Re: [RFC PATCH] virtio_net: Extend virtio to use VF datapath when available

[Jakub Kicinski <kubakici@wp.pl>]

On Wed, 20 Dec 2017 18:16:30 -0800, Siwei Liu wrote:
> > The plan is to remove the delay and do the naming in the kernel.
> > This was suggested by Lennart since udev is only doing naming policy
> > because kernel names were not repeatable.
> >
> > This makes the VF show up as "ethN_vf" on Hyper-V which is user friendly.
> >
> > Patch is pending.  
> 
> While it's good to show VF with specific naming to indicate
> enslavement, I wonder wouldn't it be better to hide this netdev at all
> from the user space? IMHO this extra device is useless when being
> enslaved and we may delegate controls (e.g. ethtool) over to the
> para-virtual device instead? That way it's possible to eliminate the
> possibility of additional udev setup or modification?
> 
> I'm not sure if this  is consistent with Windows guest or not, but I
> don't find it _Linux_ user friendly that ethtool doesn't work on the
> composite interface any more, and I have to end up with finding out
> the correct enslaved VF I must operate on.

Hiding "low level" netdevs comes up from time to time, and is more
widely applicable than just to VF bonds.  We should find a generic
solution to that problem.