InterMapper Flows for Linux

InterMapper Flows is a NetFlow collector that has been integrated into the InterMapper user interface. Using InterMapper Flows, it is easy to determine which device(s) are sending traffic into the network, and the major protocol(s) in that traffic. For more information about InterMapper Flows, please visit our web site at: http://dartware.com/support/tech_notes/imflows/index.html

InterMapper Flows is an add-on to InterMapper. After installing InterMapper, you simply download and install the InterMapper Flows software and it automatically becomes active.

InterMapper Flows does not have its own graphical user interface. Instead, you can access flow information either through the built-in InterMapper client or InterMapper RemoteAccess. Right-clicking on any device on an InterMapper map allows you to open the "Flows Window" to see information about its traffic.

Installation Instructions

InterMapper Flows for Linux is shipped as a self-extracting shell script installer which contains the necessary programs and support files. Here are the instructions for installing InterMapper Flows if you are directly in front of the computer.

Download and install the current version of InterMapper, if you haven't already done this.
Download the the InterMapper Flows installer file. Unzip it as necessary. Change (cd) to the resulting directory
Type "sudo sh ./imflows_linux_1.0.sh".
Scroll through the license agreement by pressing space until you get to the end. If you agree, type "yes".
You need to specify a directory to hold the configuration files. By default, these will be /opt/ns2flows.
You need to specify a directory to hold the (large) database files. By default, these will be /opt/ns2flows/SESSIONDB
You need to specify a database size. The default ("medium") will occupy up to 10 GBytes, and will be good for modest traffic flows. You can change the size through the InterMapper Flows GUI.
The installer will finish, and start the InterMapper Flows daemon, which automatically begins listening for flow records.
Note that you may need to open a firewall port (default is UDP 2055) on your computer.
You will need a serial number to run InterMapper Flows for more than one hour. If you have already purchased, use the serial number you have received. If you are trying it out, you can get an evaluation serial number.

Getting Started

The fastest way to get working with InterMapper Flows is to watch the video at this URL:

http://dartware.com/downloads/viewvideo.html?file=imflows

What is Installed and Where

After running the InterMapper Flows installer, the following files will be on your disk:

/opt/ns2flows - The default directory of all the configuration and log files
/opt/ns2flows/SESSIONDB - The default directory for the database of flow information.
/opt/ns2flows/uninstall.sh - The uninstaller tailored for your particular install
/opt/ns2flows/netsaw.conf - The configuration file for InterMapper Flows.
/opt/ns2flows/ns2flows - The daemon binary for your architecture
/opt/ns2flows/netsaw2.log - The log file for InterMapper Flows normal operation.
/etc/init.d/ns2flows - Init style script specific to your OS version (accepts start/stop/restart)
/etc/rc*.d - Init script links

Starting/Stopping InterMapper Flows and Uninstalling the Software

To start InterMapper Flows from the command line, type:

sudo /etc/init.d/ns2flows.start

To stop InterMapper Flows from the command line, type:

sudo /etc/init.d/ns2flows.stop

To uninstall InterMapper Flows from the command line, go to /opt/ns2flows and invoke the uninstaller:

./uninstall.sh

This script is built during install to match the installation parameters that you've selected, such that the uninstall removes the correct links, and unregisters the service. If you wish to remove InterMapper Flows completely, you should do an rm -rf /opt/ns2flows on the system after running the uninstall.sh script.

Contact Us