CoralReef Application Groups

The CoralReef Software Suite provides default application groups for use by those who seek to classify various types of monitored traffic in broader classes than individual applications. CoralReef version 3.6 is the first to use these groups in the Application_ports_Master.txt file for use with the AppPorts.pm Perl module.

This file describes a hierarchical application classification scheme developed at CAIDA. Only the top level of classification is currently available in the Application_ports_Master.txt file. The ability to access the complete classification hierarchy through the AppPorts.pm Perl module is planned for a future release of CoralReef.

To create our application list, we began with the IANA assigned port numbers and then sought to identify applications generating unexpected volumes of traffic on a particular port. It is by no means a definitive list detailing all applications used on all ports on the Internet. The prevalence of applications that run on any port introduces error into any port-based identification system, so the matches suggested should be validated using other traffic dynamics or packet payloads of accuracy of the application:port mappings is important.

For tracking overall trends in Internet usage (for research, future planning, network provisioning, new service development, etc.) it can be useful to look beyond the individual applications (which can quickly be adopted by large groups of users and then abandoned as soon as something better comes along) and instead focus on the general activity a given application represents. This document describes the categories we have developed and lists the applications currently identified via our Application_ports_Master.txt file.

We welcome additions to our list of applications. Please email Application_ports_Master.txt record contributions to coral-info@caida.org.


Table of Contents
Documentation

Application classification categories:


Author
CoralReef Development team, CAIDA:
coral-info@caida.org