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ROUTE(4)		    Kernel Interfaces Manual		      ROUTE(4)

NAME
       route --	kernel packet forwarding database

SYNOPSIS
       #include	<sys/socket.h>
       #include	<net/if.h>
       #include	<net/route.h>

       int
       socket(PF_ROUTE,	SOCK_RAW, int family);

DESCRIPTION
       Unix  provides  some packet routing facilities.	The kernel maintains a
       routing information database, which is used in selecting	the  appropri-
       ate network interface when transmitting packets.

       A  user process (or possibly multiple co-operating processes) maintains
       this database by	sending	messages over a	special	kind of	socket.	  This
       supplants  fixed	size ioctl(2)'s	used in	earlier	releases.  Routing ta-
       ble changes may only be carried out by the super	user.

       The operating system may	spontaneously emit  routing  messages  in  re-
       sponse to external events, such as receipt of a redirect, or failure to
       locate a	suitable route for a request.  The message types are described
       in greater detail below.

       Routing	database  entries come in two flavors: for a specific host, or
       for all hosts on	a generic subnetwork (as specified by a	bit  mask  and
       value  under  the mask.	The effect of wildcard or default route	may be
       achieved	by using a mask	of all zeros, and there	 may  be  hierarchical
       routes.

       When the	system is booted and addresses are assigned to the network in-
       terfaces,  each protocol	family installs	a routing table	entry for each
       interface when it is ready for traffic.	Normally the  protocol	speci-
       fies  the  route	through	each interface as a "direct" connection	to the
       destination host	or network.  If	the route  is  direct,	the  transport
       layer  of  a protocol family usually requests the packet	be sent	to the
       same host specified in the packet.  Otherwise,  the  interface  is  re-
       quested	to address the packet to the gateway listed in the routing en-
       try (i.e. the packet is forwarded).

       When routing a packet, the kernel will attempt to find  the  most  spe-
       cific route matching the	destination.  (If there	are two	different mask
       and value-under-the-mask	pairs that match, the more specific is the one
       with  more  bits	 in  the mask.	A route	to a host is regarded as being
       supplied	with a mask of as many ones as there are bits in the  destina-
       tion).	If  no	entry  is found, the destination is declared to	be un-
       reachable, and a	routing-miss message is	generated  if  there  are  any
       listeners on the	routing	control	socket described below.

       A  wildcard  routing entry is specified with a zero destination address
       value, and a mask of all	zeroes.	 Wildcard routes will be used when the
       system fails to find other routes matching the destination.  The	combi-
       nation of wildcard routes and routing redirects can provide an economi-
       cal mechanism for routing traffic.

       One opens the channel for passing routing control messages by using the
       socket call shown in the	synopsis above:

       The family parameter may	be AF_UNSPEC which will	provide	routing	infor-
       mation for all address families,	or can be restricted to	a specific ad-
       dress family by specifying which	one is desired.	  There	 can  be  more
       than one	routing	socket open per	system.

       Messages	are formed by a	header followed	by a small number of sockaddrs
       (now  variable length particularly in the ISO case), interpreted	by po-
       sition, and delimited by	the new	length entry in	the sockaddr.  An  ex-
       ample of	a message with four addresses might be an ISO redirect:	Desti-
       nation,	Netmask, Gateway, and Author of	the redirect.  The interpreta-
       tion of which address are present is given by a	bit  mask  within  the
       header,	and  the sequence is least significant to most significant bit
       within the vector.

       Any messages sent to the	kernel are returned, and copies	 are  sent  to
       all  interested	listeners.   The  exception  to	 this is a new address
       marked as tentative, where copies will be sent once  Duplicate  Address
       Detection  has  completed  and the tentative flag cleared or the	dupli-
       cated flag set.	Also, new address messages will	also be	 emitted  when
       other flags on the address change such as deprecated and	detached.  The
       kernel  will  provide the process ID for	the sender, and	the sender may
       use an additional sequence field	 to  distinguish  between  outstanding
       messages.  However, message replies may be lost when kernel buffers are
       exhausted.

