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SYSCTL(3)                 OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                SYSCTL(3)

NAME
     sysctl - get or set system information

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/param.h>
     #include <sys/sysctl.h>

     int
     sysctl(int *name, u_int namelen, void *oldp, size_t *oldlenp, void *newp,
             size_t newlen);

DESCRIPTION
     The sysctl() function retrieves system information and allows processes
     with appropriate privileges to set system information.  The information
     available from sysctl() consists of integers, strings, and tables.  In-
     formation may be retrieved and set from the command interface using the
     sysctl(8) utility.

     Unless explicitly noted below, sysctl() returns a consistent snapshot of
     the data requested.  Consistency is obtained by locking the destination
     buffer into memory so that the data may be copied out without blocking.
     Calls to sysctl() are serialized to avoid deadlock.

     The state is described using a ``Management Information Base (MIB)''
     style name, listed in name, which is a namelen length array of integers.

     The information is copied into the buffer specified by oldp. The size of
     the buffer is given by the location specified by oldlenp before the call,
     and that location gives the amount of data copied after a successful
     call.  If the amount of data available is greater than the size of the
     buffer supplied, the call supplies as much data as fits in the buffer
     provided and returns with the error code ENOMEM. If the old value is not
     desired, oldp and oldlenp should be set to NULL.

     The size of the available data can be determined by calling sysctl() with
     a NULL parameter for oldp. The size of the available data will be re-
     turned in the location pointed to by oldlenp. For some operations, the
     amount of space may change often.  For these operations, the system at-
     tempts to round up so that the returned size is large enough for a call
     to return the data shortly thereafter.

     To set a new value, newp is set to point to a buffer of length newlen
     from which the requested value is to be taken.  If a new value is not to
     be set, newp should be set to NULL and newlen set to 0.

     The top level names are defined with a CTL_ prefix in <sys/sysctl.h>, and
     are as follows.  The next and subsequent levels down are found in the in-
     clude files listed here, and described in separate sections below.

           Name              Next level names          Description
           CTL_DEBUG         sys/sysctl.h              Debugging
           CTL_FS            sys/sysctl.h              File system
           CTL_HW            sys/sysctl.h              Generic CPU, I/O
           CTL_KERN          sys/sysctl.h              High kernel limits
           CTL_MACHDEP       sys/sysctl.h              Machine dependent
           CTL_NET           sys/socket.h              Networking
           CTL_USER          sys/sysctl.h              User-level
           CTL_VM            vm/vm_param.h             Virtual memory

     For example, the following retrieves the maximum number of processes al-
     lowed in the system:

           int mib[2], maxproc;
           size_t len;

           mib[0] = CTL_KERN;
           mib[1] = KERN_MAXPROC;
           len = sizeof(maxproc);
           sysctl(mib, 2, &maxproc, &len, NULL, 0);

     To retrieve the standard search path for the system utilities:

           int mib[2];
           size_t len;
           char *p;

           mib[0] = CTL_USER;
           mib[1] = USER_CS_PATH;
           sysctl(mib, 2, NULL, &len, NULL, 0);
           p = malloc(len);
           sysctl(mib, 2, p, &len, NULL, 0);

   CTL_DEBUG
     The debugging variables vary from system to system.  A debugging variable
     may be added or deleted without need to recompile sysctl() to know about
     it.  Each time it runs, sysctl() gets the list of debugging variables
     from the kernel and displays their current values.  The system defines
     twenty struct ctldebug variables named debug0 through debug19. They are
     declared as separate variables so that they can be individually initial-
     ized at the location of their associated variable.  The loader prevents
     multiple use of the same variable by issuing errors if a variable is ini-
     tialized in more than one place.  For example, to export the variable
     dospecialcheck as a debugging variable, the following declaration would
     be used:

           int dospecialcheck = 1;
           struct ctldebug debug5 = { "dospecialcheck", &dospecialcheck };

   CTL_FS
     The string and integer information available for the CTL_FS level is de-
     tailed below.  The changeable column shows whether a process with appro-
     priate privileges may change the value.

           Second level name          Type          Changeable
           FS_POSIX_SETUID            integer       yes

     FS_POSIX_SETUID
             When this variable is set, ownership changes on a file will cause
             the S_ISUID and S_ISGID bits to be cleared.  As detailed in
             securelevel(7), this variable may not be changed if the se-
             curelevel is > 0.

   CTL_HW
     The string and integer information available for the CTL_HW level is de-
     tailed below.  The changeable column shows whether a process with appro-
     priate privileges may change the value.

           Second level name          Type          Changeable
           HW_MACHINE                 string        no
           HW_MODEL                   string        no
           HW_NCPU                    integer       no
           HW_BYTEORDER               integer       no
           HW_PHYSMEM                 integer       no
           HW_USERMEM                 integer       no
           HW_PAGESIZE                integer       no

     HW_MACHINE


             The machine class.

     HW_MODEL
             The machine model

     HW_NCPU
             The number of CPUs.

     HW_BYTEORDER
             The byteorder (4321 or 1234).

     HW_PHYSMEM
             The bytes of physical memory.

     HW_USERMEM
             The bytes of non-kernel memory.

     HW_PAGESIZE
             The software page size.

   CTL_KERN
     The string and integer information available for the CTL_KERN level is
     detailed below.  The changeable column shows whether a process with ap-
     propriate privileges may change the value.  The types of data currently
     available are process information, system vnodes, the open file entries,
     routing table entries, virtual memory statistics, load average history,
     and clock rate information.

