5
@uref{http://www.quagga.net,,Quagga} is a routing software package that
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provides TCP/IP based routing services with routing protocols support such
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as RIPv1, RIPv2, RIPng, OSPFv2, OSPFv3, BGP-4, and BGP-4+ (@pxref{Supported
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RFC}). Quagga also supports special BGP Route Reflector and Route Server
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behavior. In addition to traditional IPv4 routing protocols, Quagga also
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supports IPv6 routing protocols. With SNMP daemon which supports SMUX
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protocol, Quagga provides routing protocol MIBs (@pxref{SNMP Support}).
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Quagga uses an advanced software architecture to provide you with a high
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quality, multi server routing engine. Quagga has an interactive user
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interface for each routing protocol and supports common client commands.
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Due to this design, you can add new protocol daemons to Quagga easily. You
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can use Quagga library as your program's client user interface.
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Quagga is distributed under the @sc{gnu} General Public License.
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* About Quagga:: Basic information about Quagga
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* System Architecture:: The Quagga system architecture
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* Supported Platforms:: Supported platforms and future plans
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* Supported RFC:: Supported RFCs
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* Mailing List:: Mailing list information
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* Bug Reports:: Mail address for bug data
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@comment node-name, next, previous, up
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Today, TCP/IP networks are covering all of the world. The Internet has
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been deployed in many countries, companies, and to the home. When you
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connect to the Internet your packet will pass many routers which have TCP/IP
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routing functionality.
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A system with Quagga installed acts as a dedicated router. With Quagga,
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your machine exchanges routing information with other routers using routing
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protocols. Quagga uses this information to update the kernel routing table
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so that the right data goes to the right place. You can dynamically change
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the configuration and you may view routing table information from the Quagga
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Adding to routing protocol support, Quagga can setup interface's flags,
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interface's address, static routes and so on. If you have a small network,
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or a stub network, or xDSL connection, configuring the Quagga routing
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software is very easy. The only thing you have to do is to set up the
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interfaces and put a few commands about static routes and/or default routes.
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If the network is rather large, or if the network structure changes
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frequently, you will want to take advantage of Quagga's dynamic routing
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protocol support for protocols such as RIP, OSPF or BGP.
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Traditionally, UNIX based router configuration is done by
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@command{ifconfig} and @command{route} commands. Status of routing
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table is displayed by @command{netstat} utility. Almost of these commands
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work only if the user has root privileges. Quagga has a different system
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administration method. There are two user modes in Quagga. One is normal
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mode, the other is enable mode. Normal mode user can only view system
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status, enable mode user can change system configuration. This UNIX account
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independent feature will be great help to the router administrator.
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Currently, Quagga supports common unicast routing protocols. Multicast
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routing protocols such as BGMP, PIM-SM, PIM-DM may be supported in Quagga
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2.0. MPLS support is going on. In the future, TCP/IP filtering control,
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QoS control, diffserv configuration will be added to Quagga. Quagga
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project's final goal is making a productive, quality, free TCP/IP routing
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@node System Architecture
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@comment node-name, next, previous, up
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@section System Architecture
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@cindex System architecture
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@cindex Software architecture
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@cindex Software internals
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Traditional routing software is made as a one process program which
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provides all of the routing protocol functionalities. Quagga takes a
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different approach. It is made from a collection of several daemons that
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work together to build the routing table. There may be several
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protocol-specific routing daemons and zebra the kernel routing manager.
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The @command{ripd} daemon handles the RIP protocol, while
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@command{ospfd} is a daemon which supports OSPF version 2.
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@command{bgpd} supports the BGP-4 protocol. For changing the kernel
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routing table and for redistribution of routes between different routing
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protocols, there is a kernel routing table manager @command{zebra} daemon.
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It is easy to add a new routing protocol daemons to the entire routing
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system without affecting any other software. You need to run only the
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protocol daemon associated with routing protocols in use. Thus, user may
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run a specific daemon and send routing reports to a central routing console.
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There is no need for these daemons to be running on the same machine. You
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can even run several same protocol daemons on the same machine. This
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architecture creates new possibilities for the routing system.
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+----+ +----+ +-----+ +-----+
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|bgpd| |ripd| |ospfd| |zebra|
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+----+ +----+ +-----+ +-----+
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+---------------------------|--+
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| UNIX Kernel routing table |
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+------------------------------+
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Quagga System Architecture
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Multi-process architecture brings extensibility, modularity and
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maintainability. At the same time it also brings many configuration files
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and terminal interfaces. Each daemon has it's own configuration file and
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terminal interface. When you configure a static route, it must be done in
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@command{zebra} configuration file. When you configure BGP network it must
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be done in @command{bgpd} configuration file. This can be a very annoying
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thing. To resolve the problem, Quagga provides integrated user interface
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shell called @command{vtysh}. @command{vtysh} connects to each daemon with
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UNIX domain socket and then works as a proxy for user input.
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Quagga was planned to use multi-threaded mechanism when it runs with a
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kernel that supports multi-threads. But at the moment, the thread library
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which comes with @sc{gnu}/Linux or FreeBSD has some problems with running
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reliable services such as routing software, so we don't use threads at all.
