ZEBRA(8)

📦 version 1.2.4, in alpine 3.22, alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24

ZEBRA(8) 💅✨

okay so real talk, this is the man page for zebra, manual section 8, and we're running Version 0.97.3 bestie. buckle up 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

zebra — a routing manager for use with associated Quagga components. that's the whole vibe, she manages routes and she's got friends 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

zebra [ -bdhklrv ] [ -f config-file ] [ -i pid-file ] [ -P port-number ]
[ -A vty-address ] [ -u user ] [ -g group ]

like, that's how you summon her 💫

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so zebra is a routing manager that implements the zebra route engine. and the way that she's booked and busy: zebra supports RIPv1, RIPv2, RIPng, OSPF, OSPF6, IS-IS, BGP4+, and BGP4-. all of them. she contains multitudes 💖

👑 OPTIONS 👑

these are the options available for the zebra command, no cap:

  • -b, --batch — runs in batch mode; zebra parses its config and then just exits. in and out, main character energy, no lingering 😌
  • -d, --daemon — runs in daemon mode: forks and exits from the tty. she leaves the group chat to go be mysterious 🧚
  • -f, --config-file config-file — specifies the config file to use for startup. if you don't specify it, this option will likely default to /usr/local/etc/zebra.conf. lowkey important fr
  • -g, --group group — specify the group to run as. default is quagga.
  • -h, --help — a brief message. that's it. that's the whole thing 🎀
  • -i, --pid_file pid-file — when zebra starts, its process identifier is written to pid-file. the init system uses the recorded PID to stop or restart zebra. the likely default is /var/run/zebra.pid.
  • -k, --keep_kernel — on startup, don't delete self inserted routes. she's being polite, she's leaving your stuff alone 🫶
  • -P, --vty_port port-number — specify the port that the zebra VTY will listen on. this defaults to 2601, as specified in /etc/services.
  • -A, --vty_addr vty-address — specify the address that the zebra VTY will listen on. default is all interfaces.
  • -u, --user user — specify the user to run as. default is quagga.
  • -r, --retain — when the program terminates, retain routes added by zebra. she's gone but her legacy remains 😭👑
  • -s, --nl-bufsize netlink-buffer-size — set netlink receive buffer size. okay so this one needs a whole moment, see below ⬇️
  • -v, --version — print the version and exit.

🔥 the -s situation, explained 🔥

there are cases where the zebra daemon can't handle a flood of netlink messages from the kernel. if you ever see "recvmsg overrun" messages in the zebra log, you are in trouble. 💀

the solution is to increase the receive buffer of the netlink socket. note that kernel < 2.6.14 doesn't allow increasing it over the maximum value defined in /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max. if you want to do it, you have to increase the maximum before starting zebra.

also note that this affects Linux only. everybody else can sit this one out 🙈

🍓 FILES 🍓

  • /usr/local/sbin/zebra — the default location of the zebra binary. that's where she lives 🏠
  • /usr/local/etc/zebra.conf — the default location of the zebra config file.
  • $(PWD)/zebra.log — if the zebra process is config'd to output logs to a file, then you will find this file in the directory where you started zebra. iykyk, it's wherever you were standing 📍

⭐ WARNING ⭐

this man page is intended to be a quick reference for command line options. the definitive document is the Info file Quagga. so like, she's the vibe summary, not the whole syllabus, bestie 🫶

🌈 DIAGNOSTICS 🌈

the zebra process may log to standard output, to a VTY, to a log file, or through syslog to the system logs. zebra supports many debugging options — see the Info file, or the source for details. she's chatty and she has options 💅

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

bgpd(8), ripd(8), ripngd(8), ospfd(8), ospf6d(8), isisd(8), nhrpd(8), vtysh(1)

the whole friend group 💖✨

💀 BUGS 💀

zebra eats bugs for breakfast. no cap. if you have food for the maintainers, try http://bugzilla.quagga.net 🍓

🧚 AUTHORS 🧚

see http://www.zebra.org and http://www.quagga.net or the Info file for an accurate list of authors. credit where credit is due, periodt 👑

and that's the page!! written by the Zebra daemon, dated 25 November 2004 — yes she's an icon from 2004 and she's still serving 💅✨ mwah 🫶

📦 where this page comes from