netdev - Re: [net-next PATCH v2 1/5] introduce IFE action

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Message-ID: <56CC6F3E.6000106@mojatatu.com>
Date:	Tue, 23 Feb 2016 09:39:58 -0500
From:	Jamal Hadi Salim <jhs@...atatu.com>
To:	Daniel Borkmann <daniel@...earbox.net>, davem@...emloft.net
Cc:	netdev@...r.kernel.org, xiyou.wangcong@...il.com,
	alexei.starovoitov@...il.com, john.fastabend@...il.com,
	dj@...izon.com
Subject: Re: [net-next PATCH v2 1/5] introduce IFE action

On 16-02-23 08:32 AM, Daniel Borkmann wrote:
> On 02/23/2016 01:49 PM, Jamal Hadi Salim wrote:
>> From: Jamal Hadi Salim <jhs@...atatu.com>
>>
>> This action allows for a sending side to encapsulate arbitrary metadata
>> which is decapsulated by the receiving end.
>> The sender runs in encoding mode and the receiver in decode mode.
>> Both sender and receiver must specify the same ethertype.
>> At some point we hope to have a registered ethertype and we'll
>> then provide a default so the user doesnt have to specify it.
>> For now we enforce the user specify it.
>>
>> Lets show example usage where we encode icmp from a sender towards
>> a receiver with an skbmark of 17; both sender and receiver use
>> ethertype of 0xdead to interop.
>
> On a conceptual level, as this is an L2 encap with TLVs, why not having
> a normal device driver for this like we have in other cases that would
> encode/decode the meta data itself?
>

netdevs dont scale for large number of policies. See why ipsec which
at one point was implemented using a netdev and why xfrm eventually
was chosen as the way forward. Or look at the recent lwt
effort.
If i was to implement this as a netdev - I would have to either
have actions to redirect to it or plumb it on top of parent
or child devices. The main point is i am extending the tc
graph; it doesnt make sense for me to create a device just
for that when i could implement it as yet another action.
And the most important reason of all: I like to implement it
as an action;->

> Why does IFE_META_MAX need to be configurable as a module parameter?
>
> Shouldn't the core kernel be in charge of the IFE_META_*?
>

I struggled with that earlier.
I cant think of a good way to limit the number of metadata
the kernel allows for decoding without putting an upper bound.
In order to allow people to write kernel modules without worrying
about what is currently is hardcoded in the header file the
only approach i could think of was to allow this number to be
reset.
I have some discovery code i took out - will submit later
which looks at these sorts of parameters.

cheers,
jamal