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hipercontracer(1) General Commands Manual hipercontracer(1) NAME hipercontracer -- High-Performance Connectivity Tracer (HiPerConTracer) SYNOPSIS hipercontracer [-P | --ping] [-T | --traceroute] [-L level | --loglevel level] [-Z on|off | --logcolor on|off] [-O file | --logfile file] [-q | --quiet] [-v | --verbose] [-U user|uid | --user user|uid] [-# identifier | --measurement-id identifier] [-S address|- hostname[,traffic_class[,...]] | --source address|- hostname[,traffic_class[,...]]] [-D address|hostname | --destination address|hostname] [--sources-from-file file] [--destinations-from-file file] [-M ICMP|UDP | --iomodule ICMP|UDP] [-I number_of_- iterations | --iterations number_of_iterations] [--tracerouteinterval milliseconds] [--tracerouteintervaldeviation fraction] [--tracerouteduration milliseconds] [--tracerouterounds rounds] [--tracerouteinitialmaxttl value] [--traceroutefinalmaxttl value] [--tracerouteincrementmaxttl value] [--traceroutepacketsize bytes] [--tracerouteudpsourceport port] [--tracerouteudpdestinationport port] [--pinginterval milliseconds] [--pingintervaldeviation fraction] [--pingexpiration milliseconds] [--pingburst packets] [--pingttl value] [--pingpacketsize bytes] [--pingudpsourceport port] [--pingudpdestinationport port] [-R directory | --resultsdirectory directory] [-x seconds | --resultstransactionlength seconds] [-C none|- XZ|BZip2|GZip|ZLIB|ZSTD | --resultscompression none|XZ|- BZip2|GZip|ZLIB|ZSTD] [-F version | --resultsformat version] [-z depth | --resultstimestampdepth depth] hipercontracer [--check] hipercontracer [-h | --help] hipercontracer [--version] DESCRIPTION hipercontracer is a Ping/Traceroute service. It performs regular Ping and Traceroute runs among sites and can export the results into results state- ments for import into a database. ARGUMENTS The following arguments may be provided: -P | --ping Start the Ping service. -T | --traceroute Start the Traceroute service. -L level | --loglevel level Sets the minimum logging level to the provided value: 0=trace, 1=debug, 2=info, 3=warning, 4=error, 5=fatal. -Z on|off | --logcolor on|off Enables (on) or disables (off) the usage of ANSI color escape se- quences to colorise the log output according to its level. -O file | --logfile file Sets a file name for appending the log output to. If a file is set, no log output is made to the console. Otherwise, all log output will be written to the console. -q | --quiet Sets the minimum logging level to 3 (warning). -v | --verbose Sets the minimum logging level to 0 (trace). -U user|uid | --user user|uid After startup, HiPerConTracer uses UID and GID of the given user (by name or GID). The output directory's ownership as well as the ownership of the created results files will be set accordingly. -# identifier | --measurement-id identifier Sets a unique measurement identifier for the measurement. All out- put files will have this identifier in their file name (#<ID>). It can be used to set a setup-wide unique identifier to identify the vantage point. If no measurement identifier is specified, the files will contain the process ID instead (P<ID>). Range: 0-2147483647. Default: 0 (using process ID instead). -S address|hostname[,traffic_class[,...]] | --source address|hostname[,traffic_class[,...]] Adds the given source address or hostname. It is possible to use the ANY address (0.0.0.0 or ::), in order to just use the default route. If no traffic class is given, Best Effort (00) is used. Otherwise, the list of given traffic classes (in hexadecimal) is used. Alternatively, a traffic class can be specified by PHB name (BE, EF, AF11, AF12, AF13, AF21, AF22, AF23, AF31, AF32, AF33, AF41, AF42, AF43, CS1, CS2, CS3, CS4, CS5, CS6, CS7). In this case, the corresponding traffic class with ECN bits set to 0 is used. Note: use lower-case hexadecimal letters to avoid ambiguities with PHB name (e.g. be for 0xbe instead of BE PHB)! If a hostname is provided, a DNS resolution is performed and all returned addresses are added. If no source address is provided, HiPerConTracer auto- matically adds 0.0.0.0 if there is an IPv4 destination, and :: if there is an IPv6 destination given. -D address|hostname | --destination address|hostname Adds