bird (8)

bird [-c config-file] [-d] [-D debug-file] [-p] [-s control-socket] birdc [-s control-socket] [-v] [-r] bird6 [-c config-file] [-d] [-D debug-file] [-p] [-s control-socket] birdc6 [-s control-socket] [-v] [-r]

bird is an Internet Routing Daemon. That is, it sends and receives messages using different protocols in order to discover and exchange routing information with other routing daemons present on the same network. It is able to talk the most widely known routing protocols (such as BGPv4, RIPv2, OSPFv2 and OSPFv3), both on IPv4 and IPv6 and it features a very powerful language for route filtering.

birdc is a remote control for bird. While bird is running, the system administrator can connect to it using birdc, to inspect its internal status and reconfigure it. The two processes use a Unix socket to communicate. Once started, bird will give access to an interactive shell: commands can be completed with TAB and help can be requested by pressing the key `?'. More documentation on the available commands can be foung on the website, see below.

bird6 and birdc6 are the exact equivalent for bird and birdc for the IPv6 world. The accept the same command syntax with the same meaning.

The bird and bird6 are able to receive there options:

-c config-file

Use given configuration file instead of the default /etc/bird/bird.conf.

-d

Enable debug messages and run bird in foreground.

-D debug-file

Log debugging information to given file instead of standard error.

-p

Just parse the config file and exit. Return value is zero if the config file is valid, nonzero if there are some errors.

-s control-socket

Use given filename for a socket for communications with the client (remote control), default is /var/run/bird.ctl.

The birdc and birdc6 are able to receive there options:

-s control-socket

Use given filename for a socket for communications with the server, default is /var/run/bird.ctl.

-r

Run birdc in restricted mode: only the `show ...' commands are allowed.

-v

Numeric return codes are dumped along with messages, making them easily parsable by a program. See the programmer's documentation for information about their meanings.

/etc/bird/bird.conf

The system-wide configuration file to control the behaviour of bird. See the website for more documentation.

/etc/bird/bird6.conf

The system-wide configuration file to control the behaviour of bird6. See the website for more documentation.

More documentation con be found on the website: http://bird.network.cz/.

Giovanni Mascellani <[email protected]>

Wrote this manpage for the Debian system.

Copyright © 2010 Giovanni Mascellani

This manual page was written for the Debian system (and may be used by others).

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2 or (at your option) any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL.