Implementing Host Services and Applications

Implementing Host Services and Applications

Cisco IOS XR software Host Services and Applications features on the router are used primarily for checking network connectivity and the route a packet follows to reach a destination, mapping a hostname to an IP address or an IP address to a hostname, and transferring files between routers and UNIX workstations.

Prerequisites for implementing Host Services and Applications

Ensure to install the relevant optional RPM package before using the host services or applications. For example, Install Telnet RPM before using Telnet.

Network Connectivity Tools

Network connectivity tools enable you to check device connectivity by running traceroutes and pinging devices on the network:

Ping

The ping command is a common method for troubleshooting the accessibility of devices. It uses two Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) query messages, ICMP echo requests, and ICMP echo replies to determine whether a remote host is active. The ping command also measures the amount of time it takes to receive the echo reply.

The ping command first sends an echo request packet to an address, and then it waits for a reply. The ping is successful only if the echo request gets to the destination, and the destination is able to get an echo reply (hostname is alive) back to the source of the ping within a predefined time interval.

The bulk option has been introduced to check reachability to multiple destinations. The destinations are directly input through the CLI. This option is supported for ipv4 destinations only.

Checking Network Connectivity

As an aid to diagnosing basic network connectivity, many network protocols support an echo protocol. The protocol involves sending a special datagram to the destination host, then waiting for a reply datagram from that host. Results from this echo protocol can help in evaluating the path-to-host reliability, delays over the path, and whether the host can be reached or is functioning.

Configuration for Checking Network Connectivity

The following configuration shows an extended ping command sourced from the Router A HundredGigEinterface and destined for the Router B HundredGigE interface. If this ping succeeds, it is an indication that there is no routing problem. Router A knows how to get to the HundredGigEinterface of Router B, and Router B knows how to get to the HundredGigE interface of Router A. Also, both hosts have their default gateways set correctly.

If the extended ping command from Router A fails, it means that there is a routing problem. There could be a routing problem on any of the three routers: Router A could be missing a route to the subnet of Router B's interface, or to the subnet between Router C and Router B; Router B could be missing a route to the subnet of Router A's subnet, or to the subnet between Router C and Router A; and Router C could be missing a route to the subnet of Router A's or Router B's Ethernet segments. You should correct any routing problems, and then Host 1 should try to ping Host 2. If Host 1 still cannot ping Host 2, then both hosts' default gateways should be checked. The connectivity between the HundredGigE interface of Router A and the HundredGigE interface of Router B is checked with the extended ping command.

With a normal ping from Router A to Router B's HundredGigE interface, the source address of the ping packet would be the address of the outgoing interface; that is the address of the HundredGigE interface, (192.0.2.2). When Router B replies to the ping packet, it replies to the source address (that is, 192.0.2.1). This way, only the connectivity between the HundredGigE interface of Router A (192.0.2.2) and the 10gige interface of Router B (192.0.2.1) is tested.

To test the connectivity between Router A's HundredGigE interface (192.0.2.2) and Router B's interface (192.0.2.1), we use the extended ping command. With extended ping, we get the option to specify the source address of the ping packet.

Configuration Example

In this use case, the extended ping command verifies the IP connectivity between the two IP addresses Router A (192.0.2.2) and Router B (192.0.2.1) .

Router# ping 192.0.2.1
Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.0.2.1, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5)
Router#!!!!!     

*/If you do not enter a hostname or an IP address on the same line as the ping command, 
the system prompts you to specify the target IP address and several other command parameters. 
After specifying the target IP address, you can specify alternate values for the 
remaining parameters or accept the displayed default for each parameter /*

Router# ping
Tue Sep 24 02:41:45.739 UTC
Protocol [ipv4]: ipv4
Target IP address: 192.0.2.1
Repeat count [5]: 5
Datagram size [100]: 1
% A decimal number between 36 and 18024.
Datagram size [100]: 36
Timeout in seconds [2]: 1
Interval in milliseconds [10]: 1
Extended commands? [no]: y
Source address or interface: 12.12.1.1
Type of service [0]: 
Set DF bit in IP header? [no]: 
Validate reply data? [no]: 
Data pattern [0xABCD]: 
Loose, Strict, Record, Timestamp, Verbose[none]: 
Sweep range of sizes? [no]: 
Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 36-byte ICMP Echos to 192.0.2.1, timeout is 1 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 1/3/7 ms
Associated Commands
  • ping

Checking Network Connectivity for Multiple Destinations

The bulk option enables you to check reachability to multiple destinations. The destinations are directly input through the CLI. This option is supported for ipv4 destinations only.

Configuration Example

Check reachability and network connectivity to multiple hosts on IP networks with the following IP addresses:

  • 1: 192.0.2.1

  • 2: 198.51.100.1

  • 3: 203.0.113.1

Router# ping bulk ipv4 input cli batch 
*/You must hit the Enter button and then specify one destination address per line*/
Please enter input via CLI with one destination per line and when done Ctrl-D/(exit) to initiate pings: 
1: 192.0.2.1
2: 198.51.100.1 
3: 203.0.113.1  
4: 
Starting pings...
Target IP address: 192.0.2.1
Repeat count [5]: 5
Datagram size [100]: 1
% A decimal number between 36 and 18024.
Datagram size [100]: 1
% A decimal number between 36 and 18024.
Datagram size [100]: 1000
Timeout in seconds [2]: 1
Interval in milliseconds [10]: 10
Extended commands? [no]: no
Sweep range of sizes? [no]: q
% Please answer 'yes' or 'no'.
Sweep range of sizes? [no]: q
% Please answer 'yes' or 'no'.
Sweep range of sizes? [no]: 
Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 1000-byte ICMP Echos to 192.0.2.1, vrf is default, timeout is 1 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5),
Target IP address: 198.51.100.1
Repeat count [5]: 
Datagram size [100]: q
% A decimal number between 36 and 18024.
Datagram size [100]: 
Timeout in seconds [2]: 
Interval in milliseconds [10]: 
Extended commands? [no]: 
Sweep range of sizes? [no]: 
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.0.2.1, vrf is default, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5),
Target IP address:  203.0.113.1
Repeat count [5]: 4
Datagram size [100]: 100
Timeout in seconds [2]: 1
Interval in milliseconds [10]: 10
Extended commands? [no]: no
Sweep range of sizes? [no]: no
Sending 4, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.0.2.1, vrf is default, timeout is 1 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (4/5),
Associated Commands
  • ping bulk ipv4

Traceroute

Where the ping command can be used to verify connectivity between devices, the traceroute command can be used to discover the paths packets take to a remote destination and where routing breaks down.

The traceroute command records the source of each ICMP "time-exceeded" message to provide a trace of the path that the packet took to reach the destination. You can use the IP traceroute command to identify the path that packets take through the network on a hop-by-hop basis. The command output displays all network layer (Layer 3) devices, such as routers, that the traffic passes through on the way to the destination.

The traceroute command uses the Time To Live (TTL) field in the IP header to cause routers and servers to generate specific return messages. The traceroute command sends a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) datagram to the destination host with the TTL field set to 1. If a router finds a TTL value of 1 or 0, it drops the datagram and sends back an ICMP time-exceeded message to the sender. The traceroute facility determines the address of the first hop by examining the source address field of the ICMP time-exceeded message.

To identify the next hop, the traceroute command sends a UDP packet with a TTL value of 2. The first router decrements the TTL field by 1 and sends the datagram to the next router. The second router sees a TTL value of 1, discards the datagram, and returns the time-exceeded message to the source. This process continues until the TTL increments to a value large enough for the datagram to reach the destination host (or until the maximum TTL is reached).

To determine when a datagram reaches its destination, the traceroute command sets the UDP destination port in the datagram to a very large value that the destination host is unlikely to be using. When a host receives a datagram with an unrecognized port number, it sends an ICMP port unreachable error to the source. This message indicates to the traceroute facility that it has reached the destination.

Checking Packet Routes

The traceroute command allows you to trace the routes that packets actually take when traveling to their destinations.

Configuration Example

Trace the route from 192.0.2.1 to 198.51.100.1:

Router# traceroute 198.51.100.1
Type escape sequence to abort.
Tracing the route to 198.51.100.1
 1  192.0.2.1 39 msec  *  3 msec

*/If you do not enter a hostname or an IP address on the same line as the traceroute 
command, the system prompts you to specify the target IP address and several other 
command parameters. After specifying the target IP address, you can specify alternate 
values for the remaining parameters or accept the displayed default for each 
parameter/*

Router #traceroute
Protocol [ipv4]: 
Target IP address: 198.51.100.1
Source address: 192.0.2.1
Numeric display? [no]: 
Timeout in seconds [3]: 
Probe count [3]: 
Minimum Time to Live [1]: 
Maximum Time to Live [30]: 
Port Number [33434]: 
Loose, Strict, Record, Timestamp, Verbose[none]: 

Type escape sequence to abort.
Tracing the route to 198.51.100.1
 1  192.0.2.1.1 3 msec  *  3 msec
Associated Commands
  • traceroute

Domain Services

Cisco IOS XR software domain services acts as a Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) domain resolver. The domain services maintains a local cache of hostname-to-address mappings for use by applications, such as Telnet, and commands, such as ping and traceroute. The local cache speeds the conversion of host names to addresses. Two types of entries exist in the local cache: static and dynamic. Entries configured using the domain ipv4 host or domain ipv6 host command are added as static entries, while entries received from the name server are added as dynamic entries.

The name server is used by the World Wide Web (WWW) for translating names of network nodes into addresses. The name server maintains a distributed database that maps hostnames to IP addresses through the DNS protocol from a DNS server. One or more name servers can be specified using the domain name-server command.

When an application needs the IP address of a host or the hostname of an IP address, a remote-procedure call (RPC) is made to the domain services. The domain service looks up the IP address or hostname in the cache, and if the entry is not found, the domain service sends a DNS query to the name server.

You can specify a default domain name that Cisco IOS XR software uses to complete domain name requests. You can also specify either a single domain or a list of domain names. Any IP hostname that does not contain a domain name has the domain name you specify appended to it before being added to the host table. To specify a domain name or names, use either the domain name or domain list command.

Configuring Domain Services

DNS-based hostname-to-address translation is enabled by default. If hostname-to-address translation has been disabled using the domain lookup disable command, re-enable the translation using the no domain lookup disable command.

Configuration Example

Define a static hostname-to-address mapping. Associate (or map) the IPv4 addresses (192.0.2.1 and 10.2.0.2 198.51.100.1) with two hosts. The host names are host1 and host2.

Defining the Domain Host
==================================
Router# configure
Router(config)#domain ipv4 host host1 192.168.7.18 
Router(config)#domain ipv4 host host2 10.2.0.2 192.168.7.33
Router(config)#commit

Defining the Domain Name
==========================
*/Define cisco.com as the default domain name/*
Router#configure
Router(config)#domain name cisco.com
Router(config)#commit

Specifying the Addresses of the Name Servers
=============================================
*/Specify host 192.168.1.111 as the primary name server 
and host 192.168.1.2 as the secondary server/*
Router#configure
Router(config)#domain name-server 192.168.1.111 
Router(config)#domain name-server 192.168.1.2
Router(config)#commit

Verification

Router#show hosts 
Default domain is cisco.com
Name/address lookup uses domain service
Name servers: 192.168.1.111, 192.168.1.2
 
Host                       Flags    Age(hr) Type Address(es)
host2                    (perm, OK)   0      IP  10.2.0.2
                                                 192.168.7.33
host1                    (perm, OK)   0      IP  192.168.7.18

Associated Commands

  • domain name

  • domain list

  • domain name-server

  • domain ipv4 host

  • domain ipv6 host

File Transfer Services

File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), remote copy protocol (rcp) rcp clients, and Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) are implemented as file systems or resource managers. For example, path names beginning with tftp:// are handled by the TFTP resource manager.

The file system interface uses URLs to specify the location of a file. URLs commonly specify files or locations on the WWW. However, on Cisco routers, URLs also specify the location of files on the router or remote file servers.

When a router crashes, it can be useful to obtain a copy of the entire memory contents of the router (called a core dump) for your technical support representative to use to identify the cause of the crash. SCP, FTP, TFTP, rcp can be used to save the core dump to a remote server.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is part of the TCP/IP protocol stack, which is used for transferring files between network nodes. FTP is defined in RFC 959.

Configuring a Router to Use FTP Connections

You can configure the router to use FTP connections for transferring files between systems on the network. You can set the following FTP characteristics:

  • Passive-mode FTP

  • Password

  • IP address

Configuration Example

Enable the router to use FTP connections. Configure the software to use passive FTP connections, a password for anonymous users, and also specify the source IP address for FTP connections.

