Kernel parameters

[vu Pham]

On 5/12/2012 9:18 AM, David A. Bandel wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Anyone know where I can find a definitive list of kernel parameters
> and a _short_ explanation?  For example, I've been unable to find
> documentation that tells me what /proc/sys/net/ipv6/neigh/app_solicit
> or unicast_solicit are and their values (currently unicast_solicit =
> 3.  But what does it mean?
>

I would look into the package kernel-doc which is under /usr/share/doc 
although it is not always "short". For example:

[root at tis kernel-doc-2.6.18]# cd /usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-2.6.18/
[root at tis kernel-doc-2.6.18]# find . | xargs grep ucast_solicit
./Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt:ucast_solicit
./Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt:to another  machine).  When 
ucast_solicit is greater than 0 it first tries to


so I will look into the file proc.txt. Here are the explanations:

ucast_solicit
-------------

Maximum number of retries for unicast solicitation.


app_solcit
----------

Determines the  number of requests to send to the user level ARP daemon. 
Use 0 to turn off.


gc_stale_time
-------------

Determines how  often  to  check  for stale ARP entries. After an ARP 
entry is
stale it  will  be resolved again (which is useful when an IP address 
migrates
to another  machine).  When  ucast_solicit is greater than 0 it first 
tries to
send an  ARP  packet  directly  to  the  known  host  When  that  fails  and
mcast_solicit is greater than 0, an ARP request is broadcasted.


Vu