Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bu-cs!kwe
From: kwe@bu-cs.BU.EDU (kwe@bu-it.bu.edu (Kent W. England))
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Route and Gateway Tools?
Message-ID: <24785@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: 8 Sep 88 18:34:31 GMT
References: <3170@emory.uucp>
Reply-To: kwe@buit13.bu.edu (Kent England)
Followup-To: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Organization: Boston Univ. Information Tech. Dept.
Lines: 32

In article <3170@emory.uucp> km@emory.uucp (Ken Mandelberg) writes:
>
>I am wondering what tools are available for tracking routes.  We would
>like to see how our neighbor manages to get out when we can't. 

	The short, funny, and sad answer is "ping, telnet, friends,
guest accounts on critical routers, and backdoors".

>In general are their any Unix host based programs that can track packets?
>Is there a host based program that can broadcast a request of the sort
>"which gateways know how to get to XXX"?

	SNMP will help equalize the situation, if your neighbors and
regional will let you peek.  A ping with record route option will tell
you how your packets are getting there and back, but won't find you a
backdoor.

	There are good reasons for backdoor, unadvertised routes
between nets.  Perhaps your neighbor, for one of several good reasons,
does not want to allow your traffic to transit his net to get out to
the backbone.  Backdoor routes are such *because* they cannot be found
from where you are. Otherwise, they are regular routes.

	I might suggest that if you are responsible for networking at
Emory that you begin to get yourself a backdoor around or to SURAnet
by working with your neighbors.  That's the way it's done.  Another
tack, complain like hell to SURAnet when you lose your connection.

	Your neighbor isn't cheating.  He's just got some insurance
and you can get some too.

	Kent England, BU