NAME
pimd - PIM-SM v2 dynamic multicast routing daemon
SYNOPSIS
pimd [-fhlNqr] [-c FILE] [-d [[LEVEL[,LEVEL,...]]]
DESCRIPTION
pimd is a lightweight stand-alone PIM-SM v2 multicast routing daemon.
This is the original USC (netweb/catarina) implementation of the
protocol, which nowadays is fully free to use under the 3-clause BSD
license.
Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse Mode (PIM-SM):
+o maintains the traditional IP multicast service model of receiver-
initiated membership;
+o uses explicit joins that propagate hop-by-hop from members' directly
connected routers toward the distribution tree.
+o builds a shared multicast distribution tree centered at a Rendezvous
Point, and then builds source-specific trees for those sources whose
data traffic warrants it.
+o is not dependent on a specific unicast routing protocol; and
+o uses soft-state mechanisms to adapt to underlying network conditions
and group dynamics.
The robustness, flexibility, and scaling properties of this architecture
make it well suited to large heterogeneous internetworks.
pimd implements RFC 2362, which has been obsoleted by RFC 4601. Please
see the TODO file for more information on this.
OPTIONS
This program follows the usual UNIX command line syntax, with long
options starting with two dashes (`-'). The options are as follows:
-h, --help
Print a help message and exit.
-c, --config=FILE
Specify an alternative configuration file, instead of the default
/etc/pimd.conf.
-d, --debug[=LEVEL[,LEVEL...]
By default, pimd detaches from the invoking terminal. If this
option is specified, pimd it runs in foreground of the starting
terminal and responds to signals. If -d is given with no
argument, the debug level defaults to igmp, cache, interface,
groups, prunes, routes and peers.
Regardless of the debug level, pimd always writes warning and
error messages to the system log daemon. Debug levels have the
following effects:
packet
Debug inbound/outbout packets
prunes
Pruning operations, or pruned routes
routes
Routing messages
rtdetail
Detailed routing information
peers
Neighbor gossip
cache
Debug routing cache
timeout
Debug timeouts
interface
Show interface, or vif, debug messages
groups
Debug group memberships
mtrace
Multicast traceroute information
igmp Debug IGMP messages
icmp Debug ICMP messages
rsrr Debug RSRR messages
pim All PIM messages
pim_routes
PIM routing messages
pim_bsr
PIM bootstrap router messages
pim_detail
Detailed PIM debug
pim_hello
Debug hello messages to/from neighbors
-f, --foreground
Run in foreground, do not detach from calling terminal
-l, --reload-config
Tell a running pimd to reload its configuration. This is done by
sending a SIGHUP to the PID listed in /var/run/pimd.pid.
-N, --disable-vifs
Disable all virtual interfaces (phyint) by default
-q, --quit-daemon
Tell a running pimd to quit. Similar to --reload-config but this
command sends SIGTERM.
-r, --show-routes
Show state of VIFs and multicast routing tables. This is command
sends SIGUSR1 to a running pimd, similar to --reload-config.
-v, --version
Show pimd version
CONFIGURATION
The configuration is kept in the file /etc/pimd.conf. The file format is
free-form: whitespace (including newlines) is not significant. There are
eight different types of configuration commands:
default_source_preference <preference>
default_source_metric <metric>
phyint <local-addr|ifname> [disable|enable]
[altnet <network> masklen <masklen>]
[scoped <network> masklen <masklen>]
[threshold thr] [preference pref] [metric cost]
cand_rp [<local-addr>] [priority <number>] [time <number>]
cand_bootstrap_router [<local-addr>] [priority <number>]
group_prefix <group-addr> [masklen <masklen>]
switch_data_threshold [rate <number> interval <number>]
switch_register_threshold [rate <number> interval <number>]
By default pimd will be activated on all multicast enabled interfaces.
Use phyint to disable on interfaces where pimd should not be run. See
more on phyint below.
