IPWATCHD(8)

💖 IPWATCHD 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because today we're talking about ipwatchd from the System Manager's Manual — section 8, the big-girl sysadmin section, iykyk 👑

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✨ NAME ✨

ipwatchd — IP conflict detection tool for Linux 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

ipwatchd --config config_file [--debug] [--test]
ipwatchd --version
ipwatchd --help

like. three whole ways to run her. pick your fighter 💅

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

IPwatchD is a simple daemon that analyses all incoming ARP packets in order to detect IP conflicts. yes she is literally just sitting there reading every ARP packet that walks by. no cap. that's the whole job and she eats 💅

The default configuration file uses "automatic configuration mode" with "passive protection mode" and it should be the best option for most systems. so if you're a "just leave the defaults" girlie, correct, slay, you're right 🌈

Configuration mode applies to the daemon instance and it specifies how the list of network interfaces that should be monitored will be obtained. okay so, translation:

• In automatic configuration mode IPwatchD detects all network interfaces automatically and sets passive protection mode for them. she does the work, you do nothing. main character energy fr fr 👑
• In manual configuration mode it is up to the system administrator to specify list of interfaces and protection modes in configuration file. that's you. you're the system administrator. yeah. scary. but iconic ✨

Protection mode specifies the action that will be performed when IP conflict is detected. so bestie, what happens when somebody tries to steal your IP? depends on the mode:

• In active protection mode IPwatchD protects your host before IP takeover by answering gratuitous ARP requests received from conflicting system. she FIGHTS. she answers those gratuitous ARP requests herself. not on my watch 💀🔥
• In passive protection mode it just records information about IP conflict through standard syslog interface. she's not fighting, she's documenting. she's a witness. she's writing it down in syslog for the group chat 📝

IPwatchD also supports execution of user defined scripts. See ipwatchd.conf(5) and ipwatchd-script(1) for more details. oh you want custom scripts?? she's flexible like that 🫶

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💜 OPTIONS 💜

The following options are supported:

• -c, --config — Specifies path to configuration file. yes you need this one. this is the load-bearing option bestie 🍓
• -d, --debug — Enables debug mode. Debug information are recorded through syslog with "daemon" facility and "debug" priority. for when you need to know EVERYTHING 😭
• -t, --test — Enables testing mode that is useful only for debugging. In this mode every received ARP packet is considered to be conflicting. okay this one is a chaos gremlin. useful only for debugging, she said it, not me 🙈
• -v, --version — Prints program version to standard output. classic. reliable. iconic 💖
• -h, --help — Prints short help information to standard output. when in doubt, ask her directly ✨

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🦋 CONFIGURATION 🦋

See ipwatchd.conf(5) for more details. that's it, that's the section. go read the other page bestie, she's got the real tea 🎀

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🌷 AUTHOR 🌷

This manual page was written by Jaroslav Imrich <jariq@jariq.sk>. thank you for your service, legend 🫶

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• ipwatchd.conf(5)
• ipwatchd-script(1)

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heads up bestie: -t, --test is only for debugging — in that mode every received ARP packet is considered to be conflicting. do not run that in prod. please. i'm begging 😭

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and that's the whole page, we're done here 💅

this was IPWATCHD(8) from the System Manager's Manual — section 8, the sysadmin chapter, periodt. no version number, no date, just vibes and a manual page that slays. mwah 💋✨