CoralReef is the name for a comprehensive software package released by CAIDA which allows monitoring of specialized OCx (ATM and POS) interfaces, standard system network interfaces (via libpcap), and reading OCx and pcap tracefiles. It includes FreeBSD drivers for Apptel POINT (OC3 & OC12 - no longer in production) and Marconi ForeRunner (OC3) cards, programming APIs for C and Perl, and software for capture, analysis, and report generation. It also includes support for Endace DAG cards; DAG drivers are available separately from Endace's web site (see below).
This package is maintained by CAIDA developers with the support of the measurement community. The first release was version 3.0 in March 1999 (to differentiate from CoralReef's OCXmon software ancestor, Coral.)
There is a CoralReef status page on which current release information is posted. Check this page for the latest update information.
The same core collection infrastructure can be found in both packages. In particular, the libcoral and CRL.pm infrastructure remains the same. Applications developed using the libraries in the public version will work with the members version without modification. The main difference is in enhancements which makes the members only version faster and more comprehensive.
Members get access to new releases earlier than the general public.
Members versions also include some extra features such as an
enhanced version of the HTML report generator
(
t2_report++)
with unknown port and application analysis and tracking (via RRDtool.)
All the differences between the members only version and the public version are documented in detail CHANGELOG which is included with all distributions. For current information, check the latest CHANGELOG on the CAIDA web site.