Troubleshoot data issues in Flow Analyzer
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Use the following guidance to troubleshoot common issues with
Flow Analyzer. To learn more about Flow Analyzer, see the
overview.
No data is displayed
If you don't see any data in Flow Analyzer, do the following:
- Make sure that VPC Flow Logs is enabled for the relevant subnets.
For more information, see
Enable VPC Flow Logs when you create a subnet
or
Enable VPC Flow Logs for an existing subnet.
- Make sure that the timeline is correctly set. If there's no traffic flow
within the selected time period, Flow Analyzer doesn't show any
data. For more information, see
Time-range selector.
- Validate the log bucket setup:
- Ensure that the project has a log bucket that contains VPC Flow Logs.
- Check that VPC Flow Logs is not disabled for the log bucket
in the project.
- Verify that VPC Flow Logs is not directed to another bucket. For
more information, see
Configure a central bucket.
- Confirm that the log bucket is upgraded to use Log Analytics. For
more information, see Enable Log Analytics.
- Check for missing fields and filters:
- Make sure that the sampling rate is not too low.
There aren't any metadata fields in VPC Flow Logs due to the
following reasons:
- Metadata is disabled in VPC Flow Logs for this project.
- The traffic flow is a part of cross-project communication.
- Actual data is unknown because the traffic is from an external resource.
- The metadata information is not yet available.
Filtered out fields in VPC Flow Logs
When you enable VPC Flow Logs, you can set a filter based on both base and
metadata fields that only preserves logs that match the filter. All other logs
are discarded before being written to Logging, which saves you
money and reduces the time needed to find the information you are looking for.
You or other users can filter on any subset of fields from the
record format. Verify that the required fields are not filtered out by other users
in your project. For more information, see
Log filtering.
Low sampling rate
If the sampling rate is set too low, you cannot see any data in
Flow Analyzer.
For additional troubleshooting information, see
Troubleshoot VPC Flow Logs.
Send feedback about Flow Analyzer
To send your feedback about Flow Analyzer or any issues faced
while using Flow Analyzer, do the following:
- Click the Send feedback icon.
The Send feedback to Google panel appears.
- Describe your feedback.
- To add a screenshot, click Capture screenshot.
You can also mark the area of concern or hide sensitive information by using
the Edit tool.
- Select the contents of the current tab.
- Click Share.
The screenshot is added to the feedback.
- Click Send.
What's next
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Troubleshoot data issues in Flow Analyzer\n\nUse the following guidance to troubleshoot common issues with\nFlow Analyzer. To learn more about Flow Analyzer, see the\n[overview](/network-intelligence-center/docs/flow-analyzer/overview).\n\nNo data is displayed\n--------------------\n\nIf you don't see any data in Flow Analyzer, do the following:\n\n1. Make sure that VPC Flow Logs is enabled for the relevant subnets. For more information, see [Enable VPC Flow Logs when you create a subnet](/vpc/docs/using-flow-logs#enable-logging-new) or [Enable VPC Flow Logs for an existing subnet](/vpc/docs/using-flow-logs#enable-logging-existing).\n2. Make sure that the timeline is correctly set. If there's no traffic flow within the selected time period, Flow Analyzer doesn't show any data. For more information, see [Time-range selector](/network-intelligence-center/docs/flow-analyzer/overview#time-selector).\n3. Validate the log bucket setup:\n - Ensure that the project has a log bucket that contains VPC Flow Logs.\n - Check that VPC Flow Logs is not disabled for the log bucket in the project.\n - Verify that VPC Flow Logs is not directed to another bucket. For more information, see [Configure a central bucket](/network-intelligence-center/docs/flow-analyzer/configure-central-bucket).\n - Confirm that the log bucket is upgraded to use Log Analytics. For more information, see [Enable Log Analytics](/network-intelligence-center/docs/flow-analyzer/enable-log-analytics).\n4. Check for missing fields and filters:\n - Make sure that there are no [missing metadata fields](#missing-metadata).\n - Verify there are no [filtered out fields in VPC Flow Logs](#filtered-out-fields).\n5. Make sure that the [sampling rate is not too low](#low-sampling-rate).\n\nMissing metadata fields\n-----------------------\n\nThere aren't any metadata fields in VPC Flow Logs due to the\nfollowing reasons:\n\n- Metadata is disabled in VPC Flow Logs for this project.\n- The traffic flow is a part of cross-project communication.\n- Actual data is unknown because the traffic is from an external resource.\n- The metadata information is not yet available.\n\nFiltered out fields in VPC Flow Logs\n------------------------------------\n\nWhen you enable VPC Flow Logs, you can set a filter based on both base and\nmetadata fields that only preserves logs that match the filter. All other logs\nare discarded before being written to Logging, which saves you\nmoney and reduces the time needed to find the information you are looking for.\n\nYou or other users can filter on any subset of fields from the\nrecord format. Verify that the required fields are not filtered out by other users\nin your project. For more information, see\n[Log filtering](/vpc/docs/about-flow-logs-records#filtering).\n\nLow sampling rate\n-----------------\n\nIf the sampling rate is set too low, you cannot see any data in\nFlow Analyzer.\n\nFor additional troubleshooting information, see\n[Troubleshoot VPC Flow Logs](/vpc/docs/access-flow-logs#troubleshooting).\n\nSend feedback about Flow Analyzer\n---------------------------------\n\nTo send your feedback about Flow Analyzer or any issues faced\nwhile using Flow Analyzer, do the following:\n\n1. Click the **Send feedback** icon. The Send feedback to Google panel appears.\n2. Describe your feedback.\n3. To add a screenshot, click **Capture screenshot** . You can also mark the area of concern or hide sensitive information by using the **Edit** tool.\n4. Select the contents of the current tab.\n5. Click **Share**. The screenshot is added to the feedback.\n6. Click **Send**.\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- [Analyze traffic flows](/network-intelligence-center/docs/flow-analyzer/analyze-traffic-flows)\n- [Run Connectivity Tests from Flow Analyzer](/network-intelligence-center/docs/flow-analyzer/run-connectivity-tests)\n- [Monitor your traffic flows](/network-intelligence-center/docs/flow-analyzer/monitor-traffic-flows)"]]