           Second level name           Type                   Changeable
           KERN_ARGMAX                 integer                no
           KERN_ARND                   integer                no
           KERN_BOOTTIME               struct timeval         no
           KERN_CHOWN_RESTRICTED       integer                no
           KERN_CLOCKRATE              struct clockinfo       no
           KERN_DOMAINNAME             string                 yes
           KERN_FILE                   struct file            no
           KERN_FSYNC                  integer                no
           KERN_HOSTID                 integer                yes
           KERN_HOSTNAME               string                 yes
           KERN_JOB_CONTROL            integer                no
           KERN_LINK_MAX               integer                no
           KERN_MAXFILES               integer                yes
           KERN_MAXPARTITIONS          integer                no
           KERN_MAXPROC                integer                yes
           KERN_MAXVNODES              integer                yes
           KERN_MAX_CANON              integer                no
           KERN_MAX_INPUT              integer                no
           KERN_NAME_MAX               integer                no
           KERN_NGROUPS                integer                no
           KERN_NO_TRUNC               integer                no
           KERN_NOSUIDCOREDUMP         integer                yes
           KERN_OSRELEASE              string                 no
           KERN_OSREV                  integer                no
           KERN_OSTYPE                 string                 no
           KERN_PATH_MAX               integer                no
           KERN_PIPE_BUF               integer                no
           KERN_POSIX1                 integer                no
           KERN_PROC                   struct proc            no
           KERN_PROF                   node                   not applicable
           KERN_RAWPARTITION           integer                no
           KERN_RND                    struct rndstats        no
           KERN_SAVED_IDS              integer                no
           KERN_SECURELVL              integer                raise only
           KERN_SYSVMSG                integer                no


           KERN_SYSVSEM                integer                no
           KERN_SYSVSHM                integer                no
           KERN_VDISABLE               integer                no
           KERN_VERSION                string                 no
           KERN_VNODE                  struct vnode           no
           KERN_MALLOCSTATS            node                   not applicable

     KERN_ARGMAX
             The maximum bytes of argument to exec(2).

     KERN_ARND
             Returns a random integer from the kernel arc4random() function.
             This can be useful if /dev/arandom is not available (see
             random(4)).

     KERN_BOOTTIME
             A struct timeval structure is returned.  This structure contains
             the time that the system was booted.

     KERN_CHOWN_RESTRICTED
             Return 1 if appropriate privileges are required for the chown(2)
             system call, otherwise 0.

     KERN_CLOCKRATE
             A struct clockinfo structure is returned.  This structure con-
             tains the clock, statistics clock and profiling clock frequen-
             cies, the number of micro-seconds per hz tick, and the clock skew
             rate.

     KERN_DOMAINNAME
             Get or set the YP domain name.

     KERN_FILE
             Return the entire file table.  The returned data consists of a
             single struct filehead followed by an array of struct file, whose
             size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.

     KERN_FSYNC
             Return 1 if the File Synchronisation Option is available on this
             system, otherwise 0.

     KERN_HOSTID
             Get or set the host ID.

     KERN_HOSTNAME
             Get or set the hostname.

     KERN_JOB_CONTROL
             Return 1 if job control is available on this system, otherwise 0.

     KERN_LINK_MAX
             The maximum file link count.

     KERN_MAXFILES
             The maximum number of open files that may be open in the system.

     KERN_MAXPARTITIONS
             The maximum number of partitions allowed per disk.

     KERN_MAXPROC
             The maximum number of simultaneous processes the system will al-
             low.

     KERN_MAXVNODES


             The maximum number of vnodes available on the system.

     KERN_MAX_CANON
             The maximum number of bytes in terminal canonical input line.

     KERN_MAX_INPUT
             The minimum maximum number of bytes for which space is available
             in a terminal input queue.

     KERN_NAME_MAX
             The maximum number of bytes in a file name.

     KERN_NGROUPS
             The maximum number of supplemental groups.

     KERN_NO_TRUNC
             Return 1 if file names longer than KERN_NAME_MAX are truncated.

     KERN_NOSUIDCOREDUMP
             Programs with their set-user-ID bit set will not dump core when
             this is set.

     KERN_OSRELEASE
             The system release string.

     KERN_OSREV
             The system revision number.

     KERN_OSTYPE
             The system type string.

     KERN_PATH_MAX
             The maximum number of bytes in a pathname.

     KERN_PIPE_BUF
             The maximum number of bytes which will be written atomically to a
             pipe.

     KERN_POSIX1
             The version of ISO/IEC 9945 (POSIX 1003.1) with which the system
             attempts to comply.

     KERN_PROC
             Return the entire process table, or a subset of it.  An array of
             struct kinfo_proc structures is returned, whose size depends on
             the current number of such objects in the system.  The third and
             fourth level names are as follows:

                   Third level name          Fourth level is:
                   KERN_PROC_ALL             None
                   KERN_PROC_PID             A process ID
                   KERN_PROC_PGRP            A process group
                   KERN_PROC_TTY             A tty device
                   KERN_PROC_UID             A user ID
                   KERN_PROC_RUID            A real user ID

     KERN_MALLOCSTATS
             Return kernel memory bucket statistics.  The third level names
             are detailed below.  There are no changeable values in this
             branch.