Router#configure 
Router(config)#ftp client passive

Router(config)#ftp client anonymous-password xxxx
Router(config)#ftp client source-interface HundredGigE 0/0/0/0
Router(config)#commit
Running Configuration
Router#show running-config ftp client passive
ftp client passive

Router#show running-config ftp client anonymous-password xxxx
ftp client anonymous-password xxxx
Router#show running-config ftp client source-interface HundredGigE 0/0/0/0
Associated Commands
  • ftp client passive

  • ftp client anonymous-password

  • ftp client source-interface

TFTP

Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is a simplified version of FTP that allows files to be transferred from one computer to another over a network, usually without the use of client authentication (for example, username and password).

Configuring a Router to Use TFTP Connections

Configuration Example

Configure the router to use TFTP connections and set the IP address of the HundredGigE 0/0/0/0 as the source address for TFTP connections:

Router#configure 
Router(config)#tftp client source-interface HundredGigE 0/0/0/0
Router(config)#commit
Running Configuration
Router#show running-config tftp client source-interface HundredGigE 0/0/0/0
tftp client source-interface HundredGigE 0/0/0/0
Verification
Router#show cinetd services
Vrf Name Family  Service  Proto Port ACL max_cnt  curr_cnt  wait   Program Client Option     
default  v4    tftp udp    69  				unlimited  0       wait   tftpd    sysdb disk0:         
default  v4      telnet   tcp    23  				10         0       nowait telnetd  sysdb   
Associated Commands
  • tftp client source-interface type

  • show cinetd services

TFTP Server

Table 1. Feature History Table

Feature Name

Release Information

Feature Description

TFTP Server support in Router

Release 7.5.4

You can now configure the Cisco 8000 Series Router as a TFTP server to serve requests from client routers. This capability reduces costs and time delays in your network by eliminating the redundancy of having a machine that acts only as a server on every network segment.

This feature introduces the following commands:

It’s expensive and inefficient to have a machine that acts only as a server on every network segment. However, when you don’t have a server on every segment, your network operations can incur substantial time delays across network segments. You can configure a router to serve as a TFTP server to avoid such time delays while you use your router for its regular functions.

A router that you configure as a TFTP server enables the router to serve requests from client routers. It includes services such as providing client routers with system image or router configuration files from its flash memory. You can also configure the router to respond to other types of service requests.

Configuring a Router as a TFTP Server

The server and client router must be able to reach each other before the TFTP function can be implemented. Verify this connection by testing the connection between the server and client router using the ping command.

This task allows you to configure the router as a TFTP server so other devices acting as TFTP clients are able to read and write files from and to the router under a specific directory, such as slot0:, /tmp, and so on (TFTP home directory).


Note


For security reasons, the TFTP server requires that a file must already exist for a write request to succeed.


Configuration Example

Configure the router (home directory disk0:) as the TFTP server.

Router#configure
Router(config)#tftp ipv4 server homedir disk0 
Router(config)#commit
Running Configuration
Router#show running-config tftp ipv4 server homedir disk0:
tftp vrf default ipv4 server homedir disk0:
Verification
Router#show cinetd services 
Vrf Name Family Service     Proto Port ACL  max_cnt  curr_cnt wait  Program Client Option        
default  v4     tftp    udp   69      unlimited 0       wait   tftpd   sysdb disk0:         
default  v4       telnet      tcp   23      10        0       nowait telnetd sysdb 

SCP

Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) is a file transfer protocol which provides a secure and authenticated method for transferring files. SCP relies on SSHv2 to transfer files from a remote location to a local location or from local location to a remote location.

Cisco IOS XR software supports SCP server and client operations. If a device receives an SCP request, the SSH server process spawns the SCP server process which interacts with the client. For each incoming SCP subsystem request, a new SCP server instance is spawned. If a device sends a file transfer request to a destination device, it acts as the client.

When a device starts an SSH connection to a remote host for file transfer, the remote device can either respond to the request in Source Mode or Sink Mode. In Source Mode, the device is the file source. It reads the file from its local directory and transfers the file to the intended destination. In Sink Mode, the device is the destination for the file to be transferred.

Using SCP, you can copy a file from the local device to a destination device or from a destination device to the local device.

Using SCP, you can only transfer individual files. You cannot transfer a file from a destination device to another destination device.

Transferring Files Using SCP

Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) allows you to transfer files between source and destination devices. You can transfer one file at a time. If the destination is a server, SSH server process must be running.

Configuration Example

Transfers the file "test123.txt" from the local directory to the remote directory.

