The CoralReef Software Suite as a Tool for System and Network Administrators

Until now, system administrators have lacked a flexible real-time network traffic flow monitoring package. Such a package must provide a wide range of services but remain flexible enough for rapid in-house customization. Existing passive data collection tools are typically narrow in scope, designed for specific tasks from packet capture (tcpdump [9]) to accounting (NeTraMet [4]). In response, CAIDA has created the CoralReef suite designed to provide network administrators and researchers with a consistent interface for a wide range of network analysis applications, from raw capture to flows analysis to real-time report generation. CoralReef provides a convenient set of passive data tools for a diverse audience.

CoralReef is a package of device drivers, libraries, classes, and applications. We briefly outline the architecture and provide relevant case studies and examples of CoralReef's use as applied to real-world networking situations. We will show how CoralReef is a powerful, extensible, and convenient package for network monitoring and reporting.