LDP/LDP/guide/docbook/linux-ip/tools-misc.xml

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<!-- $Id$ -->
<appendix id="tools-misc">
<title>Miscellany</title>
<para>
This appendix is a collection of odds and ends which didn't fit anyplace
else. So, consider it a grab-bag of toys, tips, and remarks. Here,
you'll find a brief look at some
<link linkend="tools-ipcalc">IP calculators</link> and some
<link linkend="tools-iproute2-remarks">general remarks about iproute2
tools</link>.
</para>
<section id="tools-ipcalc">
<title><command>ipcalc</command> and other IP addressing calculators</title>
<para>
There are a number of different utilities called ipcalc, almost all of
which perform the same basic task. These are handy calculators for
converting from CIDR to traditional IP notation and determining network
and broadcast addresses.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
A short
<ulink url="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/ipcalc.html">perl
script</ulink>, this prints out alll the information you would
want to know about an IP address. It defaults to print colorized
output, and comes with its own CGI (shown running
<ulink url="http://jodies.de/ipcalc">here</ulink>).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
For those who perform all operations and research through a web
browser, a
<ulink url="http://www.hesketh.com/~schampeo/projects/ipcalc/">DHTML
calculator</ulink> should do the trick.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
And here's another
<ulink url="http://www.telusplanet.net/public/sparkman/netcalc.htm">IP
calculator</ulink>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
You can run this
<ulink url="http://www.ajw.com/ipcalc.htm">ipcalc</ulink>,
which features hexadecimal as well as decimal output, on your PDA.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
RedHat has created their own <command>ipcalc</command> utility
which prints out a shell variable assignment command instead of
simply the requested piece of information. In the startup
scripts, RedHat evals this variable assignement into existence.
Despite this shortcoming, it is a useful tool and is documented
in its manpage (part of the initscripts RPM).
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Doubtless, there are a large number of other IP calculators available
to ease the job of the network administrator. The above tools are
meant as a brief summary of some of the offerings.
</para>
<!--
# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #
# #
# ip network aggregation tool #
# #
# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #
#
# simply put, this tool aggregates the IP networks on STDIN and
# prints the result
#
http://www.vergenet.net/linux/aggregate/
-->
</section>
<section id="tools-iproute2-remarks">
<title>Some general remarks about &iproute2; tools</title>
<para>
This is a meant to be a collected set of thoughts which don't fit
anyplace else about the &iproute2; tools. If you are
reading this in search of more details about the
&iproute2; tools, you should run (not walk) to your
nearest command line, and execute the following command:
<userinput>bash -c ' gv $( locate ip-cref.ps ) '</userinput>.
</para>
<para>
In any case, I suggest that the reader consult the
documentation which comes with the &iproute2;
package for canonical answers.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
The &iproute2; suite exposes all of the
networking functionality of the linux kernel where the venerable
tools
(<link linkend="tools-ifconfig"><command>ifconfig</command></link>,
<link linkend="tools-route"><command>route</command></link>) are
hamstrung by history.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Each of the &iproute2; object names can be
shortened to the shortest unique set of characters. This means
that <command>ip route show</command> can be abbreviated
<command>ip ro s</command> and <command>ip rule show</command> can
be abbreviated <command>ip ru s</command>. Also <command>ip
address show</command> can be <command>ip a s</command>. Such
convenient shortcuts on the command line are often confusing in
documentation. For this reason, I have preferred examples
featuring the complete object names and action verbs. Note also
below that &iproute2; accepts not only
abbreviations but also synonyms as described in
<xref linkend="tb-tools-iproute2-remarks"/>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
There are some syntactic synonyms available within the
&iproute2; package. See this
<xref linkend="tb-tools-iproute2-remarks"/> for a complete list
of synonyms.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Because the &iproute2; command suite is under
development, there may be slight differences between the output
described in this documentation and that of your release of
&iproute2;. I have tried to focus on the
overwhelmingly common uses of the &iproute2;
tools rather than the ones which are under active development, and
are subject to syntactic changes or new output presentations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
There are extensions to the &iproute2; command
suite, which can alter the sets of objects or syntax
available for manipulation and inspection. Where these are
covered in detail in this documentation, they will be relegated to
a non-canonical ghetto. Examples will (someday) include
<ulink url="http://www.ssi.bg/~ja/#iparp"><command>ip
arp</command></ulink> and <command>tc</command> extensions.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
</para>
<para>
There are some common synonyms in &iproute2; syntax.
Outlined below in <xref linkend="tb-tools-iproute2-remarks"/> is a list
of the common synonyms. Note, that these synonyms are available in
addition to the abbreviations indicated above.
</para>
<table id="tb-tools-iproute2-remarks">
<title>&iproute2; Synonyms</title>
<tgroup cols="2" align="center" colsep="1" rowsep="1">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Command Variant</entry>
<entry>Synonyms</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry><command>ip neighbor</command></entry>
<entry><command>ip neighbour</command></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><command>ip tunnel</command></entry>
<entry><command>ip tunl</command></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><command>ip OBJECT show</command></entry>
<entry><command>ip OBJECT ls</command>,
<command>ip OBJECT list</command></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><command>ip OBJECT change</command></entry>
<entry><command>ip OBJECT chg</command>,
<command>ip OBJECT replace</command></entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
Because the &iproute2; suite of tools is so tightly
integrated with linux, it is not available for other operating
systems. This is at once its strength and weakness. For users
contemplating linux for the first time, <command>ifconfig</command>,
<command>netstat</command>, and <command>route</command> are familiar
and they feel intuitive. More experienced users and control freaks
will find the &iproute2; tools attractive and perhaps
indispensable.
</para>
</section>
<section id="tools-sysctl-intro">
<title>Brief introduction to <command>sysctl</command></title>
<para>
Many behaviours of the linux kernel can be modified through the use of
run time variables. These variables can be changed manually or with
the use of a convenient command line utility. Most linux
distributions also include a standard configuration file which can
store these parameters for use at boot time.
</para>
<para>
For a deeper reference into the matter and use of
<command>sysctl</command> see
<ulink url="http://ipsysctl-tutorial.frozentux.net/">the IP Sysctl
tutorial</ulink>, maintained by Oskar Andreasson.
</para>
<para>
</para>
<para>
</para>
</section>
</appendix>