6.32. Iproute2-2.6.8-040823

The Iproute2 package contains programs for basic and advanced IPV4-based networking.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU

Required disk space: .6 MB

Iproute2 installation depends on: GCC, Glibc, Make, Linux-Headers, and Sed

6.32.1. Installation of Iproute2

The arpd binary included in this package is dependent on Berkeley DB. Because arpd is not a very common requirement on a base Linux system, remove the dependency on Berkeley DB by applying the patch using the command below. If the arpd binary is needed, instructions for compiling Berkeley DB can be found in the BLFS Book at http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/content/databases.html#db.

patch -Np1 -i ../iproute2-2.6.8_040823-remove_db-1.patch

Prepare Iproute2 for compilation:

./configure 

Compile the package:

make SBINDIR=/sbin

The meaning of the make option:

SBINDIR=/sbin

This makes sure that the Iproute2 binaries will install into /sbin. This is the correct location according to the FHS, because some of the Iproute2 binaries are used in the bootscripts.

Install the package:

make SBINDIR=/sbin install

6.32.2. Contents of Iproute2

Installed programs: ifstat, ip, nstat, routef, routel, rtmon, rtstat, ss, and tc.

Short Descriptions

ifstat

Shows the interfaces statistic, including the amount of transmitted and received packages by interface.

ip

The main executable. It has several different functions:

ip link [device] allows users to look at the state of devices and to make changes.

ip addr allows users to look at addresses and their properties, add new addresses, and delete old ones.

ip neighbor allows users to look at neighbor bindings and their properties, add new neighbor entries, and delete old ones.

ip rule allows users to look at the routing policies and change them.

ip route allows users to look at the routing table and change routing table rules.

ip tunnel allows users to look at the IP tunnels and their properties, and change them.

ip maddr allows users to look at the multicast addresses and their properties, and change them.

ip mroute allows users to set, change, or delete the multicast routing.

ip monitor allows users to continously monitor the state of devices, addresses and routes.

nstat

Shows network statistics.

routef

A component of ip route. This is for flushing the routing tables.

routel

A component of ip route. This is for listing the routing tables.

rtmon

Route monitoring utility.

rtstat

Route status utility

ss

Similar to the netstat command; shows active connections

tc

Traffic Controlling Executable; this is for Quality Of Service (QOS) and Class Of Service (COS) implementations

tc qdisc allows users to setup the queueing discipline

tc class allows users to setup classes based on the queuing discipline scheduling

tc estimator allows users to estimate the network flow into a network

tc filter allows users to setup the QOS/COS packet filtering

tc policy allows users to setup the QOS/COS policies