the given destination address or hostname. If a hostname is provided, a DNS resolution is performed and all returned addresses are added. --sources-from-file file Read sources from given file. This option may be used multiple times, to read from multiple files. --destinations-from-file file Read destinations from given file. This option may be used multiple times, to read from multiple files. -M ICMP|UDP | --iomodule ICMP|UDP Adds an I/O module: ICMP or UDP. The option may be specified multi- ple times with different modules. -I number_of_iterations | --iterations number_of_iterations Limit the number of measurement iterations (measurement for all source/destination pairs) to the given number of iterations. The default 0 lets HiPerConTracer run continuously. --tracerouteinterval milliseconds Sets the Traceroute interval (time for each full round of destina- tions). --tracerouteintervaldeviation fraction Randomly deviate the Traceroute interval by the given fraction (as 0.0 to 1.0), that is to chose out of [interval - fraction * inter- val, interval + fraction * interval], in order to avoid synchroni- sation effects. Default is 0.1 (10%). --tracerouteduration milliseconds Sets the Traceroute duration (timeout for each destination). --tracerouterounds rounds For each Traceroute measurement, perform the given number of rounds simultaneously. Default is 1 round. Range: 1-64. Each TTL test of a round will have the same ICMP checksum value ("Oslo Traceroute"), in order to deal with load balancing in the Internet. Different rounds will have different checksums. That is, different rounds may experience different paths in the network. --tracerouteinitialmaxttl value Start with the given maximum TTL. Default is 6. --traceroutefinalmaxttl value Finish with the given maximum TTL (when destination is not reached with current TTL setting). Default is 36. --tracerouteincrementmaxttl value Increase the maximum TTL by the given value (when destination is not reached with current TTL setting). Default is 6. --traceroutepacketsize bytes Sets the Traceroute packet size, that is IP header (20 for IPv4/40 for IPv6) + ICMP header (8)/UDP header (8) + HiPerConTracer header (16) + payload, in bytes. The actually sent packet size always covers at least the headers for IPv4/IPv6, ICMP and HiPerConTracer. Maximum packet size is 65535. --tracerouteudpsourceport port Sets the Traceroute source port for the UDP module (default: 0, for automatic allocation). Note: If using a fixed UDP port for Tracer- oute, different UDP source ports must be used for any other ser- vices! --tracerouteudpdestinationport port Sets the Traceroute destination port for the UDP module (default: 7, for Echo). --pinginterval milliseconds Sets the Ping interval (time for each full round of destinations). Default is 5000 ms. --pingintervaldeviation fraction Randomly deviate the Ping interval by the given fraction (as 0.0 to 1.0), that is to chose out of [interval - fraction * interval, in- terval + fraction * interval], in order to avoid synchronisation effects. Default is 0.1 (10%). --pingexpiration milliseconds Sets the Ping duration (timeout for each destination). Default is 10000 ms. --pingburst packets For each Ping measurement, send a burst of the given number of packets. Default is 1 packet. Range: 1-1024. --pingttl value Sets the Ping TTL value. Default is 64. Range: 1-255. --pingpacketsize bytes Sets the Ping packet size, that is IP header (20 for IPv4/40 for IPv6) + ICMP header (8)/UDP header (8) + HiPerConTracer header (16) + payload, in bytes. The actually sent packet size always covers at least the headers for IPv4/IPv6, transport protocol and HiPer- ConTracer. Default is 0 (use minimum possible value). Range: 0-65535. --pingudpsourceport port Sets the Ping source port for the UDP module (default: 0, for auto- matic allocation). Note: If using a fixed UDP port for Ping, dif- ferent UDP source ports must be used for any other services! --pingudpdestinationport port Sets the Ping destination port for the UDP module (default: 7, for Echo). -R directory | --resultsdirectory directory Sets the results files directory. The results will be stored there. If not specified, to results will be stored. -l seconds | --resultstransactionlength seconds After a given number of seconds, begin a new results file. -C none|XZ|BZip2|GZip|ZLIB|ZSTD | --resultscompression none|XZ|BZip2|GZip|ZLIB|ZSTD Sets the compression for the output files. Default: XZ. -F version | --resultsformat version Sets the results file format version. Default: 2 (current ver- sion). Range (currently): 1-2. Note: A future version of HiPerCon- Tracer may increase this default setting! -z depth | --resultstimestampdepth depth Create a timestamp-based directory hierarchy for the results, of given depth (default: 0). 