bridging with gre tunnel

bridging with gre tunnel

[Timo Teräs]

Hi all,

It looks the current kernel still do not support bridging over gre
tunnels.

I did find an old patch for ip_gre that would enable this [1]. But
it needs porting from 2.4 to 2.6 kernels and looks like it needs
cleaning up too.

Is there newer/better patches to achieve this? Any thoughts about
doing bridging with gre tunnels?

Cheers,
  Timo

[1] http://mailman.ds9a.nl/pipermail/lartc/2003q4/010327.html

Re: [Bridge] bridging with gre tunnel

[Stephen Hemminger]

On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:30:08 +0300
Timo Teräs <timo.teras@iki.fi> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> It looks the current kernel still do not support bridging over gre
> tunnels.
> 
> I did find an old patch for ip_gre that would enable this [1]. But
> it needs porting from 2.4 to 2.6 kernels and looks like it needs
> cleaning up too.
> 
> Is there newer/better patches to achieve this? Any thoughts about
> doing bridging with gre tunnels?
> 
> Cheers,
>   Timo
> 
> [1] http://mailman.ds9a.nl/pipermail/lartc/2003q4/010327.html

The idea is fine, but that patch needs work (kind of a mess).
If you want it, then go through normal process of submitting to
netdev and take the comments and fix it up.

Re: bridging with gre tunnel

[Philip Craig]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 445 bytes --]

Timo Teräs wrote:
> Is there newer/better patches to achieve this? Any thoughts about
> doing bridging with gre tunnels?

Here's a patch I did against 2.6.17.

I didn't submit this to mainline though because the userspace ABI
is ugly.  The basic problem is that the struct used for the ioctl
isn't extensible.  The only way I can think of to fix it properly
is to add configuration of gre using netlink, but I never got around
to doing that.  


[-- Attachment #2: gre-bridge-6.patch --]
[-- Type: text/x-diff, Size: 11231 bytes --]

Subject: ethernet over GRE

- ip tunnel show doesn't work
- iph.id field isn't really appropriate

--- linux-2.6.x/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c	18 Jun 2006 23:30:56 -0000	1.1.1.33
+++ linux-2.6.x/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c	11 Aug 2006 04:10:04 -0000
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@
 #include <linux/igmp.h>
 #include <linux/netfilter_ipv4.h>
 #include <linux/if_ether.h>
+#include <linux/if_bridge.h>
+#include <linux/etherdevice.h>
+#include <linux/llc.h>
 
 #include <net/sock.h>
 #include <net/ip.h>
@@ -119,6 +122,7 @@
 
 static int ipgre_tunnel_init(struct net_device *dev);
 static void ipgre_tunnel_setup(struct net_device *dev);
+static void ipgre_ether_tunnel_setup(struct net_device *dev);
 
 /* Fallback tunnel: no source, no destination, no key, no options */
 
@@ -274,7 +278,10 @@ static struct ip_tunnel * ipgre_tunnel_l
 			goto failed;
 	}
 
-	dev = alloc_netdev(sizeof(*t), name, ipgre_tunnel_setup);
+	if (parms->iph.id == htons(ETH_P_BRIDGE))
+		dev = alloc_netdev(sizeof(*t), name, ipgre_ether_tunnel_setup);
+	else
+		dev = alloc_netdev(sizeof(*t), name, ipgre_tunnel_setup);
 	if (!dev)
 	  return NULL;
 
@@ -550,6 +557,23 @@ ipgre_ecn_encapsulate(u8 tos, struct iph
 	return INET_ECN_encapsulate(tos, inner);
 }
 
+static __be16 ipgre_type_trans(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
+{
+	if (skb->protocol == htons(ETH_P_BRIDGE)) {
+		if (!pskb_may_pull(skb, ETH_HLEN))
+			return 0;
+		return eth_type_trans(skb, dev);
+	}
+#if defined(CONFIG_BRIDGE) || defined (CONFIG_BRIDGE_MODULE)
+	else if (skb->protocol == htons(LLC_SAP_BSPAN)) {
+		br_stp_rcv_raw(skb, dev);
+		return 0;
+	}
+#endif
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static int ipgre_rcv(struct sk_buff *skb)
 {
 	struct iphdr *iph;
@@ -645,6 +669,13 @@ static int ipgre_rcv(struct sk_buff *skb
 			}
 			tunnel->i_seqno = seqno + 1;
 		}
+		if (tunnel->dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER) {
+			skb->protocol = ipgre_type_trans(skb, tunnel->dev);
+			if (!skb->protocol) {
+				tunnel->stat.rx_errors++;
+				goto drop;
+			}
+		}
 		tunnel->stat.rx_packets++;
 		tunnel->stat.rx_bytes += skb->len;
 		skb->dev = tunnel->dev;
@@ -678,6 +709,7 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_b
 	struct iphdr  *iph;			/* Our new IP header */
 	int    max_headroom;			/* The extra header space needed */
 	int    gre_hlen;
+	int    push_hlen;
 	u32    dst;
 	int    mtu;
 
@@ -686,11 +718,18 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_b
 		goto tx_error;
 	}
 
