Running a routing daemon on a non-routing host

By running a routing daemon on a non-routing host, you can make it update its routing tables based on broadcasts from routers.

If the router is running the routed daemon, routed listens for broadcasts from other routers and gateways and continually updates its routing tables based on the information in those broadcasts. It also broadcasts its own routing tables so that other machines can use them for updating their own routing tables.

Because routed on a router both broadcasts its own routing table and listens for broadcasts from other routers, it is known as an ``active'' routed.

By default, the routed daemon on a host with a single network interface is ``passive'' or ``quiet''. It listens for broadcast routing table information from local routers so that it can update its own table, but it does not supply routing information.

Even if the local routers on a subnet use routed, you can choose not to run routed on the non-routing hosts if the routes to the usual destinations do not change.

If hosts are configured to run routed, you can configure either routed or gated to run on the routers.

Configuring a non-routing host to use routed

To enable routed on a non-routing host:

1. Edit the file /etc/inet/config. Replace the value ``n'' in the flag field of the entry for /usr/sbin/in.routed with the value ``y''. The entry should now read:

   sort-key:/usr/sbin/in.routed:/usr/sbin/in.gated:y:::
   

2. By default, UnixWare 7 hosts running routed will use both RIP and router discovery to maintain their routing tables. If you want a host to use router discovery to find a default router, but you do not want it to use RIP, specify the following line in its /etc/inet/gateways file:

   no_rip
   

3. Shut down and reboot the host system.

See also:

• ``Configuring router discovery using routed''

Configuring a non-routing host to use gated

To enable gated on a non-routing host:

1. To use the RIPv2 protocol, create a /etc/inet/gated.conf file on the host with the following entries:

   # Turn off unwanted protocols
   #
   bgp off ;
   egp off ;
   ospf off ;
   #
   # Turn on RIPv2 in passive mode
   #
   rip on {
   	nobroadcast ;
           interface all version 2 noripout ;
   } ;
   #
   # Define a static route to this host via the loopback interface,
   # and retain the route even if gated is shut down gracefully
   #
   static {
   	host address gateway localhost retain ;
   };
   

   The value of address in the static statement is the host's IP address. It is not the loopback address, 127.0.0.1.

   If you want the host to use router discovery to find a default router, and not to use a routing protocol such as RIP or OSPF, specify the following lines in its /etc/inet/gated.conf file:

   #
   # Configure this host to use router discovery only
   #
   bgp off ;
   egp off ;
   ospf off ;
   rip off;
   routerdiscovery client yes;
   #
   # Define a static route to this host via the loopback interface,
   # and retain the route even if gated is shut down gracefully
   #
   static {
   	host address gateway localhost retain ;
   };
   

2. Amend the entry that starts gated in /etc/inet/config to read:

   sort-key:/usr/sbin/in.gated::y:/etc/inet/gated.conf::
   

3. Shut down and reboot the system.

See also:

• ``Configuring router discovery using routed''