ns2 trace files explained

The product after running ns2 will probably be some tracefile. They are terribly documented (as everything I am working with at the moment).
A typical example of a line could be:

r 3.052590420 _75_ RTR — 14 SPAN 40 [0 ffffffff 5e 0] [energy 999.989886 ei 0.000 es 0.000 et 0.001 er 0.009] ——- [94:-1 -1:-1 32 0],

So… here it is, all beautifully laid out and explained for you:

Entry

r

3.052590420

_75_

RTR

—

14

SPAN

40

[0

ffffffff

5e

0]

[energy 999.989886

ei 0.000

es 0.000

et 0.001

er 0.009]

——-

[94

:-1

-1

:-1

32

0]

Interpretation

action

time

node number

kind of trace

reason for logging

identifier for this event

packet type

size of cmn header

expected time to send data

mac destination address

mac sender address

protocol type

remaining node nergy

idle energy

sleep energy

energy transmit

energy receiv

ip source address

src port

dest address

dest port

TTL

next hop

possible entries

r(ead) s(end) D(rop) f(orward)

time stamp

src_

name of object type tracing

why

ch->uid(),

packet_info.name(ch->ptype())

ch->size()

mh->dh_duration

ETHER_ADDR(mh->dh_da)

ETHER_ADDR(mh->dh_sa)

GET_ETHER_TYPE(mh->dh_body))

ih->src

ih->ttl

if no next hop: 0

Note: This applies to CMU trace files that were created using the span protocol. Your ns2 output could be a bit different, but still: you will find this very helpful.

P.S.: Oh… I’m out of luck publishing this on wordpress. It’s all cut off on the right. Please, do simply copy this article to the clipboard and paste it somewhere to read, ok?

Read on! Knowledge is lazy today.