NETROMD(8) Linux System Managers Manual NETROMD(8)
NAME
netromd - Send and receive NET/ROM routing messages
SYNOPSIS
netromd [-c] [-d] [-i] [-l] [-p pause] [-q quality] [-t interval] [-v]
DESCRIPTION
For a NET/ROM based network to operate correctly, a periodic broadcast
of routing information needs to occur. Typically this occurs once every
hour on every port which is expected to carry NET/ROM traffic. The pur-
pose of netromd is to send(2,n) and receive NET/ROM routing broadcasts. To
operate correctly a set(7,n,1 builtins) of parameters that corresponds to each AX.25
port needs to be passed to the program. This information is encoded in(1,8)
a configuration file(1,n), by default which is /etc/ax25(3,4)/nrbroadcast with
each line representing one port, see the manual page for nrbroad-
cast(5).
To cut down the length of these routing broadcasts, only the informa-
tion about the highest quality neighbour for a particular node is
transmitted. The transmission is also limited to those node that have
a certain minimum value in(1,8) their obsolesence count, this value is
decremented every time(1,2,n) a routing broadcast is transmitted, and is
refreshed by receiving a routing broadcast which contains that particu-
lar node.
The value of the default quality is traditionally assigned a value that
represents the quality of the radio links on that port. A higher number
representing better radio links with 255 (the maximum) reserved for
wire connections. The practise in(1,8) the UK is to set(7,n,1 builtins) the default quality
to a low value, typically 10, and manually set(7,n,1 builtins) up the trusted neigh-
bouring nodes in(1,8) the neighbour list manually. The worst quality for
auto-updates value is a way to filter(1,3x,3x curs_util) out low quality (ie distant)
nodes.
The verbose flag may be either 0 or 1, representing no and yes. By
specifying no, the program will only generate a routing message con-
taining information about the node on which it is running, by specify-
ing the yes option, all the information in(1,8) the nodes routing tables
will be transmitted. The quality advertised for the other node call-
signs on this machine may be set(7,n,1 builtins) using the -q option.
Between each transmission netromd pauses for five seconds (default) in(1,8)
order to avoid flooding the channels that it must broadcast on. The
value of this delay is settable with the -p option.
OPTIONS
-c Forces strict compliance to Software 2000 specifica-
tions. At present this only determines how node mnemon-
ics with lower case characters will be handled. With
compliance enabled mixed case node mnemonics will be
ignored. The default is to accept(2,8) node mnemonics of
mixed case.
-d Switches on debugging messages, the default is off.
Logging must be enabled for them to be output.
-i Transmit a routing broadcast immediately, the default
is to wait for the time(1,2,n) interval to elapse before
transmitting the first routing broadcast.
-l Enables logging of errors and debug messages to the
system log. The default is off.
-p pause Sets the delay between transmissions of individual
routing broadcast packets. The default is five seconds.
-q quality Sets the quality of the subsidiary nodes relative to
the main node. The default is 255.
-t interval The time(1,2,n) interval between routing broadcasts, in(1,8) min-
utes. The default is 60 minutes.
-v Display the version.
FILES
/proc(5,n)/net/nr_neigh
/proc(5,n)/net/nr_nodes
/etc/ax25(3,4)/axports
/etc/ax25(3,4)/nrbroadcast
SEE ALSO
ax25(3,4)(4), axports(5), nrbroadcast(5), netrom(4), nrparms(8).
AUTHOR
Jonathan Naylor G4KLX <g4klx@g4klx.demon.co.uk>
Linux 20 August 1996 NETROMD(8)