A survey of network flow applications

It has been over 16 years since Cisco's NetFlow was patented in 1996. Extensive research has been conducted since then and many applications have been developed. In this survey, we have reviewed an extensive number of studies with emphasis on network flow applications. First, we provide a brief introduction to sFlow, NetFlow and network traffic analysis. Then, we review the state of the art in the field by presenting the main perspectives and methodologies. Our analysis has revealed that network security has been an important research topic since the beginning. Advanced methodologies, such as machine learning, have been very promising. We provide a critique of the studies surveyed about datasets, perspectives, methodologies, challenges, future directions and ideas for potential integration with other Information Technology infrastructure and methods. Finally, we concluded this survey.