Linux Ethernet Bridging - Apr 2007 - [Bridge] Bridging with ethertap causing kernel oops

On Mon, Aug 18, 2003 at 09:12:35AM -0700, Stephen Hemminger
wrote:
>Good, it is hard to get accurate data with vendor patched kernels.
Something was whacked with my 2.4.21 install and it wouldn't talk on the
network.  I was going to be using this for a project, but have decided
to use a routed network because of the problems with bridging.  I'll see
about getting something set up to test with again in the next couple of
days.
>Are you running with STP turned on?
Yes.  I won't have any loops in the network, I guess I could shut it off
if you thought it would help.
>Also, could you try with 2.6.0-test3 to see if it is something that
>has already been covered by the 2.6 bug fixing?
Ok, I can try that as well.

Thanks,
Sean
-- 
 With Microsoft you get Windows...  Linux gives you the whole house.
Sean Reifschneider, Member of Technical Staff <jafo@tummy.com>
tummy.com, ltd. - Linux Consulting since 1995.  Qmail, Python, SysAdmin
      Back off man. I'm a scientist.   http://HackingSociety.org/

On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:51:57 -0600
Sean Reifschneider <jafo@tummy.com> wrote:
> Greetings.  I've been experimenting with bridging an ethernet device
> with an ethertap device (using the Linux tun/tap driver).  This is
> running with the bridge code in the Linux kernel version 2.4.20 as
> provided by Red Hat (2.4.20-18.9).  I also seem to have seen the problem
> with 2.4.21 from the Red Hat beta kernel.  I'm going to try a generic
> kernel as soon as I can get the remote machine rebooted.
Good, it is hard to get accurate data with vendor patched kernels.
> What I've done is set up the tap device using the OpenVPN software to
> another machine, and then want to bridge eth1 to that tap device, with
> transport for it happening over eth0.
> 
> Things all seem to work fine for some small period of time, but at some
> point it will cause the kernel to Oops (oops output provided below).
> The Oops doesn't seem to be load-related.  I was able to download a
> couple copies of the Linux kernel over it without any problems, then
> when I tried setting up policy routing, it oopsed.
> 
> I'm probably going to just switch to a routed network instead of using
> the bridge, but I wanted to pass this information on in case it helped
> make the bridging more stable.  I have a test setup which I can try
> reproducing this problem on if it helps.  I'd love to dig into the
> kernel code, but I don't have the time right now.
> 
> I've dug through the mailing list arcives and looked for more
up-to-date
> bridge code, but haven't found anything obvious for either of those.
> 
> Thanks,
> Sean
Are you running with STP turned on?

Also, could you try with 2.6.0-test3 to see if it is something that
has already been covered by the 2.6 bug fixing?