.

src_kind

yes

SrcK8S_Zone

string

Source availability zone

src_zone

yes

SrcMac

string

Source MAC address

src_mac

no

SrcPort

number

Source port

src_port

no

TimeFlowEndMs

number

End timestamp of this flow, in milliseconds

n/a

no

TimeFlowRttNs

number

TCP Smoothed Round Trip Time (SRTT), in nanoseconds

time_flow_rtt

no

TimeFlowStartMs

number

Start timestamp of this flow, in milliseconds

n/a

no

TimeReceived

number

Timestamp when this flow was received and processed by the flow collector, in seconds

n/a

no

_HashId

string

In conversation tracking, the conversation identifier

id

no

_RecordType

string

Type of record: 'flowLog' for regular flow logs, or 'newConnection', 'heartbeat', 'endConnection' for conversation tracking

type

yes