Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
Smokeping_probes_TraceroutePing(3)  SmokePing Smokeping_probes_TraceroutePing(3)

NAME
     Smokeping::probes::TraceroutePing - use traceroute to obtain RTT for a
     router

SYNOPSIS
      *** Probes ***

      +TraceroutePing

      binary = /usr/bin/traceroute # mandatory
      binaryv6 = /usr/bin/traceroute6
      forks = 5
      offset = 50%
      step = 300
      timeout = 15

      # The following variables can be overridden in each target section
      /^influx_.+/ = influx_location = In the basement
      desthost = www.example.com # mandatory
      host = www-net-router.example.com # mandatory
      maxttl = 15
      minttl = 11
      pings = 5
      wait = 3

      # [...]

      *** Targets ***

      probe = TraceroutePing # if this should be the default probe

      # [...]

      + mytarget
      # probe = TraceroutePing # if the default probe is something else
      host = my.host
      /^influx_.+/ = influx_location = In the basement
      desthost = www.example.com # mandatory
      host = www-net-router.example.com # mandatory
      maxttl = 15
      minttl = 11
      pings = 5
      wait = 3

DESCRIPTION
     Integrates standard traceroute as a probe into smokeping.	The use case for
     this probe is gateways that do not respond to TCP/UDP/ICMP packets ad-
     dressed to them, but do return ICMP TTL_EXCEEDED packets for traceroute
     packets to a host they route to.  It is best used in situations where rout-
     ing for the path is static or nearly so; attempting to use this on networks
     with changing routing will yield poor results.  The best place to use this
     probe is on first- and last-mile links, which are more likely to have sta-
     tic routing and also more likely to have firewalls that ignore ICMP
     ECHO_REQUEST.

     The mandatory probe variable binary must have an executable path for
     traceroute.

     The optional probe variable binaryv6 sets an executable path for your IPv6
     traceroute.  If this is set to the same value as binary, TraceroutePing
     will use the -6 flag when running traceroute for IPv6 addresses.  If this
     variable is not set, TraceroutePing will try to find an functioning IPv6
     traceroute.  It will first try appending "6" to the path in binary, then
     try including the "-6" flag in a test command.  Note that Linux appears to
     have a wide variety of IPv6 traceroute implementations.  My Ubuntu 14.04
     machine has /usr/sbin/traceroute6 from iputils, but /usr/bin/traceroute
     (from Dmitry Butskoy) accepts the -6 flag and is actually a better imple-
     mentation.  You may need to let TraceroutePing autodetect this, or experi-
     ment to find the best traceroute.

     The mandatory target variable desthost must name a destination host for the
     probe.  The destination host itself is not of interest and no data is gath-
     ered on it, its only purpose is to route traffic past your actual target.
     Selection of a destination just past your target, with static or strongly
     preferred routing through your target, will get better data.

     The mandatory target variable host must name the target host for the probe.
     This is the router that you want to collect RTT data for.	This variable
     must either be the valid reverse-lookup name of the router, or its IP ad-
     dress.  Using the IP address is preferable since it allows us to tell
     traceroute to avoid DNS lookups.

     The target variables minttl and maxttl can be used to describe the range of
     expected hop counts to host.  On longer paths or paths through unresponsive
     gateways or ending in unresponsive hosts, this reduces the amount of time
     this probe takes to execute.  These default to 1 and 30.

     The target variables wait sets the traceroute probe timeout in seconds.
     This defaults to 1, instead of the traditionally higher value used by LBL
     traceroute.  Traceroute programs often enforce a lower bound on this value.

VARIABLES
     Supported probe-specific variables:

     binary
	 The location of your traceroute binary.

	 Example value: /usr/bin/traceroute

	 This setting is mandatory.

     binaryv6
	 The location of your IPv6 traceroute binary.

	 Example value: /usr/bin/traceroute6

     forks
	 Run this many concurrent processes at maximum

	 Example value: 5

	 Default value: 5

     offset
	 If you run many probes concurrently you may want to prevent them from
	 hitting your network all at the same time. Using the probe-specific
	 offset parameter you can change the point in time when each probe will
	 be run. Offset is specified in % of total interval, or alternatively as
	 'random', and the offset from the 'General' section is used if nothing
	 is specified here. Note that this does NOT influence the rrds itself,
	 it is just a matter of when data acquisition is initiated.  (This vari-
	 able is only applicable if the variable 'concurrentprobes' is set in
	 the 'General' section.)

	 Example value: 50%

     stepDuration of the base interval that this probe should use, if different
	 from the one specified in the 'Database' section. Note that the step in
	 the RRD files is fixed when they are originally generated, and if you
	 change the step parameter afterwards, you'll have to delete the old RRD
	 files or somehow convert them. (This variable is only applicable if the
	 variable 'concurrentprobes' is set in the 'General' section.)

	 Example value: 300

     timeout
	 How long a single 'ping' takes at maximum

	 Example value: 15

	 Default value: 5

     Supported target-specific variables:

     /^influx_.+/
	 This is a tag that will be sent to influxdb and has no impact on the
	 probe measurement. The tag name will be sent without the "influx_" pre-
	 fix, which will be replaced with "tag_" instead. Tags can be used for
	 filtering.

	 Example value: influx_location = In the basement

     desthost
	 Final destination host for traceroute packets.  Does not have to be
	 reachable unless it is also your host.

	 Example value: www.example.com

	 This setting is mandatory.

     hostHost of interest to monitor.  Must be either the host's reverse-lookup
	 name, or an IP address.

	 Example value: www-net-router.example.com

	 This setting is mandatory.

     maxttl
	 Maximum TTL.  Set to the maximum expected number of hops to host.

	 Example value: 15

     minttl
	 Minimum TTL.  Set to the minimum expected number of hops to host.

	 Example value: 11

     pings
	 How many pings should be sent to each target, if different from the
	 global value specified in the Database section. Note that the number of
	 pings in the RRD files is fixed when they are originally generated, and
	 if you change this parameter afterwards, you'll have to delete the old
	 RRD files or somehow convert them.

	 Example value: 5

     waitWaittime.  The timeout value for traceroute's probes, in seconds.

	 Example value: 3

AUTHORS
     John Hood <cgull@glup.org>,

SEE ALSO
     smokeping_extend

2.9.0				   2026-08-04 Smokeping_probes_TraceroutePing(3)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=Smokeping_probes_TraceroutePing&sektion=3&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

home | help