netdev - Re: [PATCH 1/2] bridge: leave carrier on for empty bridge

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Date:	Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:12:21 +0200
From:	Krzysztof Olędzki <ole@....pl>
To:	Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@...tta.com>
CC:	Nicolas de Pesloüan 
	<nicolas.2p.debian@...il.com>,
	"David S. Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>, netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] bridge: leave carrier on for empty bridge

On 2011-09-04 18:36, Stephen Hemminger wrote:
> On Sun, 04 Sep 2011 09:35:10 +0200
> Nicolas de Pesloüan<nicolas.2p.debian@...il.com>  wrote:
>
>> Le 04/09/2011 06:14, Stephen Hemminger a écrit :
>>
>>>> Instead of asserting carrier when the bridge have no port, can't we assert carrier when the three
>>>> following condition are true at the same time :
>>>>
>>>> - The bridge have no port.
>>>> - At least one IP address is setup on the bridge.
>>>> - The two above conditions are true for more than a configurable amount of seconds, with a default
>>>> of 10, for example.
>>>>
>>>> This would only delay carrier on for a few seconds for the regression and keep the current behavior
>>>> (carrier off until at least 1 port is on) for DHCP.
>>>
>>> This fails on two counts:
>>> 1. Bridge's often run without IP addresses!
>>> 2. DHCP won't try and send out request until carrier is true.
>>
>> Sorry, I missed to say that we should of course also assert carrier on if one port has carrier on.
>>
>> And rethinking about it, the delay is probably useless :
>>
>> bridge_carrier_on = at_least_one_port_has_carrier_on | (bridge_has_no_port&  bridge_has_at_least_one_ip)
>>
>> That way :
>> - for those using bridge without any port, manually setting the IP will assert carrier on. (By the
>> way, why don't they use a dummy device instead?)
>>
>> - for those using bridge with ports:
>> -- Using any kind of autoconfig will work as expected. Carrier will only be asserted at the time
>> first port get carrier.
>> -- Using static IP confifiguration, carrier will possibly be erroneously reported as on during the
>> small time gap between IP address configuration and first port is added to the bridge. This time gap
>> may be removed by simply configuring the IP after the first port is added. This is probably already
>> true for most distribs. And anyway, this time gap is probably not a problem.
>> -- Carrier will also be erroneously reported as on after removing the last port, if the bridge still
>> has an IP. (But we can arrange for this not to happen).
>>
>> And in order to ensure user really understand why carrier is on of off, we can simply issue an INFO
>> message for the non-natural case (bridge_has_no_port&  bridga_has_at_least_one_ip).
>>
>> I consider all this reasonable.
>>
>> 	Nicolas.
>
> Any bridge behaviour based on IP address configuration is a
> layering violation and won't work.  The problem is related to dynamic issues
> with IPv6 and DHCP and needs to be addressed at that level.

Maybe we can simply add a switch controlling if a bridge with no 
attached ports has carrier off (default) or on.

For example:
  echo {0|1} > /sys/devices/virtual/net/brX/bridge/orphaned_carrier

  brctl orphaned_carrier brX {on|off}

Best regards,

				Krzysztof Olędzki

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