Provided by: vde-wirefilter_2.3.2+r586-8_amd64 bug

NAME

       wirefilter - Wire packet filter for Virtual Distributed Ethernet

SYNOPSIS

       wirefilter

       [-f   rcfile]   [-l   loss]  [-l  lostburst]  [-d  delay]  [-D  dup]  [-b  bandwidth]  [-s
       interface_speed] [-c channel_bufsize] [-n noise_factor] [-m mtu_size] [-M mgmt socket] [-v
       vde_plug1:vde_plug2]   [--daemon]  [--pidfile  pidfile_path]  [--blink  blink]  [--blinkid
       blink_identifier] [-N]

DESCRIPTION

       A wirefilter is able to emulate delays and packet loss on virtual wires.  e.g.:

       dpipe vde_plug /tmp/s1 = wirefilter -l 10 = vde_plug /tmp/s2

       creates a wire between two vde_switches (with sockets /tmp/s1 and  /tmp/s2  respectively).
       This cable looses 10% of the packets in each direction.

       The same cable can be created using:

       wirefilter -v /tmp/s1:/tmp/s2 -l 10

OPTIONS

       -f rcfile
              use  a startup configuration file. It is useful for complex defitions such as those
              for the Markov mode (see below).  The  startup  configuration  file  has  the  same
              syntax  of  the  management  interface,  in other word it is a script of management
              commands executed before the first packet is forwarded.

       -l loss
              percentage of loss as a floating point number. It is possible to specify  different
              loss  percentage for the two channels: LR20.5 means 20.5% of packet flowing left to
              right are lost, RL10 means 10% from right to left.

       -L lostburst
              when this is not zero, wirefilter uses the Gilbert model for bursty  errors.   This
              is  the  mean  length  of  lost packet bursts. (it is a two state Markov chain: the
              probability to exit from the faulty state is 1/lostburst, the probability to  enter
              the faulty state is loss/(lostburst-(1-loss)). The loss rate converges to the value
              loss.

       -d delay
              Extra delay (in milliseconds). This delay is added to the real communication delay.
              Packets  are  temporarily  stored  and  resent  after the delay.  It is possible to
              specify different values for LR and RL like in the previous option.  When the delay
              is  specified  as  two numbers with a + in between, the first is the standard delay
              and the second is a random  variation.   1000+500  means  that  the  delay  can  be
              randomly  chosen  between half second and 1.5 seconds. It is possible to add 'U' or
              'N' at the  end.  1000+500U  means  that  the  dealys  are  uniformly  distributed,
              1000+500N  means  that  the delays follow a Gaussian normal distribution (more than
              98% of the values are inside the limits).

       -D dup percentage of dup packet. It has the same syntax of -l. Do not use dup factor  100%
              because it means that each packet is sent infinite times.

       -b bandwidth
              Channel  bandwidth  in Bytes/sec. It has the same syntax of -d. It is also possible
              to use suffixes K,M,G to abbreviate 2^10, 2^20, 2^30.   128K  means  128KBytes/sec.
              128+64K  means 64i to 196KBytes/sec.  Sender is not prevented from sending packets,
              delivery is delayed to limit the bandwidth to the desired value. (Like a bottleneck
              along  the  path)  U  and  N  after  the  values  (e.g. 128+64KN) set the statistic
              distribution to use (uniform or normal).

       -s speed
              Interface speed in Bytes/sec. It has the same syntax of -b. Input  is  blocked  for
              the  tramission  time  of the packet, thus the sender is prevented from sending too
              fast.

       -c channel_bufsize
              Channel buffer size (in Bytes): maximum size of the packet queue. Exceeding packets
              are discarded.

       -n noise factor
              Number of bits damaged/one megabyte.

       -m mtu size
              Packets longer than mtu_size are discarded.

       -N     nofifo. with -N packets can be reordered.

       -M mgmt socket
              the  unix  socket  where the parameters (loss percentage, delay etc) can be checked
              and changed runtime. unixterm(1) can be used as a remote terminal for wirefilter.

       -v vde_plug1:vde_plug2
              If this option is used, the two local vde_plugs (vde_plug1 and vde_plug2)  will  be
              connected  each other instead of stdin/stdout, using the libvdeplug libraries. This
              option activates an interactive management session on console (stdin/stdout).

       --mgmtmode mode
              this option sets the access mode of the mgmt socket.  The command syntax  is  quite
              simple.  help  provides the list of commands.  It is possible to load a script file
              using the load management command.

       --daemon
              wirefilter becomes a daemon

       --pidfile pathnamefP
              wirefilter saves its pid into the  file.

       --blinkid name
              This option defines the id sent for each  packet  to  the  blink  server  (see  the
              --blink  option  below).   The  stardard identifier for a wirefilter is the process
              pid.

       --blink socket
              wirefilter sends a log message to the specified PF_UNIX/DATAGRAM  socket  for  each
              packet sent. Each packet has the format: id direction length.  e.g:

                  6768 LR 44
                  6768 LR 44
                  6768 RL 100
                  6768 LR 100
                  6768 LR 44

Markov mode

       wirefilter  provides also a more complex set of parameters using a Markov chain to emulate
       different states of the link and the tranistions between states. Each state is represented
       by  a node.  Markov chain parameters can be set with management commands or rc files only.
       In fact, due to  the  large  number  of  parameters  the  command  line  would  have  been
       unreadable.

       markov-numnodes n
              defines the number of different states. All the parameters of the connection can be
              defined node by node. Nodes are numbered starting from zero (to n-1).  e.g.:

                                                      delay 100+10N[4]
                                                      loss 10[2]

              these command define a delay of 90-110 ms (normal distribution) for the node number
              4  and a 10 loss for the node 2.  It is possible to resize the Markov chain at run-
              time.  New nodes are unreachable and do not have any edge  to  other  states  (i.e.
              each  new node has a loopback edge to the node itself with 100% probability).  When
              reducing the number of nodes, the weight of the  edges  towards  deleted  nodes  is
              added to the loopback edge. When the current node of the emulation is deleted, node
              0 becomes the current node.  (The emulation always starts from node 0).

       markov-time ms
              time period (ms) for the markov chain computation. Each ms  microseconds  a  random
              number generator decides which is the next state (default value=100ms).

       markov-name n,name
              assign a name to a node of the markov chain.

       markov-setnode n
              manually set the current node to the node n.

       setedge n1,n2,w
              define  an  edge between n1 and n2; w is the weight (probability percentage) of the
              edge.  The loopback edge (from a node to itself) is always computed as  100%  minus
              the sum of the weights of outgoing edges.

       showedges [ n ]
              list  the  edges  from  node  n  (or  from the current node when the command has no
              parameters). Null weight edges are omitted.

       showcurrent
              show the current Markov state.

       showinfo [ n ]
              show status and information on state (node)  n.  If the  parameter  is  omitted  it
              shows the status and information on the current state.

       markov-debug [ n ]
              set  the  debug  level  for  the  current  management  connection.   In  the actual
              implementation when n is greater than zero each change of markov  node  causes  the
              output  of  a  debug  trace.   Debug  tracing  get  disabled  when n is zero or the
              parameter is missing.

NOTICE

       Virtual Distributed Ethernet is not related in any  way  with  www.vde.com  ("Verband  der
       Elektrotechnik,  Elektronik  und  Informationstechnik"  i.e.  the  German "Association for
       Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies").

SEE ALSO

       vde_switch(1), vdeq(1).  dpipe(1).  unixterm(1).

AUTHOR

       VDE is a project by Renzo Davoli <renzo@cs.unibo.it>