The default_source_preference option is used by assert elections to
determine upstream routers. Currently pimd cannot reliably obtain
preferences and metrics from the unicast routing protocols, so a default
preference may be configured. In an assert election, the router
advertising the lowest assert preference will be selected as the
forwarder and upstream router for the LAN. Setting 101 should be
sufficiently high so that asserts from Cisco or GateD routers are
prefered over poor-little pimd.
It is reccommended that preferences be set such that metrics are never
consulted. However, default metrics may also be set using the
default_source_metric option. This item sets the cost for sending data
through this router. You want only PIM-SM data to go to this daemon; so
once again, a high value is recommended to prevent accidental usage. The
preferred default value is 1024.
The phyint option refers to a physical interface and must come after
default_source_metric. Select the interface either by its IP address
local-addr or interface name ifname (e.g. le0). If you just want to
activate this interface with default values, you don't need to put
anything else on the line. However, there are some additional settings:
+o disable. Do not send PIM-SM traffic through this interface nor
listen for PIM-SM traffic from this interface. Default: enable.
+o preference pref. This interface's value in an election. It will have
the pimd default_source_preference if not assigned.
+o metric cost. The cost of sending data through this interface. It
will have the default_source_metric if not assigned.
Add one phyint line per interface on this router. If you don't do this,
pimd will simply assume that you want it to utilize all interfaces using
default settings.
The cand_rp setting refers to Candidate Rendez-vous Point (CRP). It
specifies which interface on this machine should be included in RP
elections.
+o local-addr. The default is the highest active IP address.
+o time number. The number of seconds to wait between advertising this
CRP. The default value is 60 seconds.
+o priority number. How important this CRP is compared to others. The
lower the value here, the more important the CRP.
The cand_bootstrap_router setting is similar to CRP. Only difference is
the lack of a time option.
The group_prefix statement outlines the set of multicast addresses that
the CRP, if it wins an election, will advertise to other routers.
+o group-addr. A specific multicast group or network range this router
will handle.
+o masklen len. The number of IP address segments taken up by the
netmask. Remember that a multicast address is a Class D and has a
netmask of 240.0.0.0, which means its length is 4.
Max group_prefix multicast addresses supported in pimd is 255.
The switch_data_threshold setting defines the threshold at which
transmission rates trigger the changeover from the shared tree to the RP
tree; starting the line with switch_register_threshold does the opposite
in the same format. Regardless of which of these you choose, the rate
option is for transmission rate in bits per second, interval is the
sample rate in seconds -- with a recommended minimum of five seconds. It
is recommended to have the same interval if both settings are used.
SIGNALS
pimd responds to the following signals:
HUP Restarts pimd. The configuration file is reread every time this
signal is evoked.
TERM Terminates execution gracefully (i.e. by sending good-bye messages
to all neighboring routers).
INT The same as TERM.
USR1 Dumps the internal state of VIFs and multicast routing tables to
/var/tmp/pimd.dump. See also the --show-routes option above.
For convenience in sending signals, pimd writes its process ID to
/var/run/pimd.pid upon startup.
FILES
/etc/pimd.conf
/var/tmp/pimd.dump
/var/run/pimd.pid
SEE ALSO
mrouted(8), smcroute(8), /usr/share/doc/pimd/
PIM-SM is described in, the now obsolete RFC 2362, and the current RFC
4601, with additions in RFC 5059 and RFC 5796.
The pages at USC, http://netweb.usc.edu/pim/, are unfortunately no longer
available. The wiki pages at http://github.com/troglobit/pimd/, the new
GitHub project, are an attempt to gather as much info as possible.
AUTHORS
pimd was written by Ahmed Helmy, George Edmond "Rusty" Eddy, and Pavlin
Ivanov Radoslavov. With contributions by many others.
This manual page was initially written by Antonn Krl for the Debian
GNU/Linux system, and then updated by Joachim Nilsson for the GitHub pimd
project.