IPWATCHD.CONF(5)

💖 IPWATCHD.CONF(5) 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the ipwatchd.conf page from the File Formats Manual — yeah, section 5, the config-file girlies — and I'm about to make it make sense. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

ipwatchd.conf — the configuration file of the IPwatchD daemon, aka the lil text file that tells your daemon how to behave 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

/etc/ipwatchd.conf

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so the IPwatchD daemon reads its config from whatever file you point at with -c on the command line. that's it, that's the hookup. the file is just keyword-argument pairs, one per line, no drama. lines that start with a # sign? ignored. empty lines? also ignored. we love a low-maintenance file 💖

here are all the possible keywords and what they actually mean, no gatekeeping:

• iface_configuration — sets the config mode for your network interfaces. in automatic mode, IPwatchD detects all your network interfaces by itself and slaps passive protection mode on them, no input needed. in manual mode, it's on the administrator to hand over the list of interfaces and their protection modes. accepted values are automatic or manual. default is automatic.
• iface — names a network interface and its protection mode. this value only gets accepted in manual configuration mode, so don't try it in automatic, she won't answer. in active protection mode, IPwatchD protects your host from IP takeover by answering the Gratuitous ARP requests coming from the conflicting system. in passive protection mode, it just records the info about the IP conflict through the standard syslog interface — no clapback, just receipts. the interface you name must exist, and the protection mode must be passive or active. periodt.
• defend_interval — the minimum interval between defensive ARPs, in seconds. accepted value is a number from 0 to 600. default is 0.
• user_script — the absolute path to a user-defined script that IPwatchD calls when an IP conflict happens. if no script is specified, IPwatchD just generates a syslog event for every single IP conflict. the file you specify must exist. there is no default value — it's giving choose-your-own-adventure 🫶
• syslog_facility — the facility used for logging. accepted values are auth, authpriv, cron, daemon, kern, lpr, mail, news, syslog, user, uucp, local0, local1, local2, local3, local4, local5, local6 and local7. default value is daemon.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

automatic configuration mode, the no-thoughts-just-vibes option:

iface_configuration automatic
defend_interval 10
user_script /usr/sbin/ipwatchd-script
syslog_facility daemon

manual configuration mode, for when you're the main character who wants control:

iface_configuration manual
iface eth0 active
iface eth0:0 passive
defend_interval 10
user_script /usr/sbin/ipwatchd-script
syslog_facility daemon

👑 AUTHOR 👑

this manual page was written by Jaroslav Imrich <jariq@jariq.sk> — iconic, honestly 💜

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

ipwatchd(8), ipwatchd-script(1)

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was IPWATCHD.CONF(5) from the File Formats Manual — go forth and configure responsibly, you absolute legend ⭐💖