NAME
ngctl — netgraph control utility
SYNOPSIS
ngctl [−d] [−f filename] [−n nodename] [command ...]
DESCRIPTION
The ngctl utility creates a new netgraph node of type socket which can be used to issue netgraph commands. If no −f flag is given, no command is supplied on the command line, and standard input is a tty, ngctl will enter interactive mode. Otherwise ngctl will execute the supplied command(s) and exit immediately.
Nodes can be created, removed, joined together, etc. ASCII formatted control messages can be sent to any node if that node supports binary/ASCII control message conversion.
In interactive mode, ngctl will display any control messages and data packets received by the socket node. In the case of control messages, the message arguments are displayed in ASCII form if the originating node supports conversion.
The options are as follows:
−f nodeinfo
Read commands from the named file. A single dash represents the standard input. Blank lines and lines starting with a ’’#’’ are ignored.
−n nodename
Assign nodename to the newly created netgraph node. The default name is ngctlXXX where XXX is the process ID number.
−d
Increase the debugging verbosity level.
COMMANDS
The currently supported commands in ngctl are:
config get or
set configuration of node at <path>
connect Connects hook <peerhook> of the node at
<relpath> to <hook>
debug Get/set debugging verbosity level
dot Produce a GraphViz (.dot) of the entire netgraph.
help Show command summary or get more help on a specific
command
list Show information about all nodes
mkpeer Create and connect a new node to the node at
"path"
msg Send a netgraph control message to the node at
"path"
name Assign name <name> to the node at <path>
read Read and execute commands from a file
rmhook Disconnect hook "hook" of the node at
"path"
show Show information about the node at <path>
shutdown Shutdown the node at <path>
status Get human readable status information from the node
at <path>
types Show information about all installed node types
write Send a data packet down the hook named by
"hook".
quit Exit program
Some commands have aliases, e.g., ’’ls’’ is the same as ’’list’’. The ’’help’’ command displays the available commands, their usage and aliases, and a brief description.
DIAGNOSTICS
The ngctl utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSO
netgraph(3), netgraph(4), nghook(8)
HISTORY
The netgraph system was designed and first implemented at Whistle Communications, Inc. in a version of FreeBSD 2.2 customized for the Whistle InterJet.
AUTHORS
Archie Cobbs <archie [AT] whistle.com>
BSD January 19, 1999 BSD