[ovs-dev] [PATCH] Add some developer documentation on the bonding implementation.

Ben Pfaff blp at nicira.com
Wed Sep 9 16:52:25 UTC 2009


Justin Pettit <jpettit at nicira.com> writes:

> On Sep 8, 2009, at 9:04 PM, Ben Pfaff wrote:
>
>> +These packets teach the physical
>> +switch the new slave to use for packets destined for the vswitch's
>> +other, non-bonded ports.  (This behavior probably makes sense only
>> for
>> +a vswitch that has only a single physical port (the bond); vswitchd
>> +should probably provide a way to disable or configure it in other
>> +scenarios.)
>
> These last couple of sentences on disabling a slave confused me.
> Isn't sending these gratuitous learning packets also useful for
> teaching the physical switch about how to reach guest VMs?  

Yes, this is a situation where it is useful, because this is a
situation where the vswitch has only one physical port (the bond)
and any number of virtual ports.

> Also, the parenthetical portion seemed to contradict the
> previous sentence, since the first part states that this is
> useful for "other, non-bonded ports", but then it states that
> this only makes sense for vswitches with a "single physical
> port (the bond)".  Calling the bond a "physical port" was also
> confusing to me, since I think of it as a virtual port.

I guess it is the wording that is confusing?  I am calling a bond
a physical port because it is connected to a physical switch over
physical wires.

I rewrote this paragraph as follows:

    When a slave becomes disabled, the vswitch immediately chooses a new
    output port for traffic that was destined for that slave (see
    bond_enable_slave()).  It also sends a "gratuitous learning packet" on
    the bond port (on the newly chosen slave) for each MAC address that
    the vswitch has learned on a port other than the bond (see
    bond_send_learning_packets()), to teach the physical switch that the
    new slave should be used in place of the one that is now disabled.
    (This behavior probably makes sense only for a vswitch that has only
    one port (the bond) connected to a physical switch; vswitchd should
    probably provide a way to disable or configure it in other scenarios.)

>> +vswitchd provides the following bond-related commands.  These
>> commands
>> +may be invoked using "ovs-appctl -t <target> -e '<command>":
>
> I think you need another single quote just before the closing double
> quotes.

Yes, thank you.

>> +bond/migrate <port> <hash> <slave>
>> +    Assigns a given MAC hash to a new slave.  <port> specifies the
>> +    bond port, <hash> either the MAC hash to be migrated (as a
>> decimal
>> +    number between 0 and 25) or an Ethernet address to be hashed, and
>
> Is that 25 supposed to be 255?

Yes, thank you.

>> +bond/enable-slave <port> <slave>
>> +bond/disable-slave <port> <slave>
>> +    Enables (or disables) <slave> on the given bond <port>.
>> +
>> +    This setting is not permanent: it persists only until the carrier
>> +    status of <slave> changes.
>
> Is the purpose of this to override the updelay and downdelay settings?
> If so, it may be nice to explicitly state that.

I suppose that's the main purpose, yes.  I changed the sentence
to:

    Enables (or disables) <slave> on the given bond <port>, skipping any
    updelay (or downdelay).

I'll push this soon.




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