Flow Tools AS-Path

[Mike Hammett <nanog () ics-il net>]

One of the reasons to analyze flow data is to make purchase\peering decisions. The sFlow standard seems to only include 
source and destination AS, though I know some route platforms have extensions to provide additional data. 


1) How common is it to have the additional extensions to include that data for analysis? 
2) I have seen flow tools that show the entire AS path. Are they just cherry picking which platforms they showcase for 
the best marketing, or are they enriching the data they receive from "lesser" platforms from an outside source? 


For that purpose, knowing what ASes your data goes to is useful. It's even more useful to find an upstream network that 
includes a bunch of those. 




----- 
Mike Hammett 
Intelligent Computing Solutions 
http://www.ics-il.com 

Midwest-IX 
http://www.midwest-ix.com