5    Monitoring the Network

To monitor the Mobile IP environment, use the following:

See Appendix A for a list of files contained in the Mobile IP kit. The following sections describe each topic.

5.1    Using tcpdump

The tcpdump utility captures, parses, and prints IPv6 packets. The Binding Update and Acknowledgement options are contained in IPv6 Destination Option headers in IPv6 packets. In order to use tcpdump, you must configure the PACKETFILTER option into the kernel. See packetfilter(8) for information.

To see all possible packets, configure the interface into Promiscuous and Copyall mode, then issue the tcpdump command, as follows:

# pfconfig +p +c interface
# tcpdump -i interface -s 1500 [-x] [ipv6]

See tcpdump(8) for more information.

5.2    Using netstat

The netstat -b command enables you to monitor current mobility bindings and their attributes. The following example shows the command output:

# netstat -b
 
 
Mobile IPv6 Binding Cache
 
Home Address       Care-of Address    Flags     Refs  Sequence#   Lifetime
testhome           testcoa            A            1          1         43
  [1]                [2]             [3]          [4]        [5]       [6]

In the preceding example, the following is true:

  1. The machine has a Home Address testhome. [Return to example]

  2. It is currently reachable at Care-of Address testcoa. [Return to example]

  3. It had asked for the Binding Update to be acknowledged (A flag). [Return to example]

  4. There is currently one reference on this binding data structure. [Return to example]

  5. The Sequence Number in the Binding Update was set to 1. [Return to example]

  6. There are 43 seconds remaining on this binding's lifetime. When the lifetime expires, the entry is removed from the cache. [Return to example]

The netstat -bs command enables you to monitor mobility binding statistics. The following example shows the command output:

# netstat -bs
Mobile IPv6:
       1 entry in binding cache
       1 add
       0 deletes
       0 changes
       0 frees
       3 lookups

The netstat -P command enables you to monitor current prefixes the home agent is offering services for. The following example shows the command output:

# netstat -P
 
 
Mobile IPv6 Prefix List
 
Prefix                         Lifetime     Refs
2000:1::/64                     2592000        1
  [1]                             [2]         [3]

In the preceding example, the following is true:

  1. The machine is offering home agent services for prefix 2000:1::/64. [Return to example]

  2. The valid lifetime of this prefix is 2592000 seconds. [Return to example]

  3. There is currently one reference on this prefix data structure. [Return to example]

The netstat -Ps command enables you to monitor mobility prefix list statistics. The following example shows the command output:

# netstat -Ps
Mobile IPv6 Prefix:
       1 entry in prefix list
       1 add
       0 deletes
       0 changes
       0 frees
       8 lookups

See netstat(1) for more information.

5.3    IPv6 Daemon Log Files

The ip6rtrd daemon logs informational and severe events in the /var/adm/syslog.dated/date/daemon.log file.

To enable logging of debug information for the ip6rtrd daemon, issue the following commands:

# rcmgr set IP6RTRD_FLAGS "-d -l -m /usr/tmp/ip6rtrd.log"
# /usr/sbin/rcinet restart inet6