NGCTL(8)

NAME
ngctl - netgraph control utility

SYNOPSIS
ngctl [-d] [-f filename] [-n nodename] [command ...]

DESCRIPTION
The ngctl utility creates a new netgraph node of type socket which can be used to issue netgraph commands. If no -f flag is given, no command is supplied on the command line, and standard input is a tty, ngctl will enter interactive mode. Otherwise ngctl will execute the supplied command(s) and exit immediately.

Nodes can be created, removed, joined together, etc. ASCII formatted control messages can be sent to any node if that node supports binary/ASCII control message conversion.

In interactive mode, ngctl will display any control messages and data packets received by the socket node. In the case of control messages, the message arguments are displayed in ASCII form if the originating node supports conversion.

The options are as follows:

-f nodeinfo
    Read commands from the named file. A single dash represents the standard input. Blank lines and lines starting with a “#” are ignored.

-n nodename
    Assign nodename to the newly created netgraph node. The default name is ngctlXXX where XXX is the process ID number.

-d  Increase the debugging verbosity level.

COMMANDS
The currently supported commands in ngctl are:

    connect    Connects two nodes
    debug      Get/set debugging verbosity level
    help       Show command summary or get help on a command
    list       Show information about all nodes
    mkpeer     Create and connect a new node to an existing node
    msg        Send an ASCII formatted message to a node
    name       Assign a name to a node
    read       Read and execute commands from a file
    rmhook     Disconnect a node's hook
    show       Show information about a node
    shutdown   Shutdown a node
    status     Get human readable status from a node
    types      Show all installed node types
    write      Send a data packet down the hook named by "hook".
    quit       Exit program

Some commands have aliases, e.g., “ls” is the same as “list”. The “help” command displays the available commands, their usage and aliases, and a brief description.

EXIT STATUS

SEE ALSO
netgraph(3), netgraph(4), nghook(8)

HISTORY
The netgraph system was designed and first implemented at Whistle Communications, Inc. in a version of FreeBSD 2.2 customized for the Whistle InterJet.

AUTHORS
Archie Cobbs <archie@whistle.com>