Re: bgpd.pl, a BGP daemon written in perl

[Eric Germann <ekgermann () cctec com>]

To Steven,

The web server returning the 404 error is 64.85.73.31

I'd send it to you privately, but you have a config error with the MX records for your network... :)

Eric

At 02:12 PM 4/23/01 +0200, Steven Hessing wrote:

> A first release of bgpd.pl, a limited functionality BGP daemon written in perl is now available. This software is 
> alpha stage. Further testing is required for:
> - interoperability testing with other BGP software (currently Zebra and Cisco have been tested)
> - testing with multiple concurrent BGP connections plus local-RIB route selection
>
> This software is not intended to be used for packet forwarding purposes, indeed functionality is missing to fullfil 
> this role. This tool can be useful for real-time monitoring of BGP routing tables. The software can easily be extended 
> to implement specific monitoring functions since it has been written in perl and its datatypes are well documented. 
> Which monitoring functions could be useful I leave up to your imagination.
>
> I have attached the README of the package to the end of this mail. The software can be downloaded from:
>  http://www.fasttracknetworks.com/software/bgpd.pl/
>
> Bug reports are appreciated and if someone is willing to set up a eBGP connection to me then I could test the route 
> selection code.
>
> - Steven Hessing
>
> README:
> bgpd.pl
> Version 0.01
> (C)2001 Steven Hessing
> steven () xs4all nl
>
> bgpd.pl is a partial implementation of the BGP protocol (RFC1771) in perl.
> It was written as a tool to monitor BGP routing updates. It is NOT written
> to be used as a BGP router in an operational network, in fact is has no
> support to propogate routing information because there is no code to send
> BGP UPDATE messages. bgpd.pl also does not touch the routing table of the
> host it runs on.
>
> With the constraints described in the above text, the software supports the
> following RFCs to the extend indicated:
> RFC1771 - Border Gateway Protocol version 4
>  adj-RIB-out not maintained, no outgoing BGP UPDATE messages, BGP TCP sessions
>  are not initiated. No Finite State Machine support.
> RFC1863 - BGP Route Server
>  Route Server client behaviour is supported. bgpd.pl can't act as a route
>  server
> RFC1997 - BGP Communities attribute
>  supported
> RFC2385 - Protection of BGP Sessions via the TCP MD5 Signature Option
>  not supported
> RFC2439 - BGP Route Flap Damping
>  not supported, not needed because we don't send out UPDATES
> RFC2545 - Use of BGP-4 Multiprotocol Extensions for IPv6 Inter-Domain Routing
>  not supported
> RFC2547 - BGP/MPLS VPNs
>  not supported
> RFC2796 - BGP Route reflection
>  supported
> RFC2842 - Capabilities Advertisement with BGP-4
>  We don't follow this RFC when a neighbour doesn't support a capability that
>  we do. We keep announcing the same set of capabilities.
> RFC2858 - Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4
>  almost no support. We recognise the RFC2842-capability announcement
> RFC2918 - Route refresh capability for BGP-4
>  supported
> RFC3065 - Autonomous System Confederations for BGP
>  supported
>
> The following RFC drafts are not yet supported:
> draft-ietf-id-bgp4-12
> draft-ietf-id-route-filter-03
> draft-ietf-id-restart-00
> draft-ietf-id-as4bytes-01
> draft-ietf-id-route-oscillation-00
>
> Multiprotocol support:
> Although the MP capability is accepted and announced in the BGP OPEN message,
> all MP path attributes in BGP UPDATE messages are silently ignored. There is
> no support for the MPLS/BGP VPN application or IPv6. This is planned for
> future releases.
>
> DOWNLOAD:
> The home page of bgpd.pl is:
>        http://www.fasttracknetworks.com/software/bgpd.pl/index.html
>
> INSTALLATION:
> - download and install Net::Patricia from
>         http://net.doit.wisc.edu/~plonka/Net-Patricia/
> - cd <parent-dir>; tar zxvf bgpd.pl.tar.gz
>
> USAGE:
> - cd into the bgpd.pl directory
> - ./bgpd.pl [--log [syslog|file|stdout] ] [ --daemon] [--debug [level] ]
>                [ --as <asnumber> ]
> - There are many debugging levels, read the `LOGGING' file. If you enable full
>  logging then prepare for a lot of logging information! For a full BGP table
>  you'll get log file of close to 100MB
> - The default AS is 65100 which is a private AS.
> - set up a BGP session from your router to the host on which you run bgpd.pl
>  If you use a private AS then don't forget to enable eBGP multihop on your
>  router. If you prefer to use iBGP then I would suggest configuring your
>  router as a route reflector for this BGP connection.
> - edit the bgpd.pl script to get the kind of monitoring functionality that
>  you need. You'll mostly use the %adjRIBin, %localRIB and %peers hashes. They
>  are described in the file DATATYPES
> - if you have specified `file' or `stdout' for logging then you can send
>  the bgpd.pl process a kill -1 to get a dump of the routing table.
>
>
> SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS:
> - connecting this alpha-stage software which has undergone limited testing
>  to your production network can result in considerable damage to your
>  network! Use this software at your own risk!
> - this software runs as root because it needs to connect to the TCP/BGP port.
>  The code does not switch back to a regular UID yet. It opens a logfile
>  for writing in the current working directory under the name bgpd.log. Make
>  sure that this is not a (sym-) link!
>
> INTEROPERABILITY:
> - bgpd.pl has succesfully maintained BGP sessions with:
>  - Zebra 0.91A
>  - Cisco IOS ios 12.0(14)S2 running on a Cisco 7206
>
> WARNING:
> There should be no problem running a bgp connection between a router in a
> production network and bgpd.pl because in no circumstance will bgpd.pl
> propogate routing information nor will it change the routing table of the
> host it runs on. BUT, this is alpha code and has undergone limited testing
> so use it at your own risk. Better connect it to your test network for now.


==========================================================================
  Eric Germann                                        Inacom Info Systems
  egermann () inacomlima com                             Lima, OH 45801
                                                      Ph:  419 331 9050
  ICQ:  41927048                                      Fax: 603 825 5893

"It is so easy to miss pretty trivial solutions to problems deemed
complicated.  The goal of a scientist is to find an interesting problem,
and live off it for a while.  The goal of an engineer is to evade
interesting problems :)"  -- Vadim Antonov <avg () kotovnik com> on NANOG