Feeds and parsers are Lua programs loaded and compiled when either processing capture files in Investigation or capturing data with Decoders. Most commonly, they are used for static meta extraction and service identification.
Note: Pre-11.0 versions of NetWitness used FLEXPARSE programs in addition to Lua programs; Flexparsers are deprecated in NetWitness Suite 11.0. Unless otherwise stated, any reference to Decoders applies to Log Decoders as well.
NetWitness Suite uses feeds to create metadata based on externally defined meta values. A feed is a list of data that is compared to sessions as they are captured or processed. For each hit, additional metadata is created. This data can identify and classify malicious IPs or incorporate additional information such as department and location based on internal network assignments. Some examples of feeds include threat feeds to identify BOTNets, DHCP mappings, or even active directory information such as physical location or logical department.
Feeds can be added, removed, and updated while a Decoder is running without affecting capture. The Feeds tab (ADMIN > Services > select a service and click 
> View > Config > Feeds tab) provides a user interface for managing feeds on Decoders.
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Related Topics
Quick Look
This is an example of the Feeds tab.
| 1 | Feeds Tab Toolbar - Provides options to work with feeds in the grid |
| 2 | Feed Grid - Lists all feeds that are currently deployed on the Decoder |
Feeds Tab Toolbar
Feeds List
The Feeds list provides a listing of all currently deployed feeds for the Decoder.