0 = none, 1 = year, 2 = year/month, 3 = year/month/day, 4 = year/month/day/hour:00, 5 = year/month/day/hour:00/hour:minute. --check Print build environment information for debugging. -h | --help Prints command help. --version Prints program version. OUTPUT FORMAT The output file is a text file (possibly compressed). The format is as follows, depending on the measurement type: Format identifier in first line #? HPCT format version program * format: Format of the output data (Ping, Traceroute, etc.). * version: Version of the output data format (decimal). * program: Identifier for the program generating the output (e.g. HiPerConTracer/2.1.12). Ping (version 2, current) Each Ping entry consists of a #P<m> line, with m=i for ICMP and m=u for UDP (according to underlying I/O module). #P<m> measurementID sourceIP destinationIP timestamp burstseq traffic_class packetsize response_size checksum sourcePort destinationPort status timesource delay_app_send delay_queuing delay_app_receive rtt_app rtt_sw rtt_hw * measurementID: Measurement identifier. * sourceIP: Source IP address. * destinationIP: Destination IP address. * sendTimestamp: Send Timestamp (nanoseconds since the UTC epoch, hexadecimal). * burstseq: Sequence number within a burst (decimal), numbered from 0. * traffic_class: The IP Traffic Class/Type of Service value of the sent packets (hexadecimal). * packet_size: The sent packet size (decimal, in bytes) including IPv4/IPv6 header, transport header and HiPerConTracer header. * response_size: The response packet size (decimal, in bytes) including IPv4/IPv6 header, transport header and HiPerConTracer header. * checksum: The checksum of the ICMP Echo Request packets (hexadecimal); 0x0000 for other protocols, 0xffff for unknown. * sourcePort: Source port, 0 for ICMP (decimal). * destinationPort: Destination port, 0 for ICMP (decimal). * status: Status code (decimal): - 1 = ICMP response: Time Exceeded - 100 = ICMP response: Unreachable scope - 101 = ICMP response: Unreachable network - 102 = ICMP response: Unreachable host - 103 = ICMP response: Unreachable protocol - 104 = ICMP response: Unreachable port - 105 = ICMP response: Unreachable, prohibited (firewall) - 110 = ICMP response: Unreachable, unknown reason - 200 = Timeout (no response from a router) - 210 = sendto() call failed (generic error) - 211 = sendto() error: tried to send to broadcast address (EACCES) - 212 = sendto() error: network unreachable (ENETUNREACH) - 213 = sendto() error: host unreachable (EHOSTUNREACH) - 214 = sendto() error: address not available (EADDRNOTAVAIL) - 215 = sendto() error: invalid message size (EMSGSIZE) - 216 = sendto() error: not enough buffer space (ENOBUFS) - 255 = Success (destination has responded) Status values from 100 to 199 denote unreachabil- ity, as reported by ICMP error from a router. The rtt_* fields contain the response time of the cor- responding router. Status values from 200 to 254 have the destination IP in their destinationIP field. However, there was no response from a router, so the rtt_* fields will be the configured timeout value (on timeout) or send trial time (on send errors)! * timesource: Source of the timing information (hexadecimal) as: AAQQSSHH AA: Application QQ: Queuing (queuing packet until sending it by driver, in software) SS: Software (sending request by driver until receiving response by driver, in software; decimal, in nanoseconds; -1 if not available) HW: Hardware (sending request by NIC until receiving response by NIC, in hardware; decimal, in nanoseconds; -1 if not available) Each byte AA, QQ, SS, HH provides the receive time source (upper nibble) and send time source (lower nibble): 0x0: Not available 0x1: System clock 0x2: SO_TIMESTAMPING socket