                   Third level name              Type
                   KERN_MALLOC_BUCKETS           string
                   KERN_MALLOC_BUCKET            node


             The variables are as follows:

             KERN_MALLOC_BUCKETS
                     Return a comma-separated list of the bucket sizes used by
                     the kernel.

             KERN_MALLOC_BUCKET.<size>
                     A node containing the statistics for the memory bucket of
                     the specified size (in decimal notation, the number of
                     bytes per bucket element, e.g., 16, 32, 128).  Each node
                     returns a struct kmembuckets.

                     If a value is specified that does not correspond directly
                     to a bucket size, the statistics for the closest larger
                     bucket size will be returned instead.

                     Note that bucket sizes are typically powers of 2.

     KERN_PROF
             Return profiling information about the kernel.  If the kernel is
             not compiled for profiling, attempts to retrieve any of the
             KERN_PROF values will fail with EOPNOTSUPP. The third level names
             for the string and integer profiling information is detailed be-
             low.  The changeable column shows whether a process with appro-
             priate privileges may change the value.

                   Third level name      Type                   Changeable
                   GPROF_STATE           integer                yes
                   GPROF_COUNT           u_short[]              yes
                   GPROF_FROMS           u_short[]              yes
                   GPROF_TOS             struct tostruct        yes
                   GPROF_GMONPARAM       struct gmonparam       no

             The variables are as follows:

             GPROF_STATE
                     Returns GMON_PROF_ON or GMON_PROF_OFF to show that pro-
                     filing is running or stopped.

             GPROF_COUNT
                     Array of statistical program counter counts.

             GPROF_FROMS
                     Array indexed by program counter of call-from points.

             GPROF_TOS
                     Array of struct tostruct describing destination of calls
                     and their counts.

             GPROF_GMONPARAM
                     Structure giving the sizes of the above arrays.

     KERN_RAWPARTITION
             The raw partition of a disk (a == 0).

     KERN_RND
             Returns statistics about the /dev/random device in a struct
             rndstats structure.

     KERN_SAVED_IDS
             Returns 1 if saved set-group-ID and saved set-user-ID are avail-
             able.

     KERN_SECURELVL
             The system security level.  This level may be raised by processes
             with appropriate privileges.  It may only be lowered by process

             1.

     KERN_SYSVMSG
             Returns 1 if System V style message queue functionality is avail-
             able on this system, otherwise 0.

     KERN_SYSVSEM
             Returns 1 if System V style semaphore functionality is available
             on this system, otherwise 0.

     KERN_SYSVSHM
             Returns 1 if System V style share memory functionality is avail-
             able on this system, otherwise 0.

     KERN_VDISABLE
             Returns the terminal character disabling value.

     KERN_VERSION
             The system version string.

     KERN_VNODE
             Return the entire vnode table.  Note, the vnode table is not nec-
             essarily a consistent snapshot of the system.  The returned data
             consists of an array whose size depends on the current number of
             such objects in the system.  Each element of the array contains
             the kernel address of a vnode struct vnode * followed by the vn-
             ode itself struct vnode.

   CTL_MACHDEP
     The set of variables defined is architecture dependent.  Most architec-
     tures define at least the following variables.

           Second level name    Type          Changeable
           CPU_CONSDEV          dev_t         no

   CTL_NET
     The string and integer information available for the CTL_NET level is de-
     tailed below.  The changeable column shows whether a process with appro-
     priate privileges may change the value.

           Second level name          Type                   Changeable
           PF_ROUTE                   routing messages       no
           PF_INET                    IPv4 values            yes
           PF_INET6                   IPv6 values            yes

     PF_ROUTE
             Return the entire routing table or a subset of it.  The data is
             returned as a sequence of routing messages (see route(4) for the
             header file, format, and meaning).  The length of each message is
             contained in the message header.

             The third level name is a protocol number, which is currently al-
             ways 0.  The fourth level name is an address family, which may be
             set to 0 to select all address families.  The fifth and sixth
             level names are as follows:

                   Fifth level name          Sixth level is:
                   NET_RT_FLAGS              rtflags
                   NET_RT_DUMP               None
                   NET_RT_IFLIST             None

     PF_INET
             Get or set various global information about IPv4 (Internet
             Protocol version 4). The third level name is the protocol.  The
             fourth level name is the variable name.  The currently defined
             protocols and names are:

                   Protocol name    Variable name       Type       Changeable
                   ip               forwarding          integer    yes
                   ip               redirect            integer    yes
                   ip               ttl                 integer    yes
                   ip               sourceroute         integer    yes
                   ip               directed-broadcast  integer    yes
                   ip               portfirst           integer    yes
                   ip               portlast            integer    yes
                   ip               porthifirst         integer    yes
                   ip               porthilast          integer    yes
                   ip               maxqueue            integer    yes
                   ip               encdebug            integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-invalid-life  integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-pfs           integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-soft-allocs   integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-allocs        integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-soft-bytes    integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-bytes         integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-timeout       integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-soft-timeout  integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-soft-firstuse integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-firstuse      integer    yes
                   ip               ipsec-enc-alg       string     yes
                   ip               ipsec-auth-alg      string     yes
                   ip               ipsec-expire-acquire           integeryes
                   ip               mtudisc             integer    yes
                   ip               mtudisctimeout      integer    yes
                   icmp             maskrepl            integer    yes
                   icmp             bmcastecho          integer    yes
                   icmp             errppslimit         integer    yes
                   ipip             allow               integer    yes
                   tcp              rfc1323             integer    yes
                   tcp              ident               structure  no
                   tcp              keepinittime        integer    yes
                   tcp              keepidle            integer    yes
                   tcp              keepintvl           integer    yes
                   tcp              slowhz              integer    yes
                   tcp              baddynamic          array      yes
                   tcp              recvspace           integer    yes
                   tcp              sendspace           integer    yes
                   tcp              sack                integer    yes
                   tcp              mssdflt             integer    yes
                   tcp              rstppslimit         integer    yes
                   udp              checksum            integer    yes
                   udp              baddynamic          array      yes
                   udp              recvspace           integer    yes
                   udp              sendspace           integer    yes
                   gre              allow               integer    yes
                   esp              enable              integer    yes
                   ah               enable              integer    yes
                   mobileip         allow               integer    yes
                   etherip          allow               integer    yes

