.TH BABELD 8 .SH NAME babeld \- ad-hoc network routing daemon .SH SYNOPSIS .B babeld .IR option ... [ .B \-\- ] .IR interface ... .SH DESCRIPTION Babel is a loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol roughly based on DSDV and AODV, but with provisions for link cost estimation and redistribution of routes from other routing protocols. While it is optimised for wireless mesh networks, Babel will also work efficiently on wired networks. .SH OPTIONS .TP .BI \-m " multicast-address" Specify the link-local multicast address to be used by the protocol. The default is .BR ff02:0:0:0:0:0:1:6 . .TP .BI \-p " port" Specify the UDP port number to be used by the protocol. The default is .BR 6696 . .TP .BI \-S " state-file" Set the name of the file used for preserving long-term information between invocations of the .B babeld daemon. If this file is deleted, the daemon will run in passive mode for 3 minutes when it is next started (see .B -P below), and other hosts might initially ignore it. The default is .BR /var/lib/babel-state . .TP .BI \-h " hello-interval" Specify the interval in seconds at which scheduled hello packets are sent on wireless interfaces. The default is 4 seconds. .TP .BI \-H " wired-hello-interval" Specify the interval in seconds at which scheduled hello packets are sent on wired interfaces. The default is 4 seconds. .TP .BI \-z " kind" " \fR[\fB," factor "\fR]" Enable diversity-sensitive routing. The value .B kind defines the diversity algorithm used, and can be one of .B 0 (no diversity), .B 1 (per-interface diversity with no memory), .B 2 (per-channel diversity with no memory), or .B 3 (per-channel diversity with memory). The value .B factor specifies by how much the cost of non-interfering routes is multiplied, in units of 1/256; the default is 128 (i.e. division by 2). .TP .BI \-M " half-time" Specify the half-time in seconds of the exponential decay used for smoothing metrics for performing route selection; the value 0 disables smoothing. The default is 4s. .TP .BI \-k " priority" Specify the priority value used when installing routes into the kernel. The default is 0. .TP .BI \-A " priority" Allow duplicating external routes when their kernel priority is at least .IR priority . Do not use this option unless you know what you are doing, as it can cause persistent route flapping. .TP .B \-l Use IFF_RUNNING (carrier sense) when determining interface availability. .TP .B \-w Don't optimise wired links, assume all interfaces are wireless unless explicitly overridden in the configuration file. .TP .B \-s Do not perform split-horizon processing on wired interfaces. Split-horizon is not performed on wireless interfaces. .TP .B \-r Use a random router-id. The default is to use persistent router-ids derived from the MAC address of the first interface, which is easier to debug and more reliably prevents routing loops but may sometimes cause a node to be unreachable for 120 seconds just after boot. .TP .B \-u Do not flush unfeasible (useless) routes. This is useful in order to announce more information to a front-end (see .BR \-g ). .TP .B \-F Assume forwarding is already set, or not wanted. By not touching net.*.conf.all.forwarding at startup, it is also useful to prevent the kernel from removing a default IPv6 route provided by autoconfiguration. .TP .BI \-d " level" Debug level. A value of 1 requests a routing table dump at every iteration through the daemon's main loop. A value of 2 additionally requests tracing every message sent or received. A value of 3 additionally dumps all interactions with the OS kernel. The default is 0. .TP .BI \-g " port" Listen for connections from a front-end on port .IR port . .TP .BI \-t " table" Use the given kernel routing table for routes inserted by .BR babeld . .TP .BI \-T " table" Export routes from the given kernel routing table. This can be specified multiple times in order to export routes from more than one table. .TP .BI \-c " filename" Specify the name of the configuration file. This flag can be repeated multiple times. The default is .BR /etc/babeld.conf . .TP .BI \-C " statement" Specify a configuration statement directly on the command line. .TP .B \-D Daemonise at startup. .TP .BI \-L " logfile" Specify a file to log random ``how do you do?'' messages to. This defaults to standard error if not daemonising, and to .B /var/log/babeld.log otherwise. .TP .BI \-I " pidfile" Specify a file to write our process id to. The default is .BR /var/run/babeld.pid . .TP .IR interface ... The list of interfaces on which the protocol should operate. .SH CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT The configuration file is a sequence of lines each of which specifies a global option, an interface specification or a filtering rule. Comments are introduced by an octothorp .RB `` # '' and terminate at the end of the line. .SS Global options .TP .BI protocol-group " group" This specifies the link-local multicast address to be used by the protocol, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-m . .TP .BI protocol-port " port" This specifies the UDP port number to be used by the protocol, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-p . .TP .BI kernel-priority " priority" This specifies