Last Published: 2008-01-13  | Version: 1.1.0

Insight Remote Protocol v1.0

This is the Insight Remote Protocol version 1.0 specification. The formal protocol specification is work in progress.

Packet Structure

The remote protocol supports three types of messages:

  • Start-up Message : Sent at the start of a message stream
  • Data Message : A message containing data
  • Shutdown Message : A message sent at the end of a stream

Packet Header

All message types of the protocol have a common header structure as described below:

 0               8              16              24              32
 | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . |
 
 +---------------+---------------+-------------------------------+
 |  IDENTIFIER   |    VERSION    |      PHL      |  MESSAGE TYPE |
 +---------------+---------------+-------------------------------+
 |     FLAGS     |      0xFF     |       HEADER CHECKSUM         |
 +-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
 |      SOURCE IDENTIFIER        |      MESSAGE SEQUENCE         |
 +-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
 |                          DATA LENGTH                          |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |             DATA AND PADDING (Multiples of 8 bits)            |
 <                                                               <
 >                                                               >
 |                                                               |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 
 | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . |
 0               8              16              24              32

Where:

  • IDENTIFIER : A constant (01001001 / 0x49) identifying that the packet is an Insight packet. (The number is the ASCII for 'I')
    • VERSION : The version of the packet. Currently 0x01
    • PHL : Packet Header Length. Basically identifies the start of the data content
    • MESSAGE TYPE : The identifier for the message. Currently the following are supported:
      Data Type Data Content
      0x01 Startup The content in the Data field will contain the
      format specified.
      0x02 Log Data The content will be data from the log event.
      0x03 Shutdown The content will be empty.
  • FLAGS : Currently Unused
  • HEADER CHECKSUM : The checksum of the header with the checksum fields set to 0xFF.
  • SOURCE IDENTIFIER : This will uniquely identify a source for a message. This field will be generated by the source (sender) and Insight will cache it on receipt of the first message from the source. All messages from the same source will be associated.
  • MESSAGE SEQUENCE : The sequence number of the message. Ideally the Startup message will have the sequence number 0x00, and it will roll over after 0xFF.
  • DATA LENGTH : Number of bytes in the data part.

Startup Packet Data Content

The content type of a startup message. This message is transmitted before any LogMessage is transmitted from a particular source. This message is also retransmitted intermittently from the source.

0               8              16              24              32
 | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . |
 
 +---------------+---------------+-------------------------------+
 |R| UNUSED (0)  |    VERSION    |      NAMESPACE (To End)       |
 +-+-------------+---------------+-------------------------------+
 
 | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . |
 0               8              16              24              32

Where: * R : is the retransmission indicator with the following allowed values:

  • 0 : First Transmission
  • 1 : Retransmission

Data Packet Data Content

The data packet shall contain a (possibly fragmented) part of one or more log messages in plain text UTF-8 encoded bytes.

Shutdown Packet Data Content

A shutdown packet shall not contain any data.

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