             The variables are as follows:

             ip.forwarding
                     Returns 1 when IP forwarding is enabled for the host, in-
                     dicating the host is acting as a router.

             ip.redirect
                     Returns 1 when ICMP redirects may be sent by the host.
                     This option is ignored unless the host is routing IP


                     packets, and should normally be enabled on all systems.

             ip.ttl  The maximum time-to-live (hop count) value for an IP
                     packet sourced by the system.  This value applies to nor-
                     mal transport protocols, not to ICMP.

             ip.sourceroute
                     Returns 1 when forwarding of source-routed packets is en-
                     abled for the host.  This value may only be changed if
                     the kernel security level is less than 1.

             ip.directed-broadcast
                     Returns 1 if directed broadcast behavior is enabled for
                     the host.

             ip.encdebug
                     Returns 1 when error message reporting is enabled for the
                     host.  If the kernel has been compiled with the ENCDEBUG
                     option, then debugging information will also be reported
                     when this variable is set.

             ip.ipsec-invalid-life
                     The lifetime of embryonic Security Associations (SAs that
                     key management daemons have reserved but not fully estab-
                     lished yet) in seconds.  If set to less than or equal to
                     zero, embryonic SAs will not expire.  The default value
                     is 60.

             ip.ipsec-pfs
                     If set to any non-zero value, the kernel will ask the key
                     management daemons to use Perfect Forward Secrecy when
                     establishing IPsec Security Associations.  Perfect For-
                     ward Secrecy makes IPsec Security Associations crypto-
                     graphically distinct from each other, such that breaking
                     the key for one such SA does not compromise any others.
                     Requiring PFS for every security association significant-
                     ly increases the computational load of isakmpd(8) ex-
                     changes.  The default value is 1.

             ip.ipsec-soft-allocs
                     The number of IPsec flows that can use a security associ-
                     ation before a message is sent by the kernel to key man-
                     agement for renegotiation of the security association.
                     If set to less than or equal to zero, no message is sent
                     to key management.  The default value is 0.

             ip.ipsec-allocs
                     The number of IPsec flows that can use a security associ-
                     ation before it will expire.  If set to less than or
                     equal to zero, the security association will not expire
                     because of this counter.  The default value is 0.

             ip.ipsec-soft-bytes
                     The number of bytes that will be processed by a security
                     association before a message is sent by the kernel to key
                     management for renegotiation of the security association.
                     If set to less than or equal to zero, no message is sent
                     to key management.  The default value is 0.

             ip.ipsec-bytes
                     The number of bytes that will be processed by a security
                     association before it will expire.  If set to less than
                     or equal to zero, the security association will not ex-
                     pire because of this counter.  The default value is 0.

             ip.ipsec-soft-timeout
                     The number of seconds after a security association is es-
                     tablished before a message is sent by the kernel to key
                     management for renegotiation of the security association.
                     If set to less than or equal to zero, no message is sent
                     to key management.  The default value is 80000 seconds.

             ip.ipsec-timeout
                     The number of seconds after a security association is es-
                     tablished before it will expire.  If set to less than or
                     equal to zero, the security association will not expire
                     because of this timer.  The default value is 86400 sec-
                     onds.

             ip.ipsec-soft-firstuse
                     The number of seconds after a security association is
                     first used before a message is sent by the kernel to key
                     management for renegotiation of the security association.
                     If set to less than or equal to zero, no message is sent
                     to key management.  The default value is 3600 seconds.

             ip.ipsec-firstuse
                     The number of seconds after a security association is
                     first use before it will expire.  If set to less than or
                     equal to zero, the security association will not expire
                     because of this timer.  The default value is 7200 sec-
                     onds.

             ip.ipsec-enc-alg
                     This is the default encryption algorithm the kernel will
                     instruct key management daemons to negotiate when estab-
                     lishing security associations on behalf of the kernel.
                     Such security associations can occur as a result of a
                     process having requested some security level through
                     setsockopt(3), or as a result of dynamic vpn(8) entries.
                     Supported values are des, 3des, blowfish, cast128, and
                     skipjack.  If set to any other value, it is left to the
                     key management daemons to select an encryption algorithm
                     for the security association.  The default value is 3des.