the priority value used when installing routes into the kernel, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-k . .TP .BI allow-duplicates " priority" This allows duplicating external routes when their kernel priority is at least .IR priority . Do not use this option unless you know what you are doing, as it can cause persistent route flapping. .TP .BR keep-unfeasible " {" true | false } This specifies whether to keep unfeasible (useless) routes, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-u . .TP .BR random-id " {" true | false } This specifies whether to use a random router-id, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-r . .TP .BI debug " level" This specifies the debugging level, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-d . .TP .BI local-port " port" This specifies the TCP port on which .B babeld will listen for connections from a front-end, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-g . .TP .BI export-table " table" This specifies the kernel routing table to use for routes inserted by .BR babeld , and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-t . .TP .BI import-table " table" This specifies a kernel routing table from which routes are redistributed by .BR babeld , and can be specified multiple times with a cumulative effect. This is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-T . .TP .BR link-detect " {" true | false } This specifies whether to use carrier sense for determining interface availability, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-l . .TP .BR diversity " {" true | false | "\fIkind\fB" } This specifies the diversity algorithm to use; .B true is equivalent to .I kind 3. The default is .B false (do not use any diversity algorithm). .TP .BI diversity-factor " factor" This specifies by how much the cost of non-interfering routes should be multiplied, in units of 1/256. The default is 128 (division by 2). .TP .BI smoothing-half-life " seconds" This specifies the half-life in seconds of the exponential decay used for smoothing metrics for performing route selection, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-M . .TP .BR deamonise " {" true | false } This specifies whether to daemonize at startup, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-D . .TP .BI state-file " filename" This specifies the name of the file used for preserving long-term information between invocations of the .B babeld daemon, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-S . .TP .BI log-file " filename" This specifies the name of the file used to log random messages to, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-L . .TP .BI pid-file " filename" This specifies the name of the file to which .B babeld writes out its process id, and is equivalent to the command-line option .BR \-I . .SS Interface configuration An interface is configured by a line with the following format: .IP .B interface .I name .RI [ parameter ...] .PP where .I name is the name of the interface (something like .BR eth0 ). The default value of an interface parameter can be specified changed by a line of the form .IP .B default .RI [ parameter ...] .PP Each .I parameter can be one of: .TP .BR wired " {" true | false | auto } This specifies whether to enable optimisations specific to wired interfaces. By default, this is determined automatically unless the .B \-w command-line flag was specified. .TP .BR link\-quality " {" true | false | auto } This specifies whether link quality estimation should be performed on this interface. The default is to perform link quality estimation on wireless interfaces but not on wired interfaces. .TP .BR split\-horizon " {" true | false | auto } This specifies whether to perform split-horizon processing on this interface. The default is to never perform split-horizon processing on wireless interfaces; on wired interfaces, the default depends on the .B \-s flag. .TP .BI rxcost " cost" This defines the cost of receiving frames on the given interface under ideal conditions (no packet loss); how this relates to the actual cost used for computing metrics of routes going through this interface depends on whether link quality estimation is being done. The default is 96 for wired interfaces, and 256 for wireless ones. .TP .BI channel " channel" Sets the channel for this interface. The value .I channel can be either an integer, or one of the strings .B interfering or .BR noninterfering . The default is to autodetect the channel number for wireless interfaces, and .B noninterfering for wired interfaces. .TP .BR faraway " {" true | false } This specifies whether the network is "far away", in the sense that networks behind it don't interfere with networks in front of it. By default, networks are not far away. .TP .BI hello\-interval " interval" This defines the interval between hello packets sent on this interface. The default is specified with the .B \-h and .B \-H command-line flags. .TP .BI update\-interval " interval" This defines the interval between full routing table dumps sent on this interface; since Babel uses triggered updates and doesn't count to infinity, this can be set to a fairly large value, unless significant packet loss is expected. The default is four times the hello