crossbow discuss - Jul 2009 - connect a physical link to an etherstub

Hi all,

New to this group. Apology if this has been answered:
How can I connect a physical link to an etherstub without using a VNIC?

Thanks,

Wayne



      
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On Jul 13, 2009, at 4:00 PM, wbaoyang at yahoo.com wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> New to this group. Apology if this has been answered:
> How can I connect a physical link to an etherstub without using a  
> VNIC?
Not yet, but this will be possible with the use of bridging, which is  
work in progress and going through the final steps before integration  
in OpenSolaris. Currently you need to go through IP to do this.

Nicolas.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Wayne
>
> _______________________________________________
> crossbow-discuss mailing list
> crossbow-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/crossbow-discuss
-- 
Nicolas Droux - Solaris Kernel Networking - Sun Microsystems, Inc.
nicolas.droux at sun.com - http://blogs.sun.com/droux

wbaoyang at yahoo.com wrote:
> New to this group. Apology if this has been answered:
> How can I connect a physical link to an etherstub without using a VNIC?
I don''t think it''s possible with or without a VNIC.

It is possible to bridge an etherstub to a physical link using the
not-yet-integrated Ethernet bridging feature, but it''s unlikely that
this is really what you want to do.

It might be better to explain what your network looks like and what
you''re attempting to accomplish.  (The better general answer is that if
you need physical network access, put the VNIC on a physical interface,
not on an etherstub.  If you need a VNIC to be isolated from the
physical world -- internal communication only -- then use an etherstub.)

I thought if a vnic can be created on top of an etherstub so that all such vnics
within the etherstub can be switched by an implicitly created virtual switch,
why can''t a physical link be connected to the etherstub so that it can
be part of the switching.
If NAT/firewall is needed between the internal and external world, then a vinc
can be used to connect the NAT/firewall and the virtual switch.
If NAT/firewall is not needed(e.g., there''s an external NAT/firewall
device already), the use of a vnic may be avoided.

(I want to thank Nicolas for his earlier reply too)
Thanks,

Wayne


--- On Mon, 7/13/09, James Carlson <carlsonj at workingcode.com> wrote:

From: James Carlson <carlsonj at workingcode.com>
Subject: Re: [crossbow-discuss] connect a physical link to an etherstub
To: wbaoyang at yahoo.com
Cc: crossbow-discuss at opensolaris.org
Date: Monday, July 13, 2009, 5:23 PM

wbaoyang at yahoo.com wrote:
> New to this group. Apology if this has been answered:
> How can I connect a physical link to an etherstub without using a VNIC?
I don''t think it''s possible with or without a VNIC.

It is possible to bridge an etherstub to a physical link using the
not-yet-integrated Ethernet bridging feature, but it''s unlikely that
this is really what you want to do.

It might be better to explain what your network looks like and what
you''re attempting to accomplish.? (The better general answer is that if
you need physical network access, put the VNIC on a physical interface,
not on an etherstub.? If you need a VNIC to be isolated from the
physical world -- internal communication only -- then use an etherstub.)



      
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Wayne,

wbaoyang at yahoo.com wrote:
> I thought if a vnic can be created on top of an etherstub so that all 
> such vnics within the etherstub can be switched by an implicitly created 
> virtual switch, why can''t a physical link be connected to the
etherstub
> so that it can be part of the switching.
This is because Crossbow architecture is different and simpler. The
switching is done in the MAC layer itself instead of a separate switch
module plus you want to leverage the NIC switch/classification
capability as well. So instead of the usual switch module + NIC acting
as a uplink (approach used by others), we do the switching in the
MAC layer which gives us H/W classification, H/W based VNICs, B/W
control etc.

Now you do you deal with multiple switch instances and thats where
etherstub comes in. Its just a handle which allows VNICs to be
created on top and defines the switching domain i.e. which VNICs to
switch between. So essentially you have multiple switch instances. The
default one over physical NICs and other one over etherstub. So
if you have link on two different L2 switch instance, you need to use
either a L2 bridge or IP routing to talk between them.
> If NAT/firewall is needed between the internal and external world, then 
> a vinc can be used to connect the NAT/firewall and the virtual switch.
> If NAT/firewall is not needed(e.g., there''s an external
NAT/firewall
> device already), the use of a vnic may be avoided.
The architecture is slightly different than that and cleaner/simpler.

