In the most simple configuration, the only required parameter are the interfaces names that should be used for meshing. The following example starts bmx7 on interface wlan0:
root@mlc1001:~# bmx7 dev=eth1
However, to let this simple command work as expected also check the following basic requirements:
-
bmx7must be executed in root context (with super user permissions). If you are not already root, prepend all commands with sudo (eg:sudo bmx7 dev=eth1). -
No IP address needs to be configured. By default bmx7 assumes IPv6 and autoconfigures a ULA-based IPv6 address for each interface based on the MAC address of the device. The only pre-requisite is that the interfaces must be in the
upstate, E.G.:ip link set wlan0 up.If you are using a wireless interface, the interface settings must have been configured using
iwconfigoriwto communicate with bmx7 daemons running on other nodes. This is a typical configuration for a wireless mesh setup:iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc ap 02:ca:ff:ee:ba:be channel 11 essid my-mesh-network -
Bmx7 (by default) works in daemon mode, thus sends itself to background and gives back a prompt. To let it run in foreground specify a debug level with the startup command like:
bmx7 debug=0 dev=eth1Of course, you may need to kill a previously started bmx7 daemon beforehand (killall bmx7)
If everything went fine bmx7 is running now, searches for neighboring bmx7 daemons via the configured interface (link), and coordinates with them to learn about existence-of and routes-to all other bmx7 nodes in the network.
To access debug and status information of a running bmx7 daemon, a
second bmx7 process can be launched in client mode (with the
--connect or -c parameter) to connect to the main bmx7 daemon and
retrieve the desired information.
In the following, a few example will be discussed. Continuous debug levels with different verbosity and scope are accessible with the --debug or -d parameter.
- Debug level 0 only reports critical events
- Debug level 3 reports relevant changes and
- Debug level 4 reports everything.
- Debug level 12 dump in and outgoing protocol traffic
For example, bmx7 -cd3 runs a bmx7 client process at debug level 3,
connected to the main daemon and logs the output to stdout until
terminated with ctrl-c.
Status, network, and statistic information are also accessible via their own parameters:
parametersstatusinterfaceslinksoriginatorsdescriptions, plus optional sub-parameters for filteringtunnels(only with bmx7_tun.so plugin)traffic=DEVwhere DEV:=all,eth1, etc.
root@mlc1001:~# bmx7 -c show=status
STATUS:
shortId name nodeKey cv revision primaryIp tun6Address tun4Address uptime cpu txQ nbs rts nodes
01662D16 mlc1001 RSA2048 21 0abee1e fd70:166:2d16:1ff6:253f:d0bc:1558:d89a 2013:0:0:1001::1/64 10.20.1.1/24 0:00:11:43 0.1 4/50 2 9 10/10
As can be seen, the status reveals:
- shortId: the short form of the node's Global ID
- name: the hostname of the node
- nodeKey: the key type and strength of its public RSA key
- cv: compatibility version
- revision: the git revision of the used source code
- primaryIP: its primary cryptographically generated IPv6 address
- uptime: the time since when it is running
- cpu: its current cpu consumption (0.1%)
- nbs: the number of neighbors perceived by this node
- rts: the number of routes to other nodes
- nodes: the total number of known and fully resolved nodes (including itself)
These desired types can be combined. Also the above given example shows kind of shortcut.
The long argument would be:
bmx7 connect show=status. A more informative case using the long form would be:
root@mlc1001:~# bmx7 -c parameters show=status show=interfaces show=links show=originators show=tunnels
PARAMETERS:
plugin bmx7_config.so (0)
plugin bmx7_sms.so (0)
plugin bmx7_tun.so (0)
plugin bmx7_topology.so (0)
plugin bmx7_table.so (0)
dev eth1 (0)
dev eth2 (0)
unicastHna 2013:0:0:1001::/64 (0)
tunDev default (0)
/tun4Address 10.20.1.1/24 (0)
/tun6Address 2013:0:0:1001::1/64 (0)
tunOut ip6 (0)
/network 2013::/16 (0)
tunOut ip4 (0)
/network 10.20.0.0/16 (0)
STATUS:
shortId name nodeKey cv revision primaryIp tun6Address tun4Address uptime cpu txQ nbs rts nodes
01662D16 mlc1001 RSA2048 21 e2bd709 fd70:166:2d16:1ff6:253f:d0bc:1558:d89a 2013:0:0:1001::1/64 10.20.1.1/24 0:00:03:34 0.2 0/50 2 9 10/10
INTERFACES:
dev state linkKey linkKeys type channel rateMax idx localIp rts helloSqn rxBpP txBpP
eth1 UP DH2048M112 RSA896,DH2048M112 ethernet 0 1000M 1 fe80::a2cd:efff:fe10:101/64 9 39457 382/2.6 217/1.3
eth2 UP DH2048M112 RSA896,DH2048M112 ethernet 0 1000M 2 fe80::a2cd:efff:fe10:102/64 0 9120 0/0.0 136/1.3
LINKS:
shortId name linkKey linkKeys nbLocalIp dev rts rq tq rxRate txRate wTxRate mcs sgi chw wSnr
2ECE1A4E mlc1000 DH2048M112 RSA896,DH2048M112 fe80::a2cd:efff:fe10:1 eth1 1 100 100 1000M 1000M -1 0 0 20 0
AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 DH2048M112 RSA896,DH2048M112 fe80::a2cd:efff:fe10:201 eth1 8 100 100 1000M 1000M -1 0 0 20 0
ORIGINATORS:
shortId name as S s T t descSqn lastDesc descSize cv revision primaryIp dev nbShortId nbName metric hops ogmSqn lastRef
2ECE1A4E mlc1000 nA A A A A 612 212 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:2ece:1a4e:fa8e:fb9d:3b70:33e3:da00 eth1 2ECE1A4E mlc1000 999M 1 36 0
01662D16 mlc1001 nQ A A A A 612 213 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:166:2d16:1ff6:253f:d0bc:1558:d89a --- --- --- 257G 0 36 0
AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 nA A A A A 612 212 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:aad9:c0f5:8c20:a082:a462:a859:210d eth1 AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 999M 1 36 0