interval. .TP .BR enable\-timestamps " {" true | false } Enable sending timestamps with each Hello and IHU message in order to compute RTT values. The default is .B true if .B max\-rtt\-penalty is non-zero (see below), and .B false otherwise. .TP .BI rtt\-decay " decay" This specifies the decay factor for the exponential moving average of RTT samples, in units of 1/256. Must be between 1 and 256, inclusive. Higher values discard old samples faster. The default is .BR 42 . .TP .BI rtt\-min " rtt" This specifies the minimum RTT, in milliseconds, starting from which we increase the cost to a neighbour. The additional cost is linear in (rtt - .BR rtt\-min ). The default is .B 10 ms. .TP .BI rtt\-max " rtt" This specifies the maximum RTT, in milliseconds, above which we don't increase the cost to a neighbour. The default is .B 120 ms. .TP .BI max\-rtt\-penalty " cost" This specifies the maximum cost added to a neighbour because of RTT, i.e. when the RTT is higher or equal than .BR rtt\-max . The default is .BR 0 , which effectively disables the use of a RTT-based cost. .SS Filtering rules A filtering rule is defined by a single line with the following format: .IP .I filter .IR selector ... .I action .PP .I Filter specifies the filter to which this entry will be added, and can be one of .BR in , .BR out , or .BR redistribute . Each .I selector specifies the conditions under which the given statement matches. It can be one of .TP .BI ip " prefix" This entry only applies to routes in the given prefix. .TP .BI eq " plen" This entry only applies to routes with a prefix length equal to .BR plen . .TP .BI le " plen" This entry only applies to routes with a prefix length less or equal to .BR plen . .TP .BI ge " plen" This entry only applies to routes with a prefix length greater or equal to .BR plen . .TP .BI neigh " address" This entry only applies to routes learned from a neighbour with link-local address .IR address . .TP .BI id " id" This entry only applies to routes originated by a router with router-id .IR id . .TP .BI proto " p" This entry only applies to kernel routes with kernel protocol number .IR p . If neither .B proto nor .B local is specified, this entry applies to all non-local kernel routes with a protocol different from "boot". .TP .B local This entry only applies to local addresses. .TP .BI if " interface" For an input filter, this specifies the interface over which the route is learned. For an output filter, this specifies the interface over which this route is advertised. For a redistribute statement, this specifies the interface over which the route forwards packets. .PP .I Action specifies the action to be taken when this entry matches. It can have one of the following values: .TP .B allow Allow this route, without changing its metric (or setting its metric to 0 in case of a redistribute filter). .TP .B deny Ignore this route. .TP .BI metric " value" For an input or output filter, allow this route after increasing its metric by .IR value . For a redistribute filter, redistribute this route with metric .IR value . .PP If .I action is not specified, it defaults to .BR allow . By default, .B babeld redistributes all local addresses, and no other routes. In order to make sure that only the routes you specify are redistributed, you should include the line .IP redistribute local deny .PP as the last line in your configuration file. .SH EXAMPLES You can participate in a Babel network by simply running .IP # babeld wlan0 .PP where .B wlan0 is the name of your wireless interface. In order to gateway between multiple interfaces, just list them all on the command line: .IP # babeld wlan0 eth0 sit1 .PP On an access point, you'll probably want to redistribute some external routes into Babel: .IP # babeld \\ \-C 'redistribute metric 256' \\ wlan0 .PP or, if you want to constrain the routes that you redistribute, .IP # babeld \\ \-C 'redistribute proto 11 ip ::/0 le 64 metric 256' \\ \-C 'redistribute proto 11 ip 0.0.0.0/0 le 24 metric 256' \\ wlan0 .SH FILES .TP .B /etc/babeld.conf The default location of the configuration file. .TP .B /var/lib/babel\-state The default location of the file storing long-term state. .TP .B /var/run/babeld.pid The default location of the pid file. .TP .B /var/log/babeld.log The default location of the log file. .SH SIGNALS .TP .B SIGUSR1 Dump Babel's routing tables to standard output or to the log file. .TP .B SIGUSR2 Check interfaces and kernel routes right now, then reopen the log file. .SH SECURITY Babel is a completely insecure protocol: any attacker able to inject IP packets with a link-local source address can disrupt the protocol's operation. This is no different from unsecured neighbour discovery or ARP. Since Babel uses link-local IPv6 packets only, there is no need to update firewalls to allow forwarding of Babel protocol packets. If local filtering is being done, UDP datagrams to the port used by the protocol should be allowed. As Babel uses unicast packets in some cases, it is not enough to just allow packets destined to Babel's multicast address. .SH BUGS Plenty. This is experimental software, run at your own risk. .SH SEE ALSO .BR routed (8), .BR route6d (8), .BR zebra (8), .BR ahcpd (8). .SH AUTHOR Juliusz Chroboczek.