# Which type to use to just monitor TCP traffic/flows **URL:** \ **Category:** Beats\ **Tags:** packetbeat\ **Created:** [January 10, 2018, 11:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-type-to-use-to-just-monitor-tcp-traffic-flows/114839 "2018-01-10T11:06:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![londonx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/da6949/32.png) [@londonx](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/londonx)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 11:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-type-to-use-to-just-monitor-tcp-traffic-flows/114839/1 "2018-01-10T11:06:23Z")
Hi all, I am keen to monitor tcp network flows between two servers. Happens to be Tibco EMS traffic and I understand that the selection of protocol types is limited in Packetbeat but it also infers that you can just capture TCP flows of any TCP protocol via a port. Which "type" would you chose then for this as there is not a generic "TCP" type available. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Krunal\_kalaria](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/krunal_kalaria/32/23862_2.png) [@Krunal\_kalaria](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Krunal_kalaria)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 11:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-type-to-use-to-just-monitor-tcp-traffic-flows/114839/2 "2018-01-10T11:22:37Z")
Hi @londonx, Can you try netflow codec plugin i think its work in this link you can see that codec [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/netflow-module.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/netflow-module.html) Thanks & Regards, Krunal. ---
**Author:** ![londonx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/da6949/32.png) [@londonx](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/londonx)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-type-to-use-to-just-monitor-tcp-traffic-flows/114839/3 "2018-01-10T12:13:14Z")
Thanks for that, I`ll give it a go! _EDIT it seems this is more for monitoring network devices, currently I only have access to the servers themselves._ Back to packetbeat, any idea which "type" to use when I just want to monitor a non-supported TCP protocol on a specific port to create a flow for that traffic? HTTP? ---
**Author:** ![steffens](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/steffens/32/79630_2.png) [@steffens](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/steffens)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-type-to-use-to-just-monitor-tcp-traffic-flows/114839/4 "2018-01-10T12:39:31Z")
Just use the flows feature in packetbeat. No need to configure any application layer protocol. If you know the port to be monitored, you also might want to configure a pcap-filter, so to reduce the amount of traffic to be processed by packetbeat. ---
**Author:** ![londonx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/da6949/32.png) [@londonx](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/londonx)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 12:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-type-to-use-to-just-monitor-tcp-traffic-flows/114839/5 "2018-01-10T12:47:34Z")
I see thanks! So potential feature request? Have a generic "TCP" type where you can specify a list of ports and get transport layer flows for just those? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![steffens](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/steffens/32/79630_2.png) [@steffens](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/steffens)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-type-to-use-to-just-monitor-tcp-traffic-flows/114839/6 "2018-01-11T12:25:58Z")
Have a look at the [Flows Enhancements Ticket](https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues/3444). Feel free to add more requests to the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 12:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/which-type-to-use-to-just-monitor-tcp-traffic-flows/114839/7 "2018-02-08T12:26:13Z")
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