[ovs-dev] [PATCH RFC v2] lacp: Prefer slaves with running partner when selecting lead

[Flavio Leitner]

On Thu, Aug 07, 2014 at 04:19:17PM +0100, Zoltan Kiss wrote:
> On 05/08/14 22:16, Flavio Leitner wrote:
> >On Mon, Aug 04, 2014 at 12:08:48PM -0700, Andy Zhou wrote:
> >>Zoltan,
> >>
> >>Sorry it took a while to get back to you.  I am just coming up to
> >>speed on OVS LACP implementation, so my understanding may not be
> >>correct.  Please feel free to point them out If I am wrong.
> >>
> >>According to wikipeida MC-LAG entry, there is no standard for it, they
> >>are mostly designed and implemented by vendors.
> >>
> >>After reading through the commit message, and comparing with the
> >>802.1AX spec, I feel this seems like there is a bug in the MC-LAG
> >>implementation/configuration issue. When the partner on port A comes
> >>back again, should it wait for MC-LAG sync before using the default
> >>profile to exchange states with OVS?
> >
> >I agree that it sounds like a problem in the MC-LAG.  However, I also
> >agree that OVS could do better.
> >
> >The aggregation selection policy is somewhat a gray area not defined
> >in any spec. The bonding driver offers ad_select= parameter which
> >allows to switch to the new aggregator only if, for instance, all the
> >ports are down in an active aggregator.
> >
> >The Team driver implementing 802.3ad also provides the policy selection
> >parameter.  The default is to consider the prio in the LACPDU, but you
> >can also tell to not select any other aggregator if the current one is
> >still usable, or per bandwidth or per number of ports available.
> >
> >My suggestion if we want to change something is to stick with bonding
> >driver default behavior regarding to select a new aggregator:
> >"""
> >table or 0
> >
> >   The active aggregator is chosen by largest aggregate
> >   bandwidth.
> >
> >   Reselection of the active aggregator occurs only when all
> >   slaves of the active aggregator are down or the active
> >   aggregator has no slaves.
> >
> >   This is the default value.
> >"""
> >Documentation/networking/bonding.txt
> As far as I understood, there isn't really a concept of aggregator in OVS,
> but "lead" in lacp_update_attached() is something similar. However it is
> recalculated at every iteration, and it is simply just the slave with the
> lower priority.

Yes, that's my understanding as well. Rhe slave with lower priority
carries the information about the partner which then is used to
compare with other slaves.  The ones matching with lead's partner info
are in the same trunk, so they are attached, otherwise it's either not
established or is in another trunk (not attached).

> Do you mean we should save "lead" into a new field in struct lacp, and
> select a new one only if lacp_partner_ready(lead) == false?

I think it will require a bit more than that because if the "lead"
slave fails for some reason, the slave is not CURRENT anymore but the
LACP might be still valid because of another slave in CURRENT state, so
the "lead" might need to be replaced by another slave in the same trunk
to keep it up. Otherwise, the failing "lead" might receive another
partner info (the default config in your case) and that would break
the established trunk.

Does that make sense to you?

fbl