MAP-MBONE(8)

💅 map-mbone(8) — the multicast connection mapper, bestie

okay so real talk, this is a page from the system manager's manual, and it's called map-mbone — the multicast connection mapper. it's giving network detective energy and honestly? iconic.

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🌸 NAME

map-mbone — Multicast connection mapper 🗺️✨

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🎀 SYNOPSIS

map-mbone [-fgn] [-d level] [-r count] [-t seconds] [starting_router]

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💖 DESCRIPTION

so here's the vibe: map-mbone attempts to display all the multicast routers that are reachable from the multicast router starting_router. if you don't specify one on the command line, starting_router is literally "localhost" — the default main character. 🏠

🚨 heads up bestie: map-mbone must be run as root. no cap, no workaround, that's just the rule.

how it works, step by step 🪄: map-mbone sends an ASK_NEIGHBORS IGMP message to starting_router. the response contains the multicast version number of starting_router plus the addresses of all its neighboring multicast routers. and if that multicast version number is recent? then map-mbone goes the extra mile and requests additional information — metrics, thresholds, and flags. obsessed. 💅

if a recursive search has been requested (see -f, bb), map-mbone repeats the whole operation above for each new multicast router in the list of neighbors, and keeps the process going until no new multicast routers are reported. it's a whole chain reaction, it's giving cascading group chat. 🔁

and now, the options ✨:

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🦋 OPTIONS

• -d level — sets the debug level to level. when the debug level is greater than 0, extra debugging messages get printed to stderr. regardless of the debug level though, an error condition will always write an error message and will cause map-mbone to terminate. 💀 the non-zero debug levels are:
  1. print packet warnings, plus level 0 messages.
  2. print notifications of down networks, plus level 1 messages.
  3. print notifications of all packet timeouts, plus level 2 messages.

default is 0.

• -f — causes a recursive (flooding) search. and if no starting_router is specified, a recursive search is always performed — no asking, it just goes. 🌊
• -g — sets graphing format to GraphEd format. 📊
• -n — disables DNS lookup for the names of the multicast routers. so you get raw addresses, no name reveal. 🙈
• -r count — sets the neighbor query retry limit to count. default is 1.
• -t seconds — sets the number of seconds to wait for a neighbor query reply before retrying to seconds. default is 2. ⏳

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🌈 SEE ALSO

mrinfo(8), mrouted(8), mtrace(8) — the rest of the friend group, go say hi 🫶

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👑 AUTHORS

Pavel Curtis 💜

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and that's the page!! source/version and date moment: this one's from Debian, dated May 31, 2007 — a genuine vintage icon, honestly a little retro but she still slays. 🎀✨ bye bestie, happy mapping! 🦋