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Windows Agent Flow Captures: For All Windows OS Excluding Windows Server 2008 R2

From the latest version of Windows, the agent uses ndiscap.sys (Microsoft in-built) driver and Events Tracing using Windows (ETW) framework to capture the network flows.

During the upgrade to the latest version:

  • The agent switches to ndiscap.sys from npcap.sys.

  • The agent installer uninstalls Npcap if:

    • Npcap is installed by the agent.

    • Npcap is not in use.

    • OS version is not Windows Server 2008 R2.

After the agent services are started, the agent creates ETW sessions, CSW_MonNet, and CSW_MonDns (for DNS data), and initiates the capture of network flows.


 
  • On Windows Server 2012, network packets are parsed for DNS data.

  • The Windows agent on hosts with Windows Server 2012 and later capture consumer and provider usernames and the usernames are available in the flow observations. This feature is not supported on Windows Server 2008 R2 because of limitations in the OS. In the agent configuration profile, configure the following to capture the usernames:

    • Enable PID/ User Lookup.

    • Set Flow Analysis Fidelity to Detailed.