Linux Ethernet Bridging - Jul 2007 - [Bridge] jumpstart stp port to forwarding state

Sorry if this is a dupe, but the mailing list join email got delayed by 10
or 12 hours and so I think this message wasn't accepted:

----------------

I've googled for this, but since there are so many pages talking about linux
boxes connected to CIsco equipment, I can't find anything relevant.

Does linux bridging support anything like cisco's portfast (port starts in
forwarding state)?  Is there a way (sysfs, ioctl) to at least change a port
to forwarding immediately?  Even bridges with stp disabled take some time
bringing ports up after a topology change.  If the delay can't be
eliminated, can I wait for it somehow in my startup scripts to avoid initial
connection failures?

My preference would be to have something like:

brctl portfast br0 bond0.10 on

or

brctl initialstate br0 bond0.10 forwarding



Also, can stp disable all ports in the same bridge?  I would assume not, a
minimum spanning tree needs at least one port forwarding (could that port
somehow be a different interface on the same box, not a member of the
bridge?).  If at least one port is always forwarding, could the minimum cost
port be set to forwarding by default when the bridge is brought up (ip link
set br0 up) irrespective of any portfast-alike setting?

I'm trying to minimize startup time on a firewall.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

Ben Voigt
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brctl setfd br0 0
 
Sets the forwarding delay on the bridge to 0, making it forward
immediately, instead of going into 'learning' mode. This affects the
entire bridge, not just a single port.
 
 
Regards,
             Leigh
 
Leigh Sharpe
Network Systems Engineer
Pacific Wireless
Ph +61 3 9584 8966
Mob 0408 009 502
Helpdesk 1300 300 616
email lsharpe@pacificwireless.com.au
web www.pacificwireless.com.au
 

  _____  

From: richardvoigt@gmail.com [mailto:richardvoigt@gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 10:03 AM
To: bridge@lists.linux-foundation.org
Subject: [Bridge] jumpstart stp port to forwarding state


Sorry if this is a dupe, but the mailing list join email got delayed by
10 or 12 hours and so I think this message wasn't accepted:

----------------

I've googled for this, but since there are so many pages talking about
linux boxes connected to CIsco equipment, I can't find anything
relevant. 

Does linux bridging support anything like cisco's portfast (port starts
in forwarding state)?  Is there a way (sysfs, ioctl) to at least change
a port to forwarding immediately?  Even bridges with stp disabled take
some time bringing ports up after a topology change.  If the delay can't
be eliminated, can I wait for it somehow in my startup scripts to avoid
initial connection failures? 

My preference would be to have something like:

brctl portfast br0 bond0.10 on

or

brctl initialstate br0 bond0.10 forwarding



Also, can stp disable all ports in the same bridge?  I would assume not,
a minimum spanning tree needs at least one port forwarding (could that
port somehow be a different interface on the same box, not a member of
the bridge?).  If at least one port is always forwarding, could the
minimum cost port be set to forwarding by default when the bridge is
brought up (ip link set br0 up) irrespective of any portfast-alike
setting? 

I'm trying to minimize startup time on a firewall.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

Ben Voigt



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