EXABGP(1)

NAME
exabgp - Influence or control network using BGP

SYNOPSIS
exabgp [--folder folder | -f folder] [--env env-config | -e env-config] [--full-ini | --fi] [--diff-ini | --di] [--full-env | --fe] [--diff-env | --de] [--debug | -d] [--signal time] [--once | -1] [--pdb | -p] [--memory | -s] [--profile profile] [--test | -t] [--decode hex-message | -x hex-message] [--help | -h] [--version | -v] [configuration ...]

DESCRIPTION
exabgp allows engineers to control their network from commodity servers. Possible uses include DDoS mitigation, network visualisation, service high availability and implementing anycast. exabgp does not perform any FIB manipulation on the system it runs on; if you need that this is not the program for you. exabgp can also print received BGP messages into readable plain text or JSON formatted text.

The arguments are as follows:

--folder folder | -f folder
    Specify the directory where the configuration file can be found.

--env env-config | -e env-config
    Specify where the environment configuration file can be found.

--full-ini | --fi
    Display the full environment configuration using on stdout using the ini format.

--diff-ini | --di
    Display the non-default environment configuration on stdout using the ini format.

--full-env | --fe
    Display the full environment configuration on stdout using the env format.

--diff-env | --de
    Display the non-default configuration on stdout using the env format.

--debug | -d
    Start the python debugger on serious logging on and on reception of the SIGTERM signal. This is a shortcut for exabgp.log.all=true and exabgp.log.level=DEBUG.

--signal time
    Issue a SIGUSR1 signal to reload the configuration after the specified number of seconds, only useful for code debugging.

--once | -1
    Only perform one attempt to connect to peers, used mostly for debugging.

--pdb | -p
    Start the python debugger on critical logging, reception of SIGTERM, and on uncaught python exceptions. This is a shortcut for exabgp.pdb.enable=true.

--memory | -s
    Display memory usage information on program exit.

--profile profile
    Enable collection of profiling information to the given file. This is a shortcut for exabgp.profile.enable=true and exabgp.profile.file=profile.

--test | -t
    Only do a configuration validity check.

--decode hex-message | -x hex-message
    Decode a raw route packet in hexadecimal string.

--help | -h
    Display summary of usage and configuration of exabgp.

--version | -v
    Display the exabgp version number and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
The configuration of exabgp is split in two:

•   The environment configuration which controls the basic execution of exabgp such as logging, daemonizing, pid-file, profiling etc.
•   The BGP configuration of exabgp, which specifies which neighbors it should talk BGP with and all other aspects of the BGP configuration.

The environment configuration can be specified a number of different ways, with different priority:

1.  Command line values using dot-separated notation.
2.  Environment variables using dot-separated notation.
3.  Command line values using underscore-separated notation.
4.  Environment variables using underscore-seprated notation.
5.  The values from the ini configuration file, /etc/exabgp/exabgp.env
6.  The built-in default values.

The following environment variables can be used to configure the basic execution of exabgp:

exabgp.api.encoder
    (experimental) default encoder to use with external API (text or json). Default: text.

exabgp.api.highres
    Controls whether to use high-resolution timestamps in JSON. Default: false.

exabgp.api.respawn
    Controls whether to respawn a helper process if it dies. Default: false.

exabgp.bgp.openwait
    Controls how many seconds we should wait for a BGP open message once the TCP session is established. Default: 60 seconds.

exabgp.cache.attributes
    Controls whether all attributes (configuration and wire) should be cached for faster parsing. Default: true.

exabgp.cache.nexthops
    (deprecated) Controls whether route next-hops are cached. Default: true.

exabgp.daemon.daemonize
    Controls whether exabgp should run in the background. Default: false.

exabgp.daemon.pid
    Where to save the PID of exabgp if we manage it. Default: '' (not set).

exabgp.daemon.user
    The user to run exabgp as. Should be an unprivileged user. Default: nobody.

exabgp.log.all
    Controls whether debug logging should be done for everything. Default: false.

exabgp.log.configuration
    Controls whether logging should be done for the configuration and command parsing. Default: true.

exabgp.log.daemon
    Controls whether logging should be done for PID change, forking, etc. Default: true.

exabgp.log.destination
    Controls where logging should be sent. syslog (or no setting) sends the data to the local syslog server. host:<location> sends the data to a remote syslog server. stdout sends the data to stdout. stderr sends the data to stderr. <filename> sends the data to the named file. Default: stdout.

exabgp.log.enable
    Controls whether logging should be done. Default: true.

exabgp.log.level
    Sets the minimum severity level to log. Default: INFO.

exabgp.log.message
    Controls logging of changes in route announcement in config reload. Default: false.

exabgp.log.network
    Controls logging of networking information (TCP/IP state, network state etc.). Default: true.

exabgp.log.packets
    Controls logging of BGP packets sent and received. Default: false.

exabgp.log.parser
    Controls logging of BGP message parsing details. Default: false.