             ip.ipsec-auth-alg
                     This is the default authentication algorithm the kernel
                     will instruct key management daemons to negotiate when
                     establishing security associations on behalf of the ker-
                     nel.  Such security associations can occur as a result of
                     a process having requested some security level through
                     setsockopt(3), or as a result of dynamic vpn(8) entries.
                     Supported values are hmac-md5, hmac-sha1, and hmac-
                     ripemd160.  If set to any other value, it is left to the
                     key management daemons to select an authentiction algo-
                     rithm for the security association.  The default value is
                     hmac-sha1.

             ip.ipsec-expire-acquire
                     How long should the kernel allow key management to dynam-
                     ically acquire security associations, before re-sending a
                     request.  The default value is 30 seconds.

             ip.ipsec-keep-invalid
                     How long half-created security associations should be
                     kept by the kernel (these are created by key management
                     daemons while negotiating).  The default value is 60 sec-
                     onds.

             ip.mtudisc


                     Returns 1 if Path MTU Discovery is enabled.

             ip.mtudisctimeout
                     Returns the number of seconds in which a route added by
                     the Path MTU Discovery engine will time out.  When the
                     route times out, the Path MTU Discovery engine will at-
                     tempt to probe a larger path MTU.

             ipip.allow
                     If set to 0, incoming IP-in-IP packets will not be pro-
                     cessed.  If set to any other value, processing will oc-
                     cur; furthermore, if set to 2, no checks for spoofing of
                     loopback addresses will be done.  This is useful only for
                     debugging purposes, and should never be used in produc-
                     tion systems.

             gre.allow
                     If set to 0, incoming GRE packets will not be processed.
                     If set to any other value, processing will occur.

             mobileip.allow
                     If set to 0, incoming MobileIP encapsulated packets (RFC
                     2004) will not be processed.  If set to any other value,
                     processing will occur.

             etherip.allow
                     If set to 0, incoming Ethernet-in-IPv4 packets will not
                     be processed.  If set to any other value, processing will
                     occur.

             icmp.maskrepl
                     Returns 1 if ICMP network mask requests are to be an-
                     swered.

             icmp.errppslimit
                     The variable specifies the maximum number of outgoing
                     ICMP error messages per second.  ICMP error messages that
                     exceeded the value are subject to rate limitation and
                     will not go out from the node.  Negative value disables
                     rate limitation.

             tcp.rfc1323
                     Returns 1 if RFC1323 extensions to TCP are enabled.

             tcp.baddynamic
                     An array of in_port_t is returned specifying the bitmask
                     of TCP ports between 512 and 1023 inclusive that should
                     not be allocated dynamically by the kernel (i.e., they
                     must be bound specifically by port number).

             tcp.ident
                     A structure struct tcp_ident_mapping specifying a local
                     and foreign endpoint of a TCP socket is filled in with
                     the euid and ruid of the process that owns the socket.
                     If no such socket exists then the euid and ruid values
                     are both set to -1.

             tcp.keepidle
                     If the socket option SO_KEEPALIVE has been set, time a
                     connection needs to be idle before keepalives are sent.
                     See also tcp.slowhz.

             tcp.keepintvl
                     Time after a keepalive probe is sent until, in the ab-
                     sence of any response, another probe is sent.  See also

                     tcp.slowhz.

             tcp.slowhz
                     The units for tcp.keepidle and tcp.keepintvl; those vari-
                     ables are in ticks of a clock that ticks tcp.slowhz times
                     per second.  (That is, their values must be divided by
                     the tcp.slowhz value to get times in seconds.)

             tcp.sendspace
                     Returns the default TCP send buffer size.

             tcp.recvspace
                     Returns the default TCP receive buffer size.

             tcp.sack
                     Returns 1 if RFC2018 Selective Acknowledgements are en-
                     abled.

             tcp.mssdflt
                     The maximum segment size that is used as default for non-
                     local connections.  The default value is 512.

             tcp.rstppslimit
                     The variable specifies the maximum number of outgoing TCP
                     RST packets per second.  TCP RST packet that exceeded the
                     value are subject to rate limitation and will not go out
                     from the node.  Negative value disables rate limitation.

             udp.checksum
                     Returns 1 when UDP checksums are being computed and
                     checked.  Disabling UDP checksums is strongly discour-
                     aged.

             udp.baddynamic
                     Analogous to tcp.baddynamic but for UDP sockets.

             udp.sendspace
                     Returns the default UDP send buffer size.

             udp.recvspace
                     Returns the default UDP receive buffer size.

     PF_INET6
             Get or set various global information about IPv6 (Internet
             Protocol version 6). The third level name is the protocol.  The
             fourth level name is the variable name.  The currently defined
             protocols and names are:

                   Protocol name    Variable name      Type       Changeable
                   ip6              forwarding         integer    yes
                   ip6              redirect           integer    yes
                   ip6              hlim               integer    yes
                   ip6              maxfragpackets     integer    yes
                   ip6              accept_rtadv       integer    yes
                   ip6              keepfaith          integer    yes
                   ip6              log_interval       integer    yes
                   ip6              hdrnestlimit       integer    yes
                   ip6              dad_count          integer    yes
                   ip6              auto_flowlabel     integer    yes
                   ip6              defmcasthlim       integer    yes
                   ip6              kame_version       string     no
                   ip6              use_deprecated     integer    yes
                   ip6              rr_prune           integer    yes
                   icmp6            rediraccept        integer    yes


                   icmp6            redirtimeout       integer    yes
                   icmp6            nd6_prune          integer    yes
                   icmp6            nd6_delay          integer    yes
                   icmp6            nd6_umaxtries      integer    yes
                   icmp6            nd6_mmaxtries      integer    yes
                   icmp6            nd6_useloopback    integer    yes
                   icmp6            nodeinfo           integer    yes
                   icmp6            errppslimit        integer    yes
                   icmp6            nd6_maxnudhint     integer    yes
                   icmp6            mtudisc_hiwat      integer    yes
                   icmp6            mtudisc_lowat      integer    yes
                   icmp6            nd6_debug          integer    yes

