Network traffic flows (flows) are useful for building a coarse-grained understanding of traffic on a computer network. Flows provide a convenient unit for the measurement and/or treatment of traffic.

Following on from What is a Network Traffic Flow?, this second post delves into Internet layer flow considerations. Previously, we found that the definition of a flow is mainly arbitrary, primarily driven by the capabilities of hardware/software, and the use cases. We now delve further into the considerations around specific features and behaviours of IP.

Figure 1 – Where this Blog Post fits in the Internet Protocol suite Continue reading →