[comp.protocols.tcp-ip] IP Router-Where to Start?

jk3n+@andrew.cmu.edu (John Stephen Kalucki) (11/14/90)

I'm thinking about implementing an IP router, but I have no idea where
to start. I've browsed through the RFC index and a few RFC's themselves,
but there doesn't appear to be anything directly related to routers.

I'm looking basically for 4 things:
1) Related RFC's
2) Books and other text that might help
3) Public Domain implementations, hopefully source, to test mine with
4) Advice

Thanks.

		-John Kalucki

postel@VENERA.ISI.EDU (11/16/90)

Hi.

Start with RFC-1009, and also get involved with the "router requirements
working group" of the IETF.

--jon.

	From tcp-ip-RELAY@NIC.DDN.MIL Wed Nov 14 20:53:27 1990
	Date: 14 Nov 90 02:00:52 GMT
	From: jk3n+@andrew.cmu.edu  (John Stephen Kalucki)
	Subject: IP Router-Where to Start?
	Sender: tcp-ip-relay@nic.ddn.mil
	To: tcp-ip@nic.ddn.mil


	I'm thinking about implementing an IP router, but I have no idea where
	to start. I've browsed through the RFC index and a few RFC's themselves
	but there doesn't appear to be anything directly related to routers.

	I'm looking basically for 4 things:
	1) Related RFC's
	2) Books and other text that might help
	3) Public Domain implementations, hopefully source, to test mine with
	4) Advice

	Thanks.

			-John Kalucki

almquist@JESSICA.STANFORD.EDU ("Philip Almquist") (11/16/90)

John,
> I'm thinking about implementing an IP router, but I have no idea where
> to start. I've browsed through the RFC index and a few RFC's themselves,
> but there doesn't appear to be anything directly related to routers.
> 
> I'm looking basically for 4 things:
> 1) Related RFC's
	There are a lot of of relevant RFCs.  In addition to the router
standard (RFC1009) that Jon Postel mentioned, there are several RFCs on
the network layer (791, 792, 922, 950, 1112, 1122).  And of course
there ARP, all of the IP over mumble networks RFCs, routing protocols,
SNMP, ...

	There is also a draft successor to RFC1009 which is available
via anonymous FTP from NIC.DDN.MIL.  Its name is:

	internet-drafts:draft-ietf-rreq-iprouters-00.txt

> 2) Books and other text that might help
	Various good books, such as Comer's, provide a reasonably good
introduction to TCP/IP.  None that I know of teach nearly all of the
things you'd need to know to implement a router.

> 3) Public Domain implementations, hopefully source, to test mine with
	PCROUTE, KA9Q, and Berkeley UNIX are all reasonably easy to
obtain, though I don't have details for any of them on the tip of my
fingers.  Additionally, various universities (MIT, CMU, Stanford, and
probably others) have developed routers whose code is likely to be
available if you can figure out who at those institutions has the
authority to give it to you.

	One caveat, however: most if not all of the above are not fully
compliant with RFC1009.

> 4) Advice
	Don't underestimate the effort involved in building a router
from scratch.  You're talking man-years of effort to build even a
minimally reasonable one.
						Philip