GateD 4_0 Documentation



Chapter 1 - Quick Start



1.1 - What is GateD

1.2 - Obtaining GateD

1.3 - Build and Install GateD

1.4 - Configure GateD

1.5 - Start and Control GateD

1.6 - Monitoring GateD

1.7 - Stop GateD




1.1 - What is GateD?

GateD is a modular software program consisting of core services, a routing database, and protocol modules supporting multiple routing protocols (RIP versions 1 and 2, DCN HELLO, OSPF version 2, EGP version 2 and BGP version 2 through 4.) GateD was first used to interconnect the NSFNET and the emerging regional networks, and to implement filtered routing based on policy. GateD allows the network administrator to control import and export of routing information by individual protocol, by source and destination autonomous system, source and destination interface, previous hop router, and specific destination address. The network administrator can specify a preference level for each combination of routing information being imported by using a flexible masking capability. Once the preference levels are assigned, GateD makes a decision on which route to use independent of the protocols involved.

GateD is designed to handle dynamic routing with a routing database built from information exchanged by routing protocols.

GateD is a also a very complex system which often turns out to be a source of frustration for new users. This quick start chapter tries to provide a step by step procedure for people beginning to use GateD. GateD transforms your unix box into a Internet router and requires you to be familar with IP protocols and IP routing protocols in order to design a correct and efficient routing scheme. A few sample configurations are available in this documentation . A more complete set of sample configurations can be obtained at www.gated.org.
. If you send us a sample configuration that is included in our documentation, we will send you a GateD t-shirt in appreciation for your configuration example.

GateD is collecting a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) for new users. Please send your questions into gated@gated.merit.edu.




1.2 - Obtaining GateD



We urge you to make sure you are using the latest copy of GateD.

Two types of GateD exist:

If you are not using GateD Consoritium code to sell a product or provide a service you can use the GateD Consortium code as an "Academic and Research member". Our Commercial members provide the fiancial support to support and enhance the GateD source code for the improvement of the Internet at large.

The public code supports a user in home use with basic protocols such as RIP and OSPF. However, the public domain code lacks the newer features of Gated. The GateD Consortium code contains the latest features of Unicast protocols and Multicast protocols created by developers in the Internet, members of the GateD Consortium, and the GateD Development team.

GateD is easy to obtain over the network if you are a GateD member. If you are not a member, it is easy to become a member. Please see Chapter 3 - Consortium Information for more details about how to become a member, and how to obtain a copy of GateD. GateD members can obtain the latest GateD source code, tools and documentation from www.gated.org

You can obtain earlier versions of GateD via:

FTP
Earlier versions of GateD (3.5) are available for
anonymous FTP from:
ftp.gated.org pub-research/gated/release.tar.gz



www
On the GateD Consoritum Home Page at www.gated.org under the Code, Tools and Documents section.



If you are reading this file as the README file in a GateD distribution, it was converted to plain text for the distribution. The INSTALL file in this directory has also been converted from HTMLto plain text. To view the GateD documentation with an HTML viewer, point it at doc/main.html.

The GateD web pages at www.gated.org has the latest on-line documentation for the following versions of GateD:


1.3 - Build and Install GateD



The first thing to do is to install GateD on your system if it is not installed yet. Please refer to Chapter 5 - The Installation Guide for detailed information on building and installing GateD.

The "older" GateD libraries support GateD builds for different software architectures by means of manually configuring platform-specific configuration in a "Config" file. Supporters and developers of GateD have created many "Config" files for each of the common systems and software architectures. However, your system may or may not be represented in these prepared configuration files. To check if your system is listed in these Configuration files, please click here

The "new" GateD library which supports GateD 5.0 and GateD version 4.2 uses the GNU autoconf to detect platform-specific configuration options. You do not need to install autoconf to build GateD. For more details, please refer to Section 5.1 of this manual.


1.4 - Configure GateD

The configuration of GateD is the next step. GateD relies on a configuration file (usually /etc/gated.conf) to tell it what to do. Since GateD runs routing protocols and transforms your Unix system into a router, its configuration parameters can be very complex. Chapter 6 - The Configuration Guide details the process. There are numerous protocols and features that GateD can support so therefore Chapter 6 is very long. Read only the sections pertaining to the protocols which you plan to run on your router.

Sample Configurations are available for some common protocol configurations in the Section 6.6 in the GateD Configuration Manual. We encourage, love (and basically beg experts) to submit sample configurations to be included in this section of the GateD manual. Any one who has their GateD configuration published at our web site will receive a GateD t-shirt designed especially for our "configuration" nerds.




1.5 - Start and Control GateD

The next step is to start and control the execution of GateD. Chapter 7 - The Operations Guide explains how to start Gated and stop gated via either




1.6 - Monitoring GateD Test Programs

You can use the following GateD utilities to monitor the status or the information about Gated:

gdc
check GateD status

ospf_monitor
Monitor OSPF routes and databases

ripquery
Monitor RIP routes and databases

gii
An interactive interface to gated which can query:




1.7 - Stop GateD


The final step is be able to stop execution of GateD. The best way to stop gated is to use the gdc command to stop gated via:

gdc term  	- for graceful close

gdc KILL	- for an ungraceful close

Another alternative is to use the unix kill command and to kill the gated process. Please refer to your operating systems manual page for the "kill" command. Guide explains how to start Gated and stop gated via either







Last updated November 28, 1997

gated@gated.merit.edu