lft [-d dport] [-s sport] [-m retry min] [-M retry max] [-a ahead]
[-c scatter ms] [-t timeout ms] [-l min ttl] [-H max ttl] [-q ISN]
[-D device] [-ACEINRSTUVehinruvz] [<gateway> <...>] target:dport
DESCRIPTION
The Internet is a large and complex aggregation of network hardware, con-
nected together by gateways. Tracking the route one's packets follow (or
finding the miscreant gateway that's discarding your packets) can be dif-
ficult. (from traceroute(8))
lft sends various layer-4 probes (differing from Van Jacobson's UDP-cen-
tric method) utilizing the IP protocol `time to live' field and attempts
to elicit an ICMP TIME_EXCEEDED (during transit) response from each gate-
way along the path to some host. lft also listens for various TCP and
ICMP messages along the way to assist network managers in ascertaining
per-protocol heuristic routing information and can optionally retrieve
various information about the networks it traverses.
The only mandatory parameter is the target host name or IP number.
Options toggle the display of more interesting data or change the vari-
ables of the trace itself. The (-E/-e) adaptive option tries several
combinations of TCP states (changing flags inside the probes it sends) in
order to improve the chances of a successful trace and expose stateful
packet filters.
Other options are:
-d dport
Set dport as the destination TCP port of the probes LFT gener-
ates. Default is 80. This option is useful to see if packets
follow a different route based on protocol destination, a likely
scenario when load balancers or proxies are involved. This
option may also bypass less sophisticated packet filter configu-
rations.
-s sport
Set sport as the origin TCP port of the probes LFT generates.
Default is 53. This option is useful to see if packets follow a
different route based on protocol source. This option may also
bypass less sophisticated packet filter configurations.
-z Automatically select a pseudo-random source port. This option
may be useful if your local packet filter or proxy doesn't allow
you to use source ports outside of the dymanic range allocation.
-m min Set min as the minimum number of probes to send per host.
Default is 1 unless adaptive (-E) mode is used.
-M max Set max as the maximum number of probes to send per host.
Default is 5.
-a ahead
play). Default is 1.
-q ISN Set ISN as the ISN (initial sequence number) of the first probe.
If unset, one will be automatically generated using a pseudo-ran-
dom, time-seeded algorithm.
-D device
Set device as the network device or IP address to be used.
(e.g., "en1" or "1.2.3.4") If unset, lft will attempt to deter-
mine and acquire the appropriate interface based on routing.
-H ttl Set ttl as the maximum TTL, essentially the maximum route traver-
sal distance in hops. Default is 30.
-I Set the ToS (Type of Serice) bit on outgoing IP datagrams. The
ToS will be set to the differentiated services request minimize-
delay.
-i Disable "stop" on ICMP other than TTL expired.
-n Print addresses numerically rather than symbolically and numeri-
cally. Disables use of the DNS resolver completely.
-h Print addresses symbolically rather than symbolically and numeri-
cally. If the DNS resolver fails to resolve an address, the
address is printed numerically.
-E/e Enable use of the adaptive engine which tries several combina-
tions of TCP states (changing flags inside the probes it sends)
in order to improve the chances of a successful trace. The
engine also displays other useful information such as stateful
inspection firewalls or broken IP stacks encountered along the
way.
-F Enable use of TCP packets with the FIN flag set. This strategy
fools unsophisticated packet filters that don't maintain a proper
state table. Such devices will forward the packet to its desti-
nation rather than filter it, assuming a handshake has already
taken place and the probes are part of an existing and valid TCP
stream.
-u Enable use of UDP-based probes instead of TCP-based probes. This
strategy is similar to the traditional traceroute method, but
many of LFT's other options (such as source and destination port
selection) are still available. By default, LFT's UDP probes
have a small payload (unlike LFT's TCP probes that carry no pay-
load) and contain proper UDP checksums.
-N Enable lookup and display of network or AS names (e.g., [GNTY-
NETBLK-4]). This option queries Prefix WhoIs, RIPE NCC, or the
RADB (as requested). In the case of Prefix WhoIs or RADB, the
network name is displayed. In the case of RIPE NCC, the AS name
perspectives. See www.ripe.net/projects/ris
-C Force use of the Cymru whois service to lookup ASNs. This is an
alternative source of timely ASN-related information built using
the Internet's global routing table and multiple Tier-1 ISP per-
spectives. See www.cymru.com
-R Force use of the RADB whois service to lookup ASNs. This tends
to be quick, but incomplete and usually inaccurate with regard to
the 'actual' Internet routing table. See www.radb.net
-T Enable display of LFT's execution timer. This option places
timers on the trace itself and on lookups and name resolution to
show where LFT is spending its time, waiting on resolvers, or
processing trace packets. Use with -V (verbose) to display addi-
tional detail.
-U Display all times in UTC/GMT0. This option also enables the -T
option automatically.
-S Suppress display of the real-time status bar. This option makes
LFT show its completed trace output only, no-frills.
-V Display verbose output. Use more V's for more info.
-v Display version information, then exit(1).
Any hosts listed after these options and before the final host/target
will comprise the loose source route. Since network operators have secu-
rity concerns regarding the use of source routing, don't expect the LSRR
options to do anything for you in most public networks.
EXAMPLES
A sample use and output might be:
[edge.lax]$ lft -S 4.2.2.2
Hop LFT trace to vnsc-bak.sys.gtei.net (4.2.2.2):80/tcp
1 ln-gateway.centergate.com (206.117.161.1) 0.5ms
2 isi-acg.ln.net (130.152.136.1) 2.3ms
3 isi-1-lngw2-atm.ln.net (130.152.180.21) 2.5ms
4 gigabitethernet5-0.lsanca1-cr3.bbnplanet.net (4.24.4.249) 3.0ms
5 p6-0.lsanca1-cr6.bbnplanet.net (4.24.4.2) 3.4ms
6 p6-0.lsanca2-br1.bbnplanet.net (4.24.5.49) 3.3ms
7 p15-0.snjpca1-br1.bbnplanet.net (4.24.5.58) 10.9ms
8 so-3-0-0.mtvwca1-br1.bbnplanet.net (4.24.7.33) 11.1ms
9 p7-0.mtvwca1-dc-dbe1.bbnplanet.net (4.24.9.166) 11.0ms
10 vlan40.mtvwca1-dc1-dfa1-rc1.bbnplanet.net (128.11.193.67) 11.1ms
** [neglected] no reply packets received from TTLs 11 through 20
** [4.2-3 BSD bug] the next gateway may errantly reply with reused TTLs
21 [target] vnsc-bak.sys.gtei.net (4.2.2.2) 11.2ms
Now, using the adaptive engine option:
[edge.lax]$ lft -E -S 4.2.2.1
Hop LFT trace to vnsc-pri.sys.gtei.net (4.2.2.1):80/tcp
1 ln-gateway.centergate.com (206.117.161.1) 0.5/0.5ms
2 isi-acg.ln.net (130.152.136.1) 2.1/2.3ms
3 isi-1-lngw2-atm.ln.net (130.152.180.21) 2.6/7.1ms
4 gigabitethernet5-0.lsanca1-cr3.bbnplanet.net (4.24.4.249) 6.1/3.9ms
** [firewall] the next gateway may statefully inspect packets
5 p0-0-0.lsanca1-csr1.bbnplanet.net (4.24.4.10) 155.4/3.7ms
6 [target] vnsc-pri.sys.gtei.net (4.2.2.1) 22.6/3.7/*/*/*/*/*ms
In the scenario above, the adaptive engine was able to identify a state-
ful, packet-inspecting firewall in the path. Another example with more
options:
[edge.lax]$ lft -S -A -T -m 2 -d 80 -s 53 www.yahoo.com
Hop LFT trace to w9.scd.yahoo.com (66.218.71.88):80/tcp
1 [226] ln-gateway.centergate.com (206.117.161.1) 1 ms
2 [226] isi-acg.ln.net (130.152.136.1) 2 ms
3 [226] isi-1-lngw2-atm.ln.net (130.152.180.21) 3 ms
4 [1] gigether5-0.lsanca1-cr3.bbnplanet.net (4.24.4.249) 3 ms
5 [1] p6-0.lsanca1-cr6.bbnplanet.net (4.24.4.2) 5 ms
6 [1] p6-0.lsanca2-br1.bbnplanet.net (4.24.5.49) 3 ms
7 [1] p1-0.lsanca2-cr2.bbnplanet.net (4.25.112.1) 3 ms
8 [16852] pos4-0.core1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (209.0.227.57) 3 ms
9 [3356] so-4-0-0.mp1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (209.247.10.193) 3 ms
10 [3356] so-3-0-0.mp2.SanJose1.Level3.net (64.159.1.130) 11 ms
11 [3356] gige10-0.ipcolo4.SanJose1.Level3.net (64.159.2.42) 11 ms
12 [3356] cust-int.level3.net (64.152.81.62) 52 ms
13 [10310] vl17.bas2.scd.yahoo.com (66.218.64.150) 53 ms
14 [10310] w9.scd.yahoo.com (66.218.71.88) [target] 54 ms
LFT's trace took 5.23 seconds. Resolution required 3.58 seconds.
Note the -Ar above displays ASNs using the RADB as a whois source. A
better option may have been to use the -A alone or perhaps -AC.
And why not request netblock lookups?
[edge.lax]$ lft -S -N www.microsoft.com
Hop LFT trace to www.us.microsoft.com (207.46.197.113):80/tcp
1 [LOS-NETTOS-BLK4] ln-gateway.centergate.com (206.117.161.1) 2 ms
16 [MICROSOFT-GLOBAL-NET] 207.46.129.51 [prohibited] 35 ms
AUTHORS
Victor Oppleman, Eugene Antsilevitch, and other helpers around the world.
FORMER AUTHORS
Nils McCarthy - thanks to Nils for writing 'FFT', LFT's predecessor.
REPORTING BUGS
To report bugs, send e-mail to <lft@oppleman.com>
SEE ALSO
traceroute(8), netstat(1), whois(1), whob(8)
HISTORY
The lft command first appeared in 1998 as 'fft'. Renamed as a result of
confusion with fast fourier transforms, lft stands for 'layer four
traceroute.'
LFT August 17, 2002 LFT