Hope that helps.
sunay
> 
> (I want to thank Nicolas for his earlier reply too)
> Thanks,
> 
> Wayne
> 
> 
> --- On *Mon, 7/13/09, James Carlson /<carlsonj at workingcode.com>/*
wrote:
> 
> 
>     From: James Carlson <carlsonj at workingcode.com>
>     Subject: Re: [crossbow-discuss] connect a physical link to an etherstub
>     To: wbaoyang at yahoo.com
>     Cc: crossbow-discuss at opensolaris.org
>     Date: Monday, July 13, 2009, 5:23 PM
> 
>     wbaoyang at yahoo.com </mc/compose?to=wbaoyang at yahoo.com>
wrote:
>      > New to this group. Apology if this has been answered:
>      > How can I connect a physical link to an etherstub without using a
>     VNIC?
> 
>     I don''t think it''s possible with or without a VNIC.
> 
>     It is possible to bridge an etherstub to a physical link using the
>     not-yet-integrated Ethernet bridging feature, but it''s
unlikely that
>     this is really what you want to do.
> 
>     It might be better to explain what your network looks like and what
>     you''re attempting to accomplish.  (The better general answer
is that if
>     you need physical network access, put the VNIC on a physical interface,
>     not on an etherstub.  If you need a VNIC to be isolated from the
>     physical world -- internal communication only -- then use an
etherstub.)
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> crossbow-discuss mailing list
> crossbow-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/crossbow-discuss

-- 
Sunay Tripathi
Distinguished Engineer
Solaris Core Operating System
Sun MicroSystems Inc.

Solaris Networking:     http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/networking
Project Crossbow:       http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/crossbow

Sunay,

Thanks for the explanation. It makes more sense now.

Wayne

--- On Mon, 7/13/09, Sunay Tripathi <Sunay.Tripathi at Sun.Com> wrote:

From: Sunay Tripathi <Sunay.Tripathi at Sun.Com>
Subject: Re: [crossbow-discuss] connect a physical link to an etherstub
To: wbaoyang at yahoo.com
Cc: "James Carlson" <carlsonj at workingcode.com>,
crossbow-discuss at opensolaris.org
Date: Monday, July 13, 2009, 7:46 PM

Wayne,

wbaoyang at yahoo.com wrote:
> I thought if a vnic can be created on top of an etherstub so that all such
vnics within the etherstub can be switched by an implicitly created virtual
switch, why can''t a physical link be connected to the etherstub so that
it can be part of the switching.
This is because Crossbow architecture is different and simpler. The
switching is done in the MAC layer itself instead of a separate switch
module plus you want to leverage the NIC switch/classification
capability as well. So instead of the usual switch module + NIC acting
as a uplink (approach used by others), we do the switching in the
MAC layer which gives us H/W classification, H/W based VNICs, B/W
control etc.

Now you do you deal with multiple switch instances and thats where
etherstub comes in. Its just a handle which allows VNICs to be
created on top and defines the switching domain i.e. which VNICs to
switch between. So essentially you have multiple switch instances. The
default one over physical NICs and other one over etherstub. So
if you have link on two different L2 switch instance, you need to use
either a L2 bridge or IP routing to talk between them.
> If NAT/firewall is needed between the internal and external world, then a
vinc can be used to connect the NAT/firewall and the virtual switch.
> If NAT/firewall is not needed(e.g., there''s an external
NAT/firewall device already), the use of a vnic may be avoided.
The architecture is slightly different than that and cleaner/simpler.

Hope that helps.
sunay
> 
> (I want to thank Nicolas for his earlier reply too)
> Thanks,
> 
> Wayne
> 
> 
> --- On *Mon, 7/13/09, James Carlson /<carlsonj at workingcode.com>/*
wrote:
> 
> 
>? ???From: James Carlson <carlsonj at workingcode.com>
>? ???Subject: Re: [crossbow-discuss] connect a physical link to an etherstub
>? ???To: wbaoyang at yahoo.com
>? ???Cc: crossbow-discuss at opensolaris.org
>? ???Date: Monday, July 13, 2009, 5:23 PM
> 
>? ???wbaoyang at yahoo.com </mc/compose?to=wbaoyang at yahoo.com>
wrote:
>? ? ? > New to this group. Apology if this has been answered:
>? ? ? > How can I connect a physical link to an etherstub without using a
>? ???VNIC?
> 
>? ???I don''t think it''s possible with or without a VNIC.
> 
>? ???It is possible to bridge an etherstub to a physical link using the
>? ???not-yet-integrated Ethernet bridging feature, but it''s
unlikely that
>? ???this is really what you want to do.
> 
>? ???It might be better to explain what your network looks like and what
>? ???you''re attempting to accomplish.? (The better general answer
is that if
>? ???you need physical network access, put the VNIC on a physical interface,
>? ???not on an etherstub.? If you need a VNIC to be isolated from the
>? ???physical world -- internal communication only -- then use an
etherstub.)
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> crossbow-discuss mailing list
> crossbow-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/crossbow-discuss

-- Sunay Tripathi
Distinguished Engineer
Solaris Core Operating System
Sun MicroSystems Inc.

Solaris Networking:? ???http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/networking
Project Crossbow:? ? ???http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/crossbow





      
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