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Instead we use the @command{select(2)} system call for multiplexing the
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@node Supported Platforms
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@comment node-name, next, previous, up
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@section Supported Platforms
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@cindex Supported platforms
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@cindex Quagga on other systems
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@cindex Compatibility with other systems
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@cindex Operating systems that support Quagga
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Currently Quagga supports @sc{gnu}/Linux, BSD and Solaris. Porting Quagga
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to other platforms is not too difficult as platform dependent code should
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most be limited to the @command{zebra} daemon. Protocol daemons are mostly
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platform independent. Please let us know when you find out Quagga runs on a
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platform which is not listed below.
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The list of officially supported platforms are listed below. Note that
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Quagga may run correctly on other platforms, and may run with partial
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functionality on further platforms.
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@sc{gnu}/Linux 2.2.x and higher
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FreeBSD 4.x and higher
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NetBSD 1.6 and higher
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OpenBSD 2.5 and higher
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Solaris 2.6 and higher (IPv6 support requires a patch at moment)
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Some IPv6 stacks are in development. Quagga supports following IPv6
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stacks. For BSD, we recommend KAME IPv6 stack. Solaris IPv6 stack is
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Linux IPv6 stack for GNU/Linux 2.2.x and higher.
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KAME IPv6 stack for BSD.
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INRIA IPv6 stack for BSD.
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@comment node-name, next, previous, up
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@section Supported RFC
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Below is the list of currently supported RFC's.
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@cite{Routing Information Protocol. C.L. Hedrick. Jun-01-1988.}
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@cite{RIP-2 MD5 Authentication. F. Baker, R. Atkinson. January 1997.}
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@cite{RIP Version 2. G. Malkin. November 1998.}
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@cite{RIPng for IPv6. G. Malkin, R. Minnear. January 1997.}
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@cite{OSPF Version 2. J. Moy. April 1998.}
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@cite{The OSPF Opaque LSA Option R. Coltun. July 1998.}
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@cite{The OSPF Not-So-Stubby Area (NSSA) Option P. Murphy. January 2003.}
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@cite{OSPF for IPv6. R. Coltun, D. Ferguson, J. Moy. December 1999.}
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@cite{A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4). Y. Rekhter & T. Li. March 1995.}
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@cite{Autonomous System Confederations for BGP. P. Traina. June 1996.}
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@cite{BGP Communities Attribute. R. Chandra, P. Traina & T. Li. August 1996.}
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@cite{Use of BGP-4 Multiprotocol Extensions for IPv6 Inter-Domain Routing. P. Marques, F. Dupont. March 1999.}
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@cite{BGP Route Reflection An alternative to full mesh IBGP. T. Bates & R. Chandrasekeran. June 1996.}
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@cite{Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4. T. Bates, Y. Rekhter, R. Chandra, D. Katz. June 2000.}
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@cite{Capabilities Advertisement with BGP-4. R. Chandra, J. Scudder. May 2000.}
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When SNMP support is enabled, below RFC is also supported.
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@cite{SNMP MUX protocol and MIB. M.T. Rose. May-01-1991.}
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@cite{Definitions of Managed Objects for the Fourth Version of the
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Border Gateway Protocol (BGP-4) using SMIv2. S. Willis, J. Burruss,
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J. Chu, Editor. July 1994.}
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@cite{RIP Version 2 MIB Extension. G. Malkin & F. Baker. November 1994.}
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@cite{OSPF Version 2 Management Information Base. F. Baker, R. Coltun.
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@node How to get Quagga
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@comment node-name, next, previous, up
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@section How to get Quagga
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Quagga is still beta software and there is no officially released
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Zebra's official web page is located at:
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@uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/zebra/zebra.html}.
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The original Zebra web site is located at:
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@uref{http://www.zebra.org/}.
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As of this writing, development by zebra.org on Zebra has slowed down. Some
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work is being done by third-parties to try maintain bug-fixes and
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enhancements to the current Zebra code-base, which has resulted in a fork of
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Zebra called Quagga, see:
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@uref{http://www.quagga.net/}
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for further information, as well as links to additional zebra resources.
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@comment node-name, next, previous, up
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@section Mailing List
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@cindex How to get in touch with Quagga
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@cindex Mailing Quagga
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@cindex Contact information
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@cindex Mailing lists
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There is a mailing list for discussions about Quagga. If you have any
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comments or suggestions to Quagga, please subscribe to:
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@uref{http://lists.quagga.net/mailman/listinfo/quagga-users}.
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The @uref{http://www.quagga.net/,,Quagga} site has further information on
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the available mailing lists, see:
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@uref{http://www.quagga.net/lists.php}
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@cindex Reporting bugs
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@cindex Reporting software errors
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@cindex Errors in the software
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If you think you have found a bug, please send a bug report to:
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@uref{http://bugzilla.quagga.net}
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When you send a bug report, please be careful about the points below.
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Please note what kind of OS you are using. If you use the IPv6 stack
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please note that as well.
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Please show us the results of @code{netstat -rn} and @code{ifconfig -a}.
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Information from zebra's VTY command @code{show ip route} will also be
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Please send your configuration file with the report. If you specify
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arguments to the configure script please note that too.
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Bug reports are very important for us to improve the quality of Quagga.
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Quagga is still in the development stage, but please don't hesitate to
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send a bug report to @uref{http://bugzilla.quagga.net}.
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