DD57B855 mlc1003 pA A A A A 612 203 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:dd57:b855:3cdf:b057:10cc:2a93:c19 eth1 AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 706M 2 36 1
369C6293 mlc1004 pA A A A A 612 200 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:369c:6293:4199:c156:3bb8:2c6a:e3aa eth1 AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 576M 3 36 1
0BE5272C mlc1005 pA A A A A 612 200 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:be5:272c:703e:822a:e0c5:5d6c:587d eth1 AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 495M 4 36 1
DDC8E9EF mlc1006 pA A A A A 612 193 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:ddc8:e9ef:4ff0:385e:b034:6fd0:b5f eth1 AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 443M 5 36 0
6F59035D mlc1007 pA A A A A 612 188 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:6f59:35d:ae9b:1d55:3066:b3f9:74c7 eth1 AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 403M 6 36 0
BF335A96 mlc1008 pA A A A A 612 178 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:bf33:5a96:889d:eedd:767b:6ca9:42fb eth1 AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 373M 7 36 0
1191C909 mlc1009 pA A A A A 612 184 733+784 21 e2bd709 fd70:1191:c909:1e4e:4c9c:4d4a:33eb:b09b eth1 AAD9C0F5 mlc1002 349M 8 35 6
Only if relevant information exists for a requested type is available is will be shown. In this example no tunnels are configured locally nor are any tunnels offered by other nodes, so no tunnel information is shown.
The loop argument can be prepended to the connect argument to
continuously show the requested information. Many of the long
arguments are available via a short notation, like l for loop, c
for connect, s for show, d for debug. And there is another
shortcut summarizing my current favorite information types via debug
level 8 The following commands do the same as above: bmx7 -lc status interfaces links originators tunnels or simply bmx7 -lcd8.
Description of selected section columns:
PARAMETERS section:
This section shows all configured parameters. The value in braces indicates the default value for the given parameter or 0 if no default value exists.
INTERFACES section:
- dev: Interface name
- state and type: Whether the interface is UP or DOWN and its assumed link-layer type.
- rateMax: assumed maximum transmit rates for this interface.
- llocalIp: IPv6 link-local address (used as source address for all outgoing protocol data).
- rts: nuber of routes to other nodes via this interface
- rxBpP: received protocol data in Bytes per Packet per second via this interface
- txBpP: transmitted protocol data in Bytes per Packet per second via this interface
LINKS section:
- shortId and name of link neighbor
- linkKey and linkKeys show currently active and supported signature schemes for link verification
- nbLocalIp: Neighbors IPv6 link-local address
- dev: Interface via which this link is detected
- rts: Nuber of active routes to other nodes via this link
- rq: Measured receive rate in percent for the link.
- tq: Measured transmit rate in percent for the link.
- rxRate: Calculated receive rate in bps for the link.
- txRate: Calculated transmit rate in bps for the link.
- ...: More wireless channel statistics (if available)
ORIGINATORS section:
- shortId and name of node (originator)
- lastDesc: Seconds since the last description update was received
- primaryIp: The primary IP of that node.
- viaDev: Outgoing interface of the best route towards this node.
- metric: Calculated end to end path metric to this node
- lastRef: Seconds since this node was referenced by any neighboring node
Quick summary of provided info:
- Node mlc1001 uses two wired interface (eth1 and eth2) which is up and actively used for meshing.
- Node mlc1001 got aware of 2 neighbors and 10 nodes (originators) including itself.
- The link qualities (rx and tx rate) to its neighbors are perfect (100%)
- Routes to nodes mlc1000 and mlc1002 are via interface eth1 and directly to the neighbor's link-local address with a metric of 999M (nearly maximum tx/rx rate of the configured interface)
- Route to node mlc1003 is setup via interface eth1 and via the link-local address of neighbor mlc1002 (at least two hops to the destination node).
The following links of the total network topology can be guessed from this information (further links may exist):
mlc1000 --- mlc1001 --- mlc1002 --- mlc1003 --- ... --- mlc1009
This could be verified using traceroute6 towards the primary IP of the other nodes.
To mlc1000's primary IP fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:1 shows one hop:
root@mlc1001:~# traceroute6 -n -q 1 fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:1
traceroute to fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:1 (fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:1), 30 hops max, 80 byte packets
1 fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:1 0.324 ms
To mlc1002's primary IP fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:201 shows one hop:
root@mlc1001:~# traceroute6 -n -q 1 fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:201
traceroute to fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:201 (fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:201), 30 hops max, 80 byte packets
1 fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:201 0.302 ms
To mlc1003's primary IP fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:301 shows two hops:
root@mlc1001:~# traceroute6 -n -q 1 fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:301
traceroute to fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:301 (fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:301), 30 hops max, 80 byte packets
1 fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:201 0.313 ms
2 fd66:66:66:0:a2cd:efff:fe10:301 0.429 ms
``