route_btoa - converts binary descriptions of MRT messages to ASCII

Usage: route_btoa [-m] [(-i|-r)] [input_binary_file(s)]

ROUTE_BTOA converts binary MRT messages to ASCII. By default, the program writes human-readable ASCII descriptions of MRT message streams or files to standard out. Binary MRT messages may be generated by programs such as SBGP and MRTd for monitoring, research, and statistics collection purposes. In this release of MRT, route_btoa supports the parsing of BGP, BGP+ and RIPng packets.

Route_btoa includes a Perl version of the program. In general, the compiled version is probably more robust and up-to-date than the Perl code.

Synopsis

route_btoa [-m] [-i input_binary_file]

Options

-i binary_data_in_file

Read routes from this file binary MRT file. Using a file name of 'stdin' will read input from standard in.

-m Create machine-parseable output.

Description

The following command writes a formatted, ASCII description of BGP4 update packets from a peering session with the NSFNET backbone to standard output:

sbgp -bo stdout | route_btoa -i stdin

Below is an example of the output produced by route_btoa. Most of the fields should be self-explanatory.

> /statistics/bin/route_btoa2 -i /cache/mae-east/bgp.980114.21:30

TIME: 01/14/98 21:30:00

TYPE: BGP/UPDATE

TO: AS2885 192.41.177.169

FROM: 4.0.0.10 AS1

ASPATH: 1

ORIGIN: IGP

NEXT_HOP: 192.41.177.2

MULTIEXIT: 1546

ANNOUNCE:

140.249.0.0

TIME: 01/14/98 21:30:01

TYPE: BGP/UPDATE

TO: AS2885 192.41.177.169

FROM: 144.228.107.1 AS1239

ASPATH: 1239 6453 5769

ORIGIN: IGP

NEXT_HOP: 192.41.177.241

MULTIEXIT: 91

ANNOUNCE:

Route_BtoA also supports the generation of machine-readable output. This mode generates output that is easily parsed by awk or Perl scripts for statistics calculations. Note that "-m" mode does not preserve information about packet boundaries. The format for each line of the machine-readable output for BGP4 and BGP4+ packets is:

Protocol | Time | Type | PeerIP | PeerAS | Prefix | <update dependant information>

Where protocol is BGP, or BGP4. The time is number of seconds since epoch when the packet was recorded. The type is A for announcement, or W for withdrawal. PeerIP and PeerAS are the IP address and AS number of the BGP peer from which we received the update. Prefix is the route prefix described in the update.

For BGP announcements, update-dependant information contains:

ASPATH | Origin | NextHop | Local_Pref | MED | Community

Where ASPATH is the autonomous system path of the update. Origin is IGP, EGP, or Unknown. And local_pref, MED and Community are as the names imply. Below is an example of route_btoa machine output of MRTd-collected BGP packets:

BGP|884831400|A|4.0.0.10|1|140.249.0.0/16|1|IGP|192.41.177.2|0|1546 BGP|884831401|A|144.228.107.1|1239|205.113.0.0/16|1239 6453 5769|IGP|192.41.177.241|0|91

BGP|884831402|W|204.70.7.53|3561|198.163.111.0/24

BGP|884831402|W|204.70.7.53|3561|199.212.219.0/24

BGP|884831402|W|204.70.7.53|3561|199.235.123.0/24

BGP|884831402|W|204.70.7.53|3561|204.112.101.0/24 BGP|884831402|W|204.70.7.53|3561|204.112.232.0/24 BGP|884831402|W|204.70.7.53|3561|205.189.8.0/24 BGP|884831402|W|204.70.7.53|3561|205.211.8.0/24

You can find more documentation in /usr/share/doc/mrt/html/