Re: Proposal for two minor improvements in prtraceroute

[Tony Bates <]

 "Peder Chr. Norgaard" pcn@localhost writes:
  * Hi,
  * 
  * 	I have been using the prtraceroute tool (1.0.1 version) on large scale
  * for the first time, to verify routing through EuropaNET, and I have a reque
  * st
  * for correction of an error and a request for improvement of readability of
  * output.  The tool is extremely useful as it is, but as the changes looks qu
  * ite
  * easy to make I try anyway ...
  * 
  * 	This run shows what I mean:
  * 
  * ======================================================================
  * unix prompt# prtraceroute -v 193.172.12.30
  * traceroute with AS and policy additions [Jan  6 13:48:40 UTC] 
  * 
  * 		from AS2043 iphost.empb.net (193.172.8.34)
  * 		to   AS2043 193.172.12.30 (193.172.12.30),
  *                      ^^^^^^                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  *  1 AS2043  cisadam.empb.net               (193.172.8.33)     [I]
  *  2 AS2043  amsterdam3.empb.net            (193.172.4.16)     [I]
  *  3 AS2043  amsterdam5.empb.net            (193.172.4.19)     [I]
  *  4 AS1128  Amsterdam1.dante.net           (193.172.12.30)    [D1]
  * 
  * AS Path followed:  2043 1128
  * 
  * AS2043 = European Multiprotocol Backbone
  * AS1128 = DANTE Gateway in Amsterdam
  * ======================================================================
  * 
  * 	At first marking above the value should be AS1128, as specified by an
  * ias-int field in the 193.172.12.0 database entry.  The prtraceroute program
  * discovers that correctly in line 4 below; it would be nice if it was shown
  * correctly in the header line too.
  *
Well it does in my version ????
traceroute with AS and policy additions [Jan  6 15:08:55 UTC] 

                from AS1104 ns.ripe.net (192.87.45.1)
                to   AS1128 Amsterdam1.dante.net (193.172.12.30)

 1 AS1104  hef-router.nikhef.nl           (192.87.45.80)     [I]
 2 AS1103  Amsterdam1.router.surfnet.nl   (192.16.183.112)   [D1]
 3 AS1103  Amsterdam2.router.surfnet.nl   (145.41.9.130)     [I]
 4 AS2043  amsterdam4.empb.net            (193.172.4.17)     [ERROR]
 5 AS2043  amsterdam5.empb.net            (193.172.4.19)     [I]
 6 AS1128  Amsterdam1.dante.net           (193.172.12.30)    [?]

AS Path followed:  1104 1103 2043 1128

AS1104 = NIKHEF-H
AS1103 = SURFnet IP
AS2043 = European Multiprotocol Backbone
AS1128 = DANTE Gateway in Amsterdam

So this is a mystery - can you mail to pride-tools@localhost a copy of
your prtraceroute ?
Also, just in case there was some confusion I have remade the 1.0.1
distribution which may mean you get a newer prtraceroute as well.
 
  * 
  * 	At second marking above I would like to have the DNS name, again
  * as is found in line 4 below.  I cannot specify the DNS name in the argument
  * to prtraceroute, as I very often will do prtraceroute to destinations
  * where one DNS name covers several IP addresses, and I have to control
  * which IP address to go for.  Also, even when the prtraceroute destination
  * is finally reached (as in the case above) it is by no means certain that
  * the destination reply with the same IP address as the one I used for
  * argument.
  * 
  * 	Please note, that I really want the line to read:
  * 
  * 		to   AS1128 193.172.12.30 (Amsterdam1.dante.net),
  * 
  * even if it looks a bit awkward.  The much nicer
  * 
  * 		to   AS1128 Amsterdam1.dante.net (193.172.12.30)
  * 
  * would be worse than now, because the reader of that text could be lead to
  * believe that the original call was
  * 
  * 	unix prompt# prtraceroute -v Amsterdam1.dante.net
  * 
  * which is not the case.
  * 
  * Thank you in advance for considering these improvements.
  * 
Well not really - the address is chosen implicitly by the user (i.e
the IP address typed in or slected by DNS as you typed a hostname and
that IP address being traced to will always be shown).

  * best regards
  * 
  * Peder Chr. Norgaard, Telebit Communications A/S, Denmark.

Cheers,
		--Tony.