exabgp.log.processes
    Controls logging of forked processes. Default: true.

exabgp.log.reactor
    Controls logging of signals received and command reload. Default: true.

exabgp.log.rib
    Controls logging of changes in locally configured routes. Default: false.

exabgp.log.routes
    Controls logging of received routes. Default: false.

exabgp.log.short
    Coontrols whether to use long or short log format (not prepended with time, level, pid and source). Default: false.

exabgp.log.timers
    Controls logging of keepalive timers. Default: false.

exabgp.pdb.enable
    Controls whether pdb, the python interactive debugger should be started on program faults. Default: false.

exabgp.profile.enable
    Controls whether profiling of the code should be done. Default: false.

exabgp.profile.file
    Controls where profiling results should be written. None/empty means stdout. Default: empty.

exabgp.reactor.speed
    Controls the time of one reactor loop. Use only if you understand the code. Default: 1.0.

exabgp.tcp.acl
    (experimental, unimplemented). Default: empty.

exabgp.tcp.bind
    IP address to bind to when listening (no ip to disable). Default: empty.

exabgp.tcp.delay
    Start to announce routes when the minutes in the hour is a modulo of this number. Default: 0.

exabgp.tcp.once
    Only perform one TCP connection attempt per peer, for debugging scripts. Default: false.

exabgp.tcp.port
    Port to bind to when listening. Default: 179.

FILES
/etc/exabgp/exabgp.env is the default file for setting the "environment" variables controlling the execution of exabgp. An alaternative "env" configuration file can be supplied via the --env env-config argument. The format of this file is "Windows INI format". All the default settings can be shown with the exabgp --test --full-init command, an example showing parts of this output is:

    [exabgp.api]
    encoder = text
    highres = false
    respawn = false
    [exabgp.bgp]
    openwait = 60

Additionally, the user will need to supply a configuration file controlling the BGP configuration of exabgp, in the format described in exabgp.conf(5).

SIGNALS
exabgp catches a few different signals to control specific actions. They are:

ALRM
    Restarts exabgp.
USR1
    Causes exabgp to reload the configuration.
USR2
    Causes exabgp to reload the configuration and restart any forked processes.
TERM
    Terminates exabgp.
HUP Also terminates exabgp (does not reload the configuration anymore).

Reloading large configurations using signals is currently not recommended, because the configuration parsing code is currently blocking. Therefore if you have a large configuration change, it could cause the peer to miss some keepalive and cause a session flap.

DIAGNOSTICS
The --test argument is useful to validate the syntax of the configuration file. The --debug flag will provide copious debug output to whereever the various exabgp.log variable settings dictate.

SEE ALSO
exabgp.conf(5)

STANDARDS
A list of the standards exabgp implements which is indicative of the features implemented is:

RFC 4893
    BGP Support for Four-octet AS Number Space
RFC 4760
    Multiprotocol Extension for BGP-4
RFC 4659
    BGP-MPLS IP Virtual Private Network (VPN) Extension for IPv6 VPN
RFC 4762
    Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) Using Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) Signalling
RFC 5575
    Dissemination of Flow Specification Rules
RFC 4724
    Graceful Restart Mechanism for BGP
RFC 7313
    Enhanced Route Refresh Capability for BGP-4
RFC 7311
    The Accumulated IGP Metric Attribute for BGP
draft-raszuk-idr-flow-spec-v6-03
    (draft-ietf-idr-flow-spec-v6-06), Dissemination of Flow Specification Rules for IPv6
draft-ietf-idr-flowspect-redirect-ip-00 (-02)
    BGP Flow-Spect Redirect to IP Action
draft-ietf-idr-add-paths-08 (-10)
    Advertisement of Multiple Paths in BGP
draft-ietf-idr-bgp-multisession-07 (??)
draft-scudder-bmp-01 (??)

A list of other more basic BGP-related standard entirely or partially implemented is:

RFC 1997
    BGP Communities Attribute
RFC 2385
    Protection of BGP Sessions via the TCP MD5 Signature
RFC 2545
    Use of BGP-4 Multirptocol Extensions for IPv6 Inter-Domain Routing
RFC 2918
    Route Refresh Capability for BGP-4
RFC 3107
    Carrying Label Information in BGP-4
RFC 3765
    NOPEER Community for Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Route Scope Control
RFC 7999
    BLACKHOLE BGP Community for Blackholing
RFC 4271
    A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)
RFC 4360
    BGP Extended Communities Attribute
RFC 4364
    Constrained Route Distribution for BGP/MPLS IP VPNs
RFC 4456
    BGP Rotue Relection: An Alternative to Full Mesh Internal BGP (iBGP)
RFC 5396
    Textual Representation of Autonomous System (AS) Numbers
RFC 5492
    Capabilities Advertisement with BGP-4
RFC 6286
    Autonomous-System-Wide Unique BGP Identifier for BGP-4
RFC 6608
    Subcodes for BGP Finate State Machine Error