             The variables are as follows:

             ip6.forwarding
                     Returns 1 when IPv6 forwarding is enabled for the node,
                     meaning that the node is acting as a router.  Returns 0
                     when IPv6 forwarding is disabled for the node, meaning
                     that the node is acting as a host.  Note that IPv6 de-
                     fines node behavior for the ``router'' and ``host'' cases
                     quite differently, and changing this variable during op-
                     eration may cause serious trouble.  Hence, this variable
                     should only be set at bootstrap time.

             ip6.redirect
                     Returns 1 when ICMPv6 redirects may be sent by the node.
                     This option is ignored unless the node is routing IP
                     packets, and should normally be enabled on all systems.

             ip6.hlim
                     The default hop limit value for an IPv6 unicast packet
                     sourced by the node.  This value applies to all the
                     transport protocols on top of IPv6.  Methods for overrid-
                     ing this value are documented in ip6(4).

             ip6.maxfragpackets
                     The maximum number of fragmented packets the node will
                     accept.  0 means that the node will not accept any frag-
                     mented packets.  -1 means that the node will accept as
                     many fragmented packets as it receives.  The flag is pro-
                     vided basically for avoiding possible DoS attacks.

             ip6.accept_rtadv
                     If set to non-zero, the node will accept ICMPv6 router
                     advertisement packets and autoconfigures address prefixes
                     and default routers.  The node must be a host (not a
                     router) for the option to be meaningful (see
                     ip6.forwarding).

             ip6.keepfaith
                     If set to non-zero, enables the ``FAITH'' TCP relay
                     IPv6-to-IPv4 translator code in the kernel.  Refer to
                     faith(4) and faithd(8) for more details.

             ip6.log_interval
                     This variable permits adjusting the amount of logs gener-
                     ated by the IPv6 packet forwarding engine.  The value in-
                     dicates the number of seconds of interval which must
                     elapse between log output.

             ip6.hdrnestlimit
                     The number of IPv6 extension headers permitted on incom-
                     ing IPv6 packets.  If set to 0, the node will accept as


                     many extension headers as possible.

             ip6.dad_count
                     The variable configures the number of IPv6 DAD
                     (duplicated address detection) probe packets.  These
                     packets are generated when IPv6 interfaces are first
                     brought up.

             ip6.auto_flowlabel
                     On connected transport protocol packets, fill IPv6
                     flowlabel field to help intermediate routers identify
                     packet flows.

             ip6.defmcasthlim
                     The default hop limit value for an IPv6 multicast packet
                     sourced by the node.  This value applies to all the
                     transport protocols on top of IPv6.  Methods for overrid-
                     ing this value are documented in ip6(4).

             ip6.kame_version
                     The string identifies the version of the KAME IPv6 stack
                     implemented in the kernel.

             ip6.use_deprecated
                     The variable controls use of deprecated addresses, speci-
                     fied in RFC2462 5.5.4.

             ip6.rr_prune
                     The variable specifies interval between IPv6 router
                     renumbering prefix babysitting in seconds.

             icmp6.rediraccept
                     If set to non-zero, the host will accept ICMPv6 redirect
                     packets.  Note that IPv6 routers will never accept ICMPv6
                     redirect packets, so the variable is only meaningful on
                     IPv6 hosts, not on routers.

             icmp6.redirtimeout
                     The variable specifies the lifetime of routing entries
                     generated by incoming ICMPv6 redirects.

             icmp6.nd6_prune
                     The variable specifies interval between IPv6 neighbor
                     cache babysitting in seconds.

             icmp6.nd6_delay
                     The variable specifies DELAY_FIRST_PROBE_TIME timing con-
                     stant in IPv6 neighbor discovery specification (RFC2461),
                     in seconds.

             icmp6.nd6_umaxtries
                     The variable specifies MAX_UNICAST_SOLICIT constant in
                     IPv6 neighbor discovery specification (RFC2461).

             icmp6.nd6_mmaxtries
                     The variable specifies MAX_MULTICAST_SOLICIT constant in
                     IPv6 neighbor discovery specification (RFC2461).

             icmp6.nd6_useloopback
                     If set to non-zero, IPv6 will use the loopback interface
                     for local traffic.

             icmp6.nodeinfo
                     The variable enables responses to ICMPv6 node information
                     queries.  If you set the variable to 0, reponses will not
                     be generated for ICMPv6 node information queries.  Since
                     node information queries can have a security impact, it
                     is possible to fine tune which responses should be an-
                     swered.  Two seperate bits can be set.

