Re: [evb] RE: [PATCH][RFC] net/bridge: add basic VEPA support

[Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@linux-foundation.org>]

On Fri, 7 Aug 2009 14:06:58 -0700
"Paul Congdon \(UC Davis\)" <ptcongdon@ucdavis.edu> wrote:

> Yaron,
> 
> 
> The interface multiplexing can be achieved using macvlan driver or using an SR-IOV capable NIC (the preferred option), macvlan may need to be extended to support VEPA multicast handling, this looks like a rather simple task 
> 
> Agreed that the hardware solution is preferred so the macvlan implementation doesn’t really matter.  If we are talking SR-IOV, then it is direct mapped, regardless of whether there is a VEB or VEPA in the hardware below, so you are bypassing the bridge software code also.  
> 
> I disagree that adding the multicast handling is simple – while not conceptually hard, it will basically require you to put an address table into the macvlan implementation – if you have that, then why not have just used the one already in the bridge code.  If you hook a VEPA up to a non-hairpin mode external bridge, you get the macvlan capability as well.

I have a patch that forwards all multicast packets, and another that does
proper forwarding. It should have worked that way in original macvlan, the
current behavior is really a bug.


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