Which protocol is Cisco's proprietary method for exporting flow data?

Which protocol is Cisco's proprietary method for exporting flow data?

• A. IPFIX
• B. NetFlow
• C. sFlow
• D. Bandwidth

Answer: (B)

NetFlow is Cisco's original method for exporting flow data from routers and switches to a collector. It captures per-flow information—like source and destination IPs, ports, protocol, timing, and counts of bytes and packets—and sends these flow records to a centralized collector for analysis. This enables detailed traffic analysis, capacity planning, and security monitoring on Cisco devices. IPFIX is the standardized evolution of NetFlow v9, so it’s not proprietary. sFlow is a separate, sampling-based protocol used broadly across vendors, and Bandwidth isn’t a protocol. So the best answer is NetFlow.

NetFlow is Cisco's original method for exporting flow data from routers and switches to a collector. It captures per-flow information—like source and destination IPs, ports, protocol, timing, and counts of bytes and packets—and sends these flow records to a centralized collector for analysis. This enables detailed traffic analysis, capacity planning, and security monitoring on Cisco devices. IPFIX is the standardized evolution of NetFlow v9, so it’s not proprietary. sFlow is a separate, sampling-based protocol used broadly across vendors, and Bandwidth isn’t a protocol. So the best answer is NetFlow.