netfilter: nf_conntrack_tstamp: add flow-based timestamp extension
This patch adds flow-based timestamping for conntracks. This
conntrack extension is disabled by default. Basically, we use
two 64-bits variables to store the creation timestamp once the
conntrack has been confirmed and the other to store the deletion
time. This extension is disabled by default, to enable it, you
have to:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_timestamp
This patch allows to save memory for user-space flow-based
loogers such as ulogd2. In short, ulogd2 does not need to
keep a hashtable with the conntrack in user-space to know
when they were created and destroyed, instead we use the
kernel timestamp. If we want to have a sane IPFIX implementation
in user-space, this nanosecs resolution timestamps are also
useful. Other custom user-space applications can benefit from
this via libnetfilter_conntrack.
This patch modifies the /proc output to display the delta time
in seconds since the flow start. You can also obtain the
flow-start date by means of the conntrack-tools.
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso <pablo@netfilter.org>
Signed-off-by: Patrick McHardy <kaber@trash.net>
diff --git a/net/netfilter/Kconfig b/net/netfilter/Kconfig
index 939b504..faf7412 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/Kconfig
+++ b/net/netfilter/Kconfig
@@ -85,6 +85,17 @@
If unsure, say `N'.
+config NF_CONNTRACK_TIMESTAMP
+ bool 'Connection tracking timestamping'
+ depends on NETFILTER_ADVANCED
+ help
+ This option enables support for connection tracking timestamping.
+ This allows you to store the flow start-time and to obtain
+ the flow-stop time (once it has been destroyed) via Connection
+ tracking events.
+
+ If unsure, say `N'.
+
config NF_CT_PROTO_DCCP
tristate 'DCCP protocol connection tracking support (EXPERIMENTAL)'
depends on EXPERIMENTAL