Router#scp /harddisk:/test123.txt xyz@1.75.55.1:/auto/remote/test123.txt
Connecting to 1.75.55.1...
Password:
Router#commit
Verification

Verify if the file "test123.txt" is copied:

xyz-lnx-v1:/auto/remote> ls -altr test123.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 xyz eng 0 Nov 23 09:46 test123.txt
Associated Commands
  • scp

Cisco inetd

Cisco Internet services process daemon (Cinetd) is a multithreaded server process that is started by the system manager after the system has booted. Cinetd listens for Internet services such as Telnet service, TFTP service, and so on. Whether Cinetd listens for a specific service depends on the router configuration. For example, when the tftp server command is entered, Cinetd starts listening for the TFTP service. When a request arrives, Cinetd runs the server program associated with the service.


Note


You must install Telnet RPM before using the Telnet service and the show cinetd services command.


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ios#show cinetd services
Wed Aug 21 16:49:42.609 UTC
 
Vrf Name   Family  Service  Proto  Port  ACL   max_cnt   curr_cnt  wait   Program Client     Option
 
default    v4      telnet   tcp    23     10       0     nowait  telnetd   sysdb

Telnet

Enabling Telnet allows inbound Telnet connections into a networking device.

Prerequisites

Ensure to install Telnet RPM before using the Telnet service and show cinetd services command.

Configuration Example

Enable telnet and limit the number of simultaneous users that can access the router to 10.

Router# configure 
Router(config)# telnet ipv4 server max-servers 10
Router(config)# commit

Verification

Router# show cinetd services 
Vrf Name  Family    Service   Proto Port ACL max_cnt  curr_cnt  wait   Program Client Option        
default   v4         tftp      udp  69       unlimited  0        wait   tftpd   sysdb  disk0:         
default   v4     telnet  tcp  23        10  0        nowait telnetd sysdb  

Syslog source-interface

You can configure the logging source interface to identify the syslog traffic, originating in a VRF from a particular router, as coming from a single device.

Configuration Example

Enable a source interface for the remote syslog server. Configure interface loopback 2 to be the logging source interface for the default vrf.

Router#configure
Router(config)#logging source-interface Loopback2

Router(config)#commit

Running Configuration

Router#show running-config logging
/*Logging configuration after changing the source into loopback2 interface.
logging console debugging
logging monitor debugging
logging facility local4
logging 123.100.100.189 vrf default severity info port default
logging source-interface Loopback2

Associated Commands

  • logging source-interface

  • show running-configuration logging

HTTP Client Application

HTTP Client allows files to be transferred from http server to another device over a network using HTTP protocol. You can configure http client and various parameters associated with it by using the http client command.

Configure HTTP Client

HTTP Client application is available by default. You can configure http client settings or view and modify the existing settings. To configure the settings, use the http client command in XR Config mode.

Router#configure
Router(config)#http client ?
connection          Configure HTTP Client connection
response            How long HTTP Client waits for a response from the server
                    for a request message before giving up
secure-verify-host  Verify that if server certificate is for the serverit is known as
secure-verify-peer  Verify authenticity of the peer's certificate
source-interface    Specify interface for source address
ssl                 SSL configuration to be used for HTTPS requests
tcp-window-scale    Set tcp window-scale factor for High Latency links
version             HTTP Version to be used in HTTP requests
vrf                 Name of vrf
Table 2. Commands used to configure HTTP Client settings

Features

Description

connection

Configure HTTP Client connection by using either retry or timeout options.

response

How long HTTP Client waits for a response from the server for a request message before giving up.

secure-verify-host

Verify host in peer's certificate. To disable verifying this, you can use the command http client secure-verify-host disable

secure-verify-peer

Verify authenticity of the peer's certificate.

source-interface

Specifies the interface for source address for all outgoing HTTP connections. You can enter either an ipv4 or ipv6 address or both.

ssl version

SSL version (configuration) to be used for HTTPS requests.

tcp-window-scale scale

Set tcp window-scale factor for high latency links.

version version

HTTP version to be used in HTTP requests.

  • 1.0 - HTTP1.0 will be used for all HTTP requests.

  • 1.1 - HTTP1.1 will be used for all HTTP requests.

  • default libcurl - will use HTTP version automatically.

vrf name

Name of vrf.

Configuration Examples

Example 1: This example shows how to set the tcp window-scale to 8.

Router(config)#http client tcp-window-scale 8

Example 2: This example shows how to set the HTTP version to 1.0.

Router(config)#http client version 1.0