Your Deepfield Analytics Service Questions Answered

FAQ

Have more questions about the Internet2 Deepfield Analytics Service? Browse through these frequently asked questions.

Is the data I view through the service private?

Your privacy and the privacy of your data is important to Internet2. For more information, see our privacy policy.

Why can’t I open the Access Request form?

You must sign in to the Internet2 site with your InCommon Federation credentials, or with your Internet2 SiteID, in order to fill out and submit the Access Request form. To see if your institution is an InCommon Participant, see InCommon Participants.

I received notification that my access has been configured but I can’t get beyond the Shibboleth access page.

This is typically caused by a mismatch in the attributes your local IdP is releasing. See the Shibboleth Attributes page for details on which attributes we need to receive.

My campus is not an InCommon Participant. How else can I get access?

Internet2 supports the use of an Internet2 SiteID to access this service as well as InCommon Federation credentials. You can create an Internet2 SiteID and use it for access to this as well as other Internet2 services. Please note that if you are using an Internet2 SiteID, you must select Internet2 SiteID as your organization when logging into this service.

How can I get support for the service?

For further support, please contact the Internet2 network operations center (NOC): call (317) 278-6622 or email noc@net.internet2.edu.

What about the privacy of data that is retained and stored?

Raw flow data is stored on the Deepfield system in files until it is processed. The files are discarded after processing to conserve disk space. These raw flows are then combined with SNMP and BGP routing tables to produce a proprietary Deepfield record called Deepflow. Deepflow is an intermediate database of the analyzed/classified combined flow data. This process is completed within one to two hours. Deepflow is rolled-up into DeepCube, which is the long-term database containing aggregate views of the collected data. No IP information is stored in this database. The DeepCube data is stored for up to two weeks and pruned when disk space is required (high water mark of 88%). The hardware currently running the Internet2 Deepfield system has a total of 2TB local disk storage. The flow data storage implemented on the Deepfield system is consistent with the current Internet2 Member data privacy policy as noted above. No IP address specificity is contained within any long-term storage.

How does Deepfield determine the categorization of traffic?

Deepfield deployments have a category dimension that provides a high level of abstraction for sites and services to aid in reporting. There are currently 24 categories. See Deepfield Categories (PDF) for details.