X Route Plug-in

Introduction

GENEOS X-ROUTE Plug-in checks the network path to a specified target node, the latency introduced by each hop and the availability of the node. It sends ICMP or TCP packets to the target host and measures the time it takes to reply and the hops that make up the full network path to the target node. The target host does not need to run any special software to provide the replies.

A number of expected routes can be preset, so that the route name is shown as a headline variable. e.g. Primary Route and Backup Route could be defined, so that when the messages are routers via the Backup Route, the operator is made aware.

X-ROUTE is also useful to ensure security, where only designated routed are considered secure.

Views

View

The X-ROUTE Plug-in produces a single view as follows:

x-route2

Headline Legend

Name	Description
targetNode	The name and IP address of the host that the route is being traced to.
targetState	The state of the Node - "reachable" or "unreachable".
totalHops	The number of hops currently used to reach the node.
nodeAccessTime	Time in ms for a test packet to be sent and received back from the node .
routeName	Shows the name of the current route. Route name can be user defined in the setup.

Table Legend

Name	Description
hopID	Hop identifier.
nodeName	The name of the node for each hop.
nodeAddress	The IP address of the node for each hop.
turnAroundTime	Time in ms for a test packet to be sent and received back from the hop.
packetLoss	The number of test packets lost as percentage of the overall sent. Indicates quality/loading of the hop.

Plug-in Configuration

The following parameters can be configured for this plug-in:

var-recvInterfaces

Specifies a comma-separated list of network interface names to be used.

On UNIX machines, interface names can be found using the command "ifconfig -a". Example names are "eth0" or "ce0".

On Windows machines, interface names can be listed by running Netprobe using the "-ifconfig" command-line option. A Windows interface name will look similar to the following:

\Device\NPF_{BDFE3EAC-0275-440A-923C-C9C4CE3B37F2}

Mandatory: Yes

sendInterface

The name of the network interface to be used to send packets (e.g. hme0). Usually the same as recvInterface parameter, but can be set to a different value in certain network configurations.

Mandatory: Yes

targetNode

The name or the IP address of the target node at the end of the network path that is being monitored. This must not be the node that the NetProbe is running on.

Mandatory: Yes

var-nameResolution

Boolean. When set true will use DNS to resolve the IP addresses of the route nodes.

Mandatory: No

Default: TRUE

protocol

The type of protocol to use. Can be UDP or ICMP. ICMP is more likely to pass through routers and firewalls.

Mandatory: No

Default: ICMP

var-maxHops

The maximum number of hops that the route can take. Maximum allowed is 63.

Mandatory: No

Default: 20

var-maxNumberOfProbes

The maximum number of test packets sent to each hop. Maximum allowed is 7.

Mandatory: No

Default: 3

var-timeAllowed

The timeout interval for a reply from a hop.

Mandatory: No

Default: 3

routes

Routes to targetNode. The routeName headline variable shows the route used. When a route is not one of the set routes, the routeName headline variable is shown as UNKNOWN.

Mandatory: No

routes > route > var-name

The name of the route.

Mandatory: Yes

routes > route > routeNodes

List of hops IP addresses or names that describe a route. A valid value can be an IP address or a wildcard (*).

Mandatory: Yes

routes > route > routeNodes > routeNode

A hop on a route. A valid value can be an IP address or a wildcard (*).

Mandatory: Yes

routes > route > var-matchExactHops

Set this false to enable Loose Matching for the route. If Loose Matching is enabled then completely wild routeNodes (i.e. *.*.*.*) will match zero or more hops.

e.g. The Route *.*.*.*, 1.2.3.4, *.*.*.* will match any route that passes through 1.2.3.4 no matter how long.

Mandatory: No

Default: False

var-sourceIP

The Source IP address to be used in the outbound test packets.

Mandatory: No

Default: Defaults to the default IP address on the card.

checkTargetHostHasChangedIp

Forces X-Route to detect if the underlying IP address of a host name has +changed. This will restart the packet capture engine so X-Route will +continue to check the correct host. In between restarts there is a +potential for losing packets.

Note: Restarting the packet capture engine will affect all X-Set plug-ins as they too might miss packets

Mandatory: No

Default: False.

Permissions

The plug-in requires the netprobe to be run with root permissions (on Unix operating systems), as it needs to open network devices.

On Linux kernel versions 2.6.24 and up, an alternative to running the netprobe as root is available: Set the CAP_NET_RAW and CAP_NET_ADMIN Linux capability on the netprobe binary with the command "setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_admin+eip <netprobe binary>" replacing <netprobe binary> with the appropriate netprobe binary file such as 'netprobe.linux_64'.

When running the netprobe with set capabilities, the lib64 folder in the netprobe directory should be put in the ld.so trusted paths. Otherwise, the runtime libraries will not be loaded properly. For guidance, see Run Netprobe under elevated privileges in Linux in .

Third Party Libraries

Windows: The Winpcap packet capture library http://www.winpcap.org/install/default.htm needs to be installed on the host. Version 4.0.2 is required for Windows Vista/Server 2003 support.

Unix: The shared library libpcap.so (version 1.0.0 or later is recommended) needs to be in the netprobe lib64 directory

Note: As the netprobe needs to be run as root the LD_LIBRARY_PATH is ignored for security reasons.