[nos-bbs] Trace

[Jay Nugent]

Greetings Skip (et al),

On Fri, 7 Aug 2009, George [Skip] VerDuin wrote:

> HHMMM Jay...
> 
> Jay Nugent wrote:
> > Greetings,
> >
> > On Fri, 7 Aug 2009, George [Skip] VerDuin wrote:
> >
> >   
> >> All previous answers to you are good advice Doug.
> >>
> >> doug at kalish.com wrote:
> >>     
> >>> Is there a trick to using the trace command?
> >>>       
> >> No matter which avenue you take, please do remember the "flags" field is 
> >> HEX.
> >> So 1110 [decimal] won't get what you want, but 0x1110 [hex] might be 
> >> what you want.
> >> For detail if you want, see:   http://jnoswiki.no-ip.org/jnosd/trace
> >> The above is the wiki page for the trace command...
> >>
> >>     
> >>> I've tried 'trace port1 1110' and variations but I've never seen any 
> >>> output.
> >>>       
> >
> >     Close but no cigar.  The TRACE parameters are *not* hex bits.
>
> Do you see anything about "bits" above Jay?  Bits implies BINARY, I've 
> not seen a binary digit "2" yet that works:-)
> How about "digits"?  HEX DIGITS. 

   No matter what the actual format is in, *people* think in terms of 
values or settings, and less in numbers and bits.  All I'm saying is don't 
think of it as a HEX value, but more simply like the table shows, as 
values in a specific place-holder or column that perform a specific 
function.  Let's agree to disagree, 'cause this is just symantics...


> >   They are simply numeric flags you set for each of 4 fields, enabling
> > you to monitor specific types of packets.  This is the "BTIO" field
> > (Broadcast / Trace / Input / Output) as described below:
> >
> >    trace [ interface [ off | BTIO_flags [ trace_file ] ] ]
> >
> >    B=0:   Display broadcast packets
> >    B=1:   Only display packets addressed to this node
> >
> >    T=0:   Decode protocol headers, but no data displayed
> >    T=1:   Decode protocol headers, and display data
> >    T=2:   Display decoded headers and entire packet data
> >    
> >    I=0:   Ignore input packets
> >    I=1:   Display input packets
> >
> >    O=0:   Ignore output packets
> >    O=1:   Display output packets
> >
> >
> >    Thus, 0211 means:
> >   
>
> Now, "0211" [octal] might work [not tested here] as long as B=0 is desired.
> Or, "00211" [octal] might work, just don't drop the leading "0".
> Or, "0x0211" [hex] does work here [tested] for sure.  So does "0x211".
> Maybe "529" [decimal] would work [not tested] as a substitute for "0x211"?

   Again, just symantics.  Keeping it simple (KISS) works better if ya
just remember the table, above.  Really easy...  But if ya wanna play
mathematician, feel free... but I think the parser strips off any "0x" 
stuff you may prepend to the command.


> >    B=0:  Display broadcast packets
> >    T=2:  Display decoded headers and entire packet data
> >    I=1:  Display input packets
> >    O=1:  Display output packets
> >
> >    Note:  You can omit the leading zero, so 211 means the same as 0211
> >   
>
> I'd like to see your use of this Jay.  I have experienced exactly your 
> recommendation to fail.  Perhaps something has changed and there is a 
> time-line [some specific revision numbers] for success/failure of 
> "211"?  That info could well go into the wiki for completeness if you 
> know the answer.

   Just tested mine and it doesn't care whether I use the leading zero or 
not.  So the parser does exactly what the NOSintro book described - and 
the leading zero is not needed.
 
   trace 144.93 0211
   144.93 input output (Hex/ASCII dump)

   trace 144.93 211
   144.93 input output (Hex/ASCII dump)



> >    REMEMBER!!! -- Trace output is *ONLY* displayed after you hit the F9
> > key.  
>
> And the above works when you do NOT specify a [ trace_file ] in the 
> trace command...

   Well, YEAH!   If you define an output file it dumps the output into the 
file and *NOT* onto the screen.  DUH?!?!?!?   Just as I would expect.  If 
you want to see the output on the F9 screen then don't define an output 
file.

      --- Jay  WB8TKL

Train how you will Operate, and you will Operate how you were Trained.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jay Nugent   jjn at nuge.com    (734)484-5105    (734)649-0850/Cell       |
|   Nugent Telecommunications  [www.nuge.com]                            |
|   Internet Consulting/Linux SysAdmin/Engineering & Design/ISP Reseller |
| ISP Monitoring [www.ispmonitor.org] ISP & Modem Performance Monitoring |
| Web-Pegasus    [www.webpegasus.com] Web Hosting/DNS Hosting/Shell Accts|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
  6:01pm  up 4 days,  7:02,  3 users,  load average: 0.02, 0.05, 0.09