       The kernel may reject certain messages, and will	indicate this by fill-
       ing  in	the  rtm_errno	field.	The routing code returns EEXIST	if re-
       quested to duplicate an existing	entry, ESRCH if	requested to delete  a
       non-existent entry, or ENOBUFS if insufficient resources	were available
       to  install  a  new  route.  In the current implementation, all routing
       processes run locally, and  the	values	for  rtm_errno	are  available
       through	the  normal errno mechanism, even if the routing reply message
       is lost.

       A process may avoid the expense of reading replies to its own  messages
       by  issuing a setsockopt(2) call	indicating that	the SO_USELOOPBACK op-
       tion at the SOL_SOCKET level is to be turned off.  A process may	ignore
       all messages from the routing socket by doing a shutdown(2) system call
       for further input.

       A process can specify which route message types it's interested	in  by
       passing	an array of route message types	to the setsockopt(2) call with
       the RO_MSGFILTER	option at the PF_ROUTE level.  For  example,  to  only
       get specific messages:

	     unsigned char rtfilter[] =	{ RTM_IFINFO, RTM_IFANNOUNCE };

	     if	(setsockopt(routefd, PF_ROUTE, RO_MSGFILTER,
		 &rtfilter, (socklen_t)sizeof(rtfilter)) == -1)
		     err(1, "setsockopt(RO_MSGFILTER)");

       A  process can specify which RTM_MISS destination addresses it's	inter-
       ested in	by passing an array of struct sockaddr	to  the	 setsockopt(2)
       call with the RO_MISSFILTER option at the PF_ROUTE level.  For example,
       to only get RTM_MISS messages for specific destinations:

	     char buf[1024] = {	'\0' },	*cp = buf;
	     struct sockaddr_in	sin = {
		     .sin_family = AF_INET,
		     .sin_len =	sizeof(sin),
	     };

	     inet_aton("192.168.0.1", &sin.sin_addr);
	     memcpy(cp,	&sin, sin.sin_len);
	     cp	+= RT_ROUNDUP(sin.sin_len);

	     inet_aton("192.168.0.2", &sin.sin_addr);
	     memcpy(cp,	&sin, sin.sin_len);
	     cp	+= RT_ROUNDUP(sin.sin_len);

	     if	(setsockopt(routefd, PF_ROUTE, RO_MISSFILTER,
		 &sin, (socklen_t)(cp -	buf)) == -1)
		     err(1, "setsockopt(RO_MISSFILTER)");

       If  a  route  is	 in  use when it is deleted, the routing entry will be
       marked down and removed from the	routing	table, but the resources asso-
       ciated with it will not be reclaimed until all references to it are re-
       leased.	User processes can obtain information about the	routing	 entry
       to a specific destination by using a RTM_GET message, or	by reading the
       /dev/kmem device, or by calling sysctl(3).

       The messages are:

       #define RTM_ADD	       0x1    /* Add Route */
       #define RTM_DELETE      0x2    /* Delete	Route */
       #define RTM_CHANGE      0x3    /* Change	Metrics, Flags,	or Gateway */
       #define RTM_GET	       0x4    /* Report	Information */
       #define RTM_LOSING      0x5    /* Kernel	Suspects Partitioning */
       #define RTM_REDIRECT    0x6    /* Told to use different route */
       #define RTM_MISS	       0x7    /* Lookup	failed on this address */
       #define RTM_LOCK	       0x8     /* fix specified	metrics	*/
       #define RTM_OLDADD      0x9     /* caused by SIOCADDRT */
       #define RTM_OLDDEL      0xa     /* caused by SIOCDELRT */
       #define RTM_ONEWADDR    0xc    /* Old (pre-8.0) RTM_NEWADDR message */
       // #define RTM_RESOLVE  0xb     /* req to resolve dst to	LL addr	*/
       #define RTM_ODELADDR    0xd    /* Old (pre-8.0) RTM_DELADDR message */
       #define RTM_OOIFINFO    0xe    /* Old (pre-1.5) RTM_IFINFO message */
       #define RTM_OIFINFO     0xf    /* Old (pre-6.0) RTM_IFINFO message */
       #define RTM_IFANNOUNCE  0x10   /* iface arrival/departure */
       #define RTM_IEEE80211   0x11    /* IEEE80211 wireless event */
       #define RTM_SETGATE     0x12    /* set prototype	gateway	for clones
					* (see example in arp_rtrequest).
					*/
       #define RTM_LLINFO_UPD  0x13    /* indication to	ARP/NDP/etc. that link-layer
					* address has changed
					*/
       #define RTM_IFINFO      0x14   /* iface/link going up/down etc. */
       #define RTM_OCHGADDR    0x15   /* Old (pre-8.0) RTM_CHGADDR message */
       #define RTM_NEWADDR     0x16   /* address being added to	iface */
       #define RTM_DELADDR     0x17   /* address being removed from iface */
       #define RTM_CHGADDR     0x18   /* address properties changed */

