RTSOLD(8)               OpenBSD System Manager's Manual              RTSOLD(8)

NAME
     rtsold - router solicitation daemon

SYNOPSIS
     rtsold [-dDfm1] interface ...
     rtsold [-dDfm1] -a
     rtsol [-dD] interface ...
     rtsol [-dD] -a

DESCRIPTION
     rtsold is the daemon program to send ICMPv6 Router Solicitation messages
     on the specified interfaces.  If a node (re)attaches to a link, rtsold
     sends some Router Solicitations on the link destined to the link-local
     scope all-routers multicast address to discover new routers and to get
     non link-local addresses.

     rtsold should be used on IPv6 hosts (non-router nodes) only.

     If you invoke the program as rtsol, it will transmit probes from the
     specified interface, without becoming a daemon.  In other words, rtsol
     behaves as ``rtsold -f1 interfaces''.

     Specifically, rtsold sends at most 3 Router Solicitations on an interface
     after one of the following events:

     o   Just after invocation of rtsold daemon.
     o   The interface is up after a temporary interface failure.  rtsold de-
         tects such failures by periodically probing to see if the status of
         the interface is active or not.  Note that some network cards and
         drivers do not allow the extraction of link state.  In such cases,
         rtsold cannot detect the change of the interface status.
     o   Every 60 seconds if the -m option is specified and the rtsold daemon
         cannot get the interface status.  This feature does not conform to
         the IPv6 neighbor discovery specification, but is provided for mobile
         stations.  The default interval for router advertisements, which is
         on the order of 10 minutes, is slightly long for mobile stations.
         This feature is provided for such stations so that they can find new
         routers as soon as possible when they attach to another link.

     Once rtsold has sent a Router Solicitation, and has received a valid
     Router Advertisement, it refrains from sending additional solicitations
     on that interface, until the next time one of the above events occurs.

     When sending a Router Solicitation on an interface, rtsold includes a
     Source Link-layer address option if the interface has a link-layer ad-
     dress.

     Upon receipt of signal SIGUSR1, rtsold will dump the current internal
     state into /var/run/rtsold.dump.

     The options are as follows:

     -a      Autoprobe outgoing interface.  rtsold will try to find a non-
             loopback, non-point-to-point, IPv6-capable interface.  If rtsold
             finds multiple interfaces, rtsold will exit with error.

     -d      Enable debugging.

     -D      Enable more debugging including the printing of internal timer
             information.

     -f      -f prevents rtsold from becoming a daemon (foreground mode).
             Warning messages are generated to standard error instead of

             syslog(3).

     -m      Enable mobility support.  If this option is specified, rtsold
             sends probing packets to default routers that have advertised
             Router Advertisements when the node (re)attaches to an interface.
             Moreover, if the option is specified, rtsold periodically sends
             Router Solicitation on an interface that does not support
             SIOCGIFMEDIA ioctl.

     -1      Perform only one probe.  Transmit Router Solicitation packets un-
             til at least one valid Router Advertisement packet has arrived on
             each interface, then exit.

RETURN VALUES
     The rtsold program exits 0 on success, and >0 on failures.

FILES
     /var/run/rtsold.pid   the pid of the currently running rtsold.
     /var/run/rtsold.dump  dumps internal state on.

SEE ALSO
     rtadvd(8), sysctl(8)

HISTORY
     The rtsold command is based on the rtsol command, which first appeared in
     WIDE/KAME IPv6 protocol stack kit.  rtsol is now integrated into
     rtsold(8).

BUGS
     In some operating systems, when a PCMCIA network card is removed and
     reinserted, the corresponding interface index is changed.  However, rt-
     sold assumes such changes will not occur, and always uses the index that
     it got at invocation. As a result, rtsold may not work if you reinsert a
     network card.  In such a case, rtsold should be killed and restarted.

     The IPv6 autoconfiguration specification assumes a single-interface host.
     You may see kernel error messages if you try to autoconfigure a host with
     multiple interfaces.  Also, it seems contradictory for rtsold to accept
     multiple interface arguments.

OpenBSD 3.0                      May 17, 1998                                2