                     1      Respond to ICMPv6 FQDN queries, e.g.  ping6 -w.

                     2      Respond to ICMPv6 node addresses queries, e.g.
                            ping6 -a.

             icmp6.errppslimit
                     The variable specifies the maximum number of outgoing
                     ICMPv6 error messages per second.  ICMPv6 error messages
                     that exceeded the value is subject to rate limitation and
                     will not go out from the node.  A negative value will
                     disable the rate limitation.

             icmp6.nd6_maxnudhint
                     IPv6 neighbor discovery permits upper layer protocols to
                     supply reachability hints, to avoid unnecessary neighbor
                     discovery exchanges.  The variable defines the number of
                     consecutive hints the neighbor discovery layer will take.
                     For example, by setting the variable to 3, neighbor dis-
                     covery can take take a maximum of 3 consecutive hints.
                     After receiving 3 hints, the neighbor discovery layer
                     will instead perform the normal neighbor discovery pro-
                     cess.

             icmp6.mtudisc_hiwat

             icmp6.mtudisc_lowat
                     These variables define the maximum number of routing
                     table entries, created due to path MTU discovery
                     (preventing denial-of-service attacks with ICMPv6 too big
                     messages). After IPv6 path MTU discovery happens, path
                     MTU information is kept in the routing table.  If the
                     number of routing table entries exceed the value, the
                     kernel will not attempt to keep the path MTU information.
                     icmp6.mtudisc_hiwat is used when we have verified ICMPv6
                     too big messages.  icmp6.mtudisc_lowat is used when we
                     have unverified ICMPv6 too big messages.  Verification is
                     performed by using address/port pairs kept in connected
                     pcbs.  Negative value disables the upper limit.

             icmp6.nd6_debug
                     If set to non-zero, IPv6 neighbor discovery will generate
                     debugging messages.  The debug outputs are useful for di-
                     agnosing IPv6 interoperability issues.  The flag must be
                     set to 0 for normal operation.

             We reuse net.inet.tcp and net.inet.udp for TCP/UDP over IPv6.

   CTL_USER
     The string and integer information available for the CTL_USER level is
     detailed below.  The changeable column shows whether a process with ap-
     propriate privileges may change the value.

           Second level name           Type          Changeable
           USER_BC_BASE_MAX            integer       no
           USER_BC_DIM_MAX             integer       no
           USER_BC_SCALE_MAX           integer       no
           USER_BC_STRING_MAX          integer       no
           USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX       integer       no
           USER_CS_PATH                string        no
           USER_EXPR_NEST_MAX          integer       no


           USER_LINE_MAX               integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERM       integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_C_BIND          integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_C_DEV           integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEV        integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUN        integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEF       integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_SW_DEV          integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_UPE             integer       no
           USER_POSIX2_VERSION         integer       no
           USER_RE_DUP_MAX             integer       no
           USER_STREAM_MAX             integer       no
           USER_TZNAME_MAX             integer       no

     USER_BC_BASE_MAX
             The maximum ibase/obase values in the bc(1) utility.

     USER_BC_DIM_MAX
             The maximum array size in the bc(1) utility.

     USER_BC_SCALE_MAX
             The maximum scale value in the bc(1) utility.

     USER_BC_STRING_MAX
             The maximum string length in the bc(1) utility.

     USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX
             The maximum number of weights that can be assigned to any entry
             of the LC_COLLATE order keyword in the locale definition file.

     USER_CS_PATH
             Return a value for the PATH environment variable that finds all
             the standard utilities.

     USER_EXPR_NEST_MAX
             The maximum number of expressions that can be nested within
             parenthesis by the expr(1) utility.

     USER_LINE_MAX
             The maximum length in bytes of a text-processing utility's input
             line.

     USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERM
             Return 1 if the system supports at least one terminal type capa-
             ble of all operations described in POSIX 1003.2, otherwise 0.

     USER_POSIX2_C_BIND
             Return 1 if the system's C-language development facilities sup-
             port the C-Language Bindings Option, otherwise 0.

     USER_POSIX2_C_DEV
             Return 1 if the system supports the C-Language Development Utili-
             ties Option, otherwise 0.

     USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEV
             Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Development Utilities
             Option, otherwise 0.

     USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUN
             Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Runtime Utilities Op-
             tion, otherwise 0.

     USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEF
             Return 1 if the system supports the creation of locales, other-


             wise 0.

     USER_POSIX2_SW_DEV
             Return 1 if the system supports the Software Development Utili-
             ties Option, otherwise 0.

     USER_POSIX2_UPE
             Return 1 if the system supports the User Portability Utilities
             Option, otherwise 0.

     USER_POSIX2_VERSION
             The version of POSIX 1003.2 with which the system attempts to
             comply.

     USER_RE_DUP_MAX
             The maximum number of repeated occurrences of a regular expres-
             sion permitted when using interval notation.

     USER_STREAM_MAX
             The maximum number of streams that a process may have open at any
             one time.

     USER_TZNAME_MAX
             The minimum maximum number of types supported for the name of a
             timezone.

   CTL_DDB
     Integer information and settable variables are available for the CTL_DDB
     level, as described below. More information is also available in ddb(4).

           Second level name          Type                 Changeable
           DBCTL_RADIX                integer              yes
           DBCTL_MAXWIDTH             integer              yes
           DBCTL_TABSTOP              integer              yes
           DBCTL_PANIC                integer              yes
           DBCTL_CONSOLE              integer              yes

     DBCTL_RADIX
             Determines the default radix or base for non-prefixed numbers en-
             tered into ddb(4). This variable is also available as the ddb
             $radix variable.

     DBCTL_MAXWIDTH
             Determines the maximum width of a line in ddb(4). This variable
             is also available as the ddb $maxwidth variable.