       A message header	consists of one	of the following:

       struct rt_msghdr	{
	   u_short rtm_msglen;	      /* to skip over non-understood messages */
	   u_char  rtm_version;	      /* future	binary compatibility */
	   u_char  rtm_type;	      /* message type */
	   u_short rtm_index;	      /* index for associated ifp */
	   int	   rtm_flags;	      /* flags,	incl kern & message, e.g. DONE */
	   int	   rtm_addrs;	      /* bitmask identifying sockaddrs in msg */
	   pid_t   rtm_pid;	      /* identify sender */
	   int	   rtm_seq;	      /* for sender to identify	action */
	   int	   rtm_errno;	      /* why failed */
	   int	   rtm_use;	      /* from rtentry */
	   u_long  rtm_inits;	      /* which metrics we are initializing */
	   struct  rt_metrics rtm_rmx; /* metrics themselves */
       };

       struct if_msghdr	{
	   u_short ifm_msglen;	      /* to skip over non-understood messages */
	   u_char  ifm_version;	      /* future	binary compatibility */
	   u_char  ifm_type;	      /* message type */
	   int	   ifm_addrs;	      /* like rtm_addrs	*/
	   int	   ifm_flags;	      /* value of if_flags */
	   u_short ifm_index;	      /* index for associated ifp */
	   struct  if_data ifm_data;  /* statistics and	other data about if */
       };

       struct ifa_msghdr {
	   u_short ifam_msglen;	      /* to skip over non-understood messages */
	   u_char  ifam_version;      /* future	binary compatibility */
	   u_char  ifam_type;	      /* message type */
	   u_short ifam_index;	      /* index for associated ifp */
	   int	   ifam_flags;	      /* value of ifa_flags */
	   int	   ifam_addrs;	      /* like rtm_addrs	*/
	   pid_t   ifam_pid;	      /* identify sender */
	   int	   ifam_addrflags;    /* family	specific address flags */
	   int	   ifam_metric;	      /* value of ifa_metric */
       };

       struct if_announcemsghdr	{
	   u_short ifan_msglen;	      /* to skip over non-understood messages */
	   u_char  ifan_version;      /* future	binary compatibility */
	   u_char  ifan_type;	      /* message type */
	   u_short ifan_index;	      /* index for associated ifp */
	   char	   ifan_name[IFNAMSIZ];	/* if name, e.g. "en0" */
	   u_short ifan_what;	      /* what type of announcement */
       };

       The  RTM_IFINFO	message	 uses  a  if_msghdr  header,  the RTM_NEWADDR,
       RTM_CHGADDR, and	RTM_DELADDR messages  use  a  ifa_msghdr  header,  the
       RTM_IFANNOUNCE  message	uses a if_announcemsghdr header, and all other
       messages	use the	rt_msghdr header.

       The metrics structure is:

       struct rt_metrics {
	   u_long rmx_locks;	      /* Kernel	must leave these values	alone */
	   u_long rmx_mtu;	      /* MTU for this path */
	   u_long rmx_hopcount;	      /* max hops expected */
	   u_long rmx_expire;	      /* lifetime for route, e.g. redirect */
	   u_long rmx_recvpipe;	      /* inbound delay-bandwidth product */
	   u_long rmx_sendpipe;	      /* outbound delay-bandwidth product */
	   u_long rmx_ssthresh;	      /* outbound gateway buffer limit */
	   u_long rmx_rtt;	      /* estimated round trip time */
	   u_long rmx_rttvar;	      /* estimated rtt variance	*/
	   u_long rmx_pksent;	      /* packets sent using this route */
       };

       Flags include the values:

       #define RTF_UP	     0x1       /* route	usable */
       #define RTF_GATEWAY   0x2       /* destination is a gateway */
       #define RTF_HOST	     0x4       /* host entry (net otherwise) */
       #define RTF_REJECT    0x8       /* host or net unreachable */
       #define RTF_DYNAMIC   0x10      /* created dynamically (by redirect) */
       #define RTF_MODIFIED  0x20      /* modified dynamically (by redirect) */
       #define RTF_DONE	     0x40      /* message confirmed */
       #define RTF_MASK	     0x80      /* subnet mask present */
       #define RTF_CONNECTED 0x100     /* hosts	on this	route are neighbours */
       #define RTF_LLDATA    0x400     /* used by apps to add/del L2 entries */
       #define RTF_STATIC    0x800     /* manually added */
       #define RTF_BLACKHOLE 0x1000    /* just discard pkts (during updates) */
       #define RTF_PROTO2    0x4000    /* protocol specific routing flag */
       #define RTF_PROTO1    0x8000    /* protocol specific routing flag */
       #define RTF_SRC	     0x10000   /* route	has fixed source address */
       #define RTF_ANNOUNCE  0x20000   /* announce new ARP or NDP entry	*/
       #define RTF_LOCAL     0x40000   /* route	represents a local address */
       #define RTF_BROADCAST 0x80000   /* route	represents a bcast address */

       Specifiers for metric values in rmx_locks and rtm_inits are:

       #define RTV_MTU	     0x1    /* init or lock _mtu */
       #define RTV_HOPCOUNT  0x2    /* init or lock _hopcount */
       #define RTV_EXPIRE    0x4    /* init or lock _expire */
       #define RTV_RPIPE     0x8    /* init or lock _recvpipe */
       #define RTV_SPIPE     0x10   /* init or lock _sendpipe */
       #define RTV_SSTHRESH  0x20   /* init or lock _ssthresh */
       #define RTV_RTT	     0x40   /* init or lock _rtt */
       #define RTV_RTTVAR    0x80   /* init or lock _rttvar */

       Specifiers for which addresses are present in the messages are:

       #define RTA_DST	     0x1    /* destination sockaddr present */
       #define RTA_GATEWAY   0x2    /* gateway sockaddr	present	*/
       #define RTA_NETMASK   0x4    /* netmask sockaddr	present	*/
       #define RTA_GENMASK   0x8    /* cloning mask sockaddr present */
       #define RTA_IFP	     0x10   /* interface name sockaddr present */
       #define RTA_IFA	     0x20   /* interface addr sockaddr present */
       #define RTA_AUTHOR    0x40   /* sockaddr	for author of redirect */
       #define RTA_BRD	     0x80   /* for NEWADDR, broadcast or p-p dest addr */
       #define RTA_TAG	     0x100  /* route tag */

       Flags for IPv6 addresses:

       #define IN6_IFF_ANYCAST	       0x01    /* anycast address */
       #define IN6_IFF_TENTATIVE       0x02    /* tentative address */
       #define IN6_IFF_DUPLICATED      0x04    /* DAD detected duplicate */
       #define IN6_IFF_DETACHED	       0x08    /* may be detached from the link	*/
       #define IN6_IFF_DEPRECATED      0x10    /* deprecated address */
       #define IN6_IFF_NODAD	       0x20    /* don't	perform	DAD on this address
						* (used	only at	first SIOC* call)
						*/
       #define IN6_IFF_AUTOCONF	       0x40    /* autoconfigurable address. */
       #define IN6_IFF_TEMPORARY       0x80    /* temporary (anonymous)	address. */

SEE ALSO
       socket(2), sysctl(3)

HISTORY
       Since NetBSD 8.0, RTF_CLONED, RTF_CLONING, RTF_LLINFO, RTF_XRESOLVE and
       RTM_RESOLVE were	obsolete.  RTF_CONNECTED and  RTF_LLDATA  appeared  in
       NetBSD 8.0.

       ifa_msghdr gained the fields ifam_pid and ifam_addrflags	in NetBSD 8.0.

NetBSD 10.1		       February	4, 2020			      ROUTE(4)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=route&sektion=4&manpath=NetBSD+10.1>

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