option, microseconds granularity 0x3: SO_TIMESTAMPINGNS socket option (or SO_- TIMESTAMPING+SO_TS_CLOCK), nanoseconds granularity 0x4: SIOCGSTAMP ioctl, microseconds granularity 0x5: SIOCGSTAMPNS ioctl, nanoseconds granularity 0x6: SO_TIMESTAMPING socket option, in software, nanoseconds granularity 0xa: SO_TIMESTAMPING socket option, in hardware, nanoseconds granularity * delay_app_send: The measured application send delay (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * delay_queuing: The measured kernel software queuing delay (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * delay_app_receive: The measured application receive delay (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * rtt_app: The measured application RTT (nanoseconds, decimal). * rtt_sw: The measured kernel software RTT (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * rtt_hw: The measured kernel hardware RTT (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). Ping (version 1, SUPERSEDED!) Each Ping entry consists of a #P line. #P sourceIP destinationIP timestamp checksum status rtt [traffic_class [packet_size [timesource]]] * sourceIP: Source IP address. * destinationIP: Destination IP address. * timestamp: Timestamp (microseconds since the UTC epoch, hexadecimal). * checksum: The checksum of the ICMP Echo Request packets (hexadecimal). * status: Status code (decimal) * rtt: The measured RTT (microseconds, decimal). * traffic_class: The outgoing IP Traffic Class/Type of Service value of the sent packets (hexadecimal). This entry has been added with HiPerConTracer 1.4.0! * packet_size: The sent packet size (decimal, in bytes) including IPv4/IPv6 header, transport header and HiPerConTracer header. This entry has been added with HiPerConTracer 1.6.0! * timesource: Source of the timing information (hexadecimal) as: AA (same as for Ping, see above). This entry has been added with HiPerConTracer 2.0.0 development versions! Traceroute (version 2, current) Each Traceroute entry begins with a #Tm line, with m=i for ICMP and m=u for UDP (according to underlying I/O module). This is followed with one TAB-started line per each hop. #T<m> measurementID sourceIP destinationIP timestamp round totalHops traffic_class packet_size checksum sourcePort destinationPort statusFlags pathHash * measurementID: Measurement identifier. * sourceIP: Source IP address. * destinationIP: Destination IP address. * timestamp: Timestamp (nanoseconds since the UTC epoch, hexadecimal) of the current run. Note: This timestamp is only an identifier for the Traceroute run. All Traceroute rounds of the same run use the same timestamp here! The actual send timestamp of the request to each hop can be found in sendTimeStamp of the corresponding hop! * round: Round number (decimal). * totalHops: Total hops (decimal). * traffic_class: The IP Traffic Class/Type of Service value of the sent packets (hexadecimal). * packet_size: The sent packet size (decimal, in bytes) including IPv4/IPv6 header, transport header and HiPerConTracer header. * checksum: The checksum of the ICMP Echo Request packets (hexadecimal); 0x0000 for other protocols, 0xffff for unknown. * sourcePort: Source port, 0 for ICMP (decimal). * destinationPort: Destination port, 0 for ICMP (decimal). * statusFlags: Status flags (hexadecimal): See the status code for Ping above for the lower 8 bits. Additionally: - 0x100 = Route with * (at least one router did not respond) - 0x200 = Destination has responded * pathHash: Hash of the path (hexadecimal). (TAB) sendTimeStamp hopNumber response_size status timesource delay_queuing delay_app_receive rtt_app rtt_app rtt_sw rtt_hw hopIP * sendTimeStamp: Timestamp (nanoseconds since the UTC epoch, hexadecimal) for the request to this hop. * hopNumber: Number of the hop. * response_size: The response packet size (decimal, in bytes) including IPv4/IPv6 header, transport header and HiPerConTracer header. * status: Status code (decimal; the values are the same as for Ping, see above). * timesource: Source of the timing information (hexadecimal; the values are the same as for Ping, see above) * delay_app_send: The measured application send delay (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * delay_queuing: The measured kernel software queuing delay (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * delay_app_receive: The measured application receive delay (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * rtt_app: The measured application RTT (nanoseconds, decimal). * rtt_sw: The measured kernel software RTT (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * rtt_hw: The measured kernel hardware RTT (nanoseconds, decimal; -1 if not available). * hopIP: Hop IP address. Traceroute (version 1, SUPERSEDED!) Each Traceroute entry begins with a #T line. This is followed with one TAB-started line per each hop. #T sourceIP destinationIP timestamp round checksum totalHops statusFlags pathHash [traffic_class [packet_size [timesource]]] * sourceIP: Source IP address. * destinationIP: Destination IP address. * timestamp: Timestamp (microseconds since the UTC epoch, hexadecimal) of the current run. Note: This timestamp is only an identifier for the Traceroute run. All Traceroute rounds of the same run use the same timestamp here! * round: Round number. * checksum: The checksum of the ICMP Echo Request packets (hexadecimal). * totalHops: Total hops. * statusFlags: Status flags (hexadecimal). * pathHash: Hash of the path (hexadecimal). * traffic_class: The IP Traffic Class/Type of Service value of the sent packets (hexadecimal). This entry has been added with HiPerConTracer 1.4.0! * packet_size: The sent packet size (decimal, in bytes) including IPv4/IPv6 header, transport header and HiPerConTracer header. This entry has been added with HiPerConTracer 1.6.0! (TAB) hopNumber status rtt hopIP timesource * hopNumber: Number of the hop. * status: Status code (in hexadecimal here(!); the values are the same as for Ping, see above). * rtt: The measured RTT (microseconds, decimal). * hopIP: Hop IP address. * timesource: Source of the timing information (hexadecimal) as: AA (same as for Ping, see above). This entry has been added with HiPerConTracer 2.0.0 development versions! EXAMPLES hipercontracer -S 10.1.1.51 -D 10.1.1.6 -D 10.1.1.7 -D 10.1.1.8 -T --tracerouteinterval 10000 --tracerouteduration 1000 -v hipercontracer --source 10.1.1.51 --destination 10.1.1.6 --destination 10.1.1.7 --destination 10.1.1.8 --traceroute --tracerouteinterval 10000 --tracerouteduration 1000 hipercontracer --source 172.16.0.127 --destination 8.8.8.8 --destination 193.99.144.80 --destination 132.252.181.87 --destination 10.254.254.254 --destination 91.189.93.5 --destination 128.112.139.90 --destination 4.31.198.44 --destination 136.186.1.10 --destination 101.4.112.170 --destination 77.36.144.2 --source 2a02:270:2014:40:92e2:baff:fe48:bde1 --destination 2400:cb00:2048:1::6814:155 --destination 2a02:2e0:3fe:1001:7777:772e:2:85 --destination 2a00:1450:400f:805::2004 --traceroute --ping --tracerouteduration 1000 --tracerouteinitialmaxttl 4 --traceroutefinalmaxttl 32 --tracerouteincrementmaxttl 4 --pinginterval 1000 --pingexpiration 7500 --pingttl 56 --resultsdirectory results --resultstimestampdepth 3 hipercontracer --source=0.0.0.0,00,AF11 --source=::,BE,EF,AF11 --destination=8.8.8.8 --destination=2606:4700:10::6814:155 --ping --traceroute --tracerouteduration=1000 --tracerouteinitialmaxttl=4 --traceroutefinalmaxttl=32 --tracerouteincrementmaxttl=4 --ping- interval=1000 --pingexpiration=7500 --pingttl=56 --results- directory=/storage/hpct-results --resultstransactionlength=20 --resultstimestampdepth=4 --quiet hipercontracer --user=hipercontracer --source=10.1.1.51 --destination=10.1.1.6 --destination=10.1.1.7 --destination=10.1.1.8 --traceroute --tracerouteinterval=10000 --tracerouteduration=1000 hipercontracer --user=hipercontracer --source=0.0.0.0 --destination=8.8.8.8 -M ICMP --ping --verbose hipercontracer --user=hipercontracer --source=0.0.0.0 --source=::--destination=www.ietf.org --iomodule ICMP --ping --verbose hipercontracer --user=hipercontracer --source=10.193.4.64 --destination 1.2.3.4 --iomodule ICMP --iomodule UDP --ping --traceroute hipercontracer --version hipercontracer --h AUTHORS Thomas Dreibholz https://www.nntb.no/~dreibh/hipercontracer mailto://dreibh@simula.no hipercontracer March 13, 2026 hipercontracer(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | ARGUMENTS | OUTPUT FORMAT | EXAMPLES | AUTHORS
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