     DBCTL_TABSTOP
             Width of a tab stop in ddb(4). This variable is also available as
             the ddb $tabstops variable.

     DBCTL_PANIC
             When this variable is set, system panics may drop into the kernel
             debugger.  As described in securelevel(7), a security level
             greater than 1 blocks modification of this variable.  ddb(4).

     DBCTL_CONSOLE
             When this variable is set, an architecture dependent magic key
             sequence on the console or a debugger button will permit entry
             into the kernel debugger.  As described in securelevel(7), a se-
             curity level greater than 1 blocks modification of this variable.

   CTL_VM
     The string and integer information available for the CTL_VM level is de-
     tailed below.  The changeable column shows whether a process with appro-
     priate privileges may change the value.


           Second level name          Type                 Changeable
           VM_LOADAVG                 struct loadavg       no
           VM_METER                   struct vmtotal       no
           VM_SWAPENCRYPT             swap encrypt values  yes

     VM_LOADAVG
             Return the load average history.  The returned data consists of a
             struct loadavg.

     VM_METER
             Return the system wide virtual memory statistics.  The returned
             data consists of a struct vmtotal.

     VM_SWAPENCRYPT
             Contains statistics about swap encryption.  The string and inte-
             ger information available for the third level is detailed below.

                   Third level name          Type                 Changeable
                   SWPENC_ENABLE             integer              yes
                   SWPENC_CREATED            integer              no
                   SWPENC_DELETED            integer              no

             SWPENC_ENABLE
                     Set to 1 to enable swap encryption for all processes.  A
                     0 disables swap encryption.  Pages still on swap receive
                     a grandfather clause.  Turning this option on does not
                     affect legacy swap data already on the disk, but all new-
                     ly written data will be encrypted.  When swap encryption
                     is turned on, automatic crash(8) dumps are disabled.

             SWPENC_CREATED
                     The number of encryption keys that have been randomly
                     created.  The swap partition is divided into sections of
                     normally 512KB.  Each section has its own encryption key.

             SWPENC_DELETED
                     The number of encryption keys that have been deleted,
                     thus effectivly erasing the data that has been encrypted
                     with them.  Encryption keys are deleted when their refer-
                     ence counter reaches zero.

   CTL_VFS
     The string and integer information available for the CTL_VFS level is de-
     tailed below.  The changeable column shows whether a process with appro-
     priate privileges may change the value.

           Second level name          Type                 Changeable
           VFS_GENERIC                vm generic info      no
           filesystem #               filesystem info      no

     VFS_GENERIC
             This second level identifier requests generic information about
             the vfs layer.  Within it, the following third level identifiers
             exist:

                   Third level name          Type                 Changeable
                   VFS_MAXTYPENUM            int                  no
                   VFS_CONF                  struct vfsconf       no

     filesystem #
             After finding the filesystem dependent vfc_typenum using
             VFS_GENERIC with VFS_CONF, it is possible to access filesystem
             dependent information.


             Some filesystems may contain settings.

             ffs

                     Third level name       Type                 Changeable
                     FFS_CLUSTERREAD        int                  yes
                     FFS_CLUSTERWRITE       int                  yes
                     FFS_REALLOCBLOCKS      int                  yes
                     FFS_ASYNCFREE          int                  yes

             nfs

                     Third level name       Type                 Changeable
                     NFS_NFSSTATS           struct nfsstats      yes
                     NFS_NIOTHREADS         int                  yes

RETURN VALUES
     If the call to sysctl() is unsuccessful, -1 is returned and errno is set
     appropriately.

ERRORS
     The following errors may be reported:

     [EFAULT]      The buffer name, oldp, newp, or length pointer oldlenp con-
                   tains an invalid address.

     [EINVAL]      The name array is less than two or greater than
                   CTL_MAXNAME.

     [EINVAL]      A non-null newp pointer is given and its specified length
                   in newlen is too large or too small.

     [ENOMEM]      The length pointed to by oldlenp is too short to hold the
                   requested value.

     [ENOTDIR]     The name array specifies an intermediate rather than termi-
                   nal name.

     [EOPNOTSUPP]  The name array specifies a value that is unknown.

     [EPERM]       An attempt is made to set a read-only value.

     [EPERM]       A process without appropriate privileges attempts to set a
                   value.

     [EPERM]       An attempt to change a value protected by the current ker-
                   nel security level is made.

FILES
     <sys/sysctl.h>            definitions for top level identifiers, second
                               level kernel and hardware identifiers, and user
                               level identifiers
     <sys/socket.h>            definitions for second level network identi-
                               fiers
     <sys/gmon.h>              definitions for third level profiling identi-
                               fiers
     <vm/vm_param.h>           definitions for second level virtual memory
                               identifiers
     <uvm/uvm_swap_encrypt.h>  definitions for third level virtual memory
                               identifiers
     <netinet/in.h>            definitions for third level IPv4/v6 identifiers
                               and fourth level IP and IPv6 identifiers
     <netinet/icmp_var.h>      definitions for fourth level ICMP identifiers
     <netinet/icmp6.h>         definitions for fourth level ICMPv6 identifiers


     <netinet/tcp_var.h>       definitions for fourth level TCP identifiers
     <netinet/udp_var.h>       definitions for fourth level UDP identifiers

SEE ALSO
     sysctl(8)

HISTORY
     The sysctl() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

OpenBSD 2.9                      June 4, 1993                               20