-	if (dev->hard_header) {
-		gre_hlen = 0;
+	if (dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER) {
+		skb->protocol = htons(ETH_P_BRIDGE);
+		gre_hlen = tunnel->hlen - ETH_HLEN;
+		push_hlen = gre_hlen;
+		tiph = &tunnel->parms.iph;
+	} else if (dev->hard_header) {
+		gre_hlen = tunnel->hlen;
+		push_hlen = 0;
 		tiph = (struct iphdr*)skb->data;
 	} else {
 		gre_hlen = tunnel->hlen;
+		push_hlen = gre_hlen;
 		tiph = &tunnel->parms.iph;
 	}
 
@@ -792,7 +831,8 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_b
 			}
 		}
 
-		if (mtu >= IPV6_MIN_MTU && mtu < skb->len - tunnel->hlen + gre_hlen) {
+		if (mtu >= IPV6_MIN_MTU &&
+		    mtu < skb->len - tunnel->hlen + push_hlen) {
 			icmpv6_send(skb, ICMPV6_PKT_TOOBIG, 0, mtu, dev);
 			ip_rt_put(rt);
 			goto tx_error;
@@ -809,7 +849,7 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_b
 			tunnel->err_count = 0;
 	}
 
-	max_headroom = LL_RESERVED_SPACE(tdev) + gre_hlen;
+	max_headroom = LL_RESERVED_SPACE(tdev) + push_hlen;
 
 	if (skb_headroom(skb) < max_headroom || skb_cloned(skb) || skb_shared(skb)) {
 		struct sk_buff *new_skb = skb_realloc_headroom(skb, max_headroom);
@@ -828,7 +868,7 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_b
 	}
 
 	skb->h.raw = skb->nh.raw;
-	skb->nh.raw = skb_push(skb, gre_hlen);
+	skb->nh.raw = skb_push(skb, push_hlen);
 	memset(&(IPCB(skb)->opt), 0, sizeof(IPCB(skb)->opt));
 	IPCB(skb)->flags &= ~(IPSKB_XFRM_TUNNEL_SIZE | IPSKB_XFRM_TRANSFORMED |
 			      IPSKB_REROUTED);
@@ -863,7 +903,7 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_b
 	((u16*)(iph+1))[1] = skb->protocol;
 
 	if (tunnel->parms.o_flags&(GRE_KEY|GRE_CSUM|GRE_SEQ)) {
-		u32 *ptr = (u32*)(((u8*)iph) + tunnel->hlen - 4);
+		u32 *ptr = (u32*)(((u8*)iph) + gre_hlen - 4);
 
 		if (tunnel->parms.o_flags&GRE_SEQ) {
 			++tunnel->o_seqno;
@@ -935,6 +975,8 @@ ipgre_tunnel_ioctl (struct net_device *d
 		    p.iph.ihl != 5 || (p.iph.frag_off&htons(~IP_DF)) ||
 		    ((p.i_flags|p.o_flags)&(GRE_VERSION|GRE_ROUTING)))
 			goto done;
+		if (p.iph.id != 0 && p.iph.id != htons(ETH_P_BRIDGE))
+			goto done;
 		if (p.iph.ttl)
 			p.iph.frag_off |= htons(IP_DF);
 
@@ -956,7 +998,9 @@ ipgre_tunnel_ioctl (struct net_device *d
 
 				t = netdev_priv(dev);
 
-				if (MULTICAST(p.iph.daddr))
+				if (t->dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER)
+					nflags = IFF_BROADCAST;
+				else if (MULTICAST(p.iph.daddr))
 					nflags = IFF_BROADCAST;
 				else if (p.iph.daddr)
 					nflags = IFF_POINTOPOINT;
@@ -1147,6 +1191,18 @@ static void ipgre_tunnel_setup(struct ne
 	dev->addr_len		= 4;
 }
 
+static void ipgre_ether_tunnel_setup(struct net_device *dev)
+{
+	ether_setup(dev);
+
+	SET_MODULE_OWNER(dev);
+	dev->uninit		= ipgre_tunnel_uninit;
+	dev->destructor 	= free_netdev;
+	dev->hard_start_xmit	= ipgre_tunnel_xmit;
+	dev->get_stats		= ipgre_tunnel_get_stats;
+	dev->do_ioctl		= ipgre_tunnel_ioctl;
+}
+
 static int ipgre_tunnel_init(struct net_device *dev)
 {
 	struct net_device *tdev = NULL;
@@ -1162,8 +1218,27 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_init(struct net_
 	tunnel->dev = dev;
 	strcpy(tunnel->parms.name, dev->name);
 
-	memcpy(dev->dev_addr, &tunnel->parms.iph.saddr, 4);
-	memcpy(dev->broadcast, &tunnel->parms.iph.daddr, 4);
+	if (dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER)
+		random_ether_addr(dev->dev_addr);
+	else {
+		memcpy(dev->dev_addr, &tunnel->parms.iph.saddr, 4);
+		memcpy(dev->broadcast, &tunnel->parms.iph.daddr, 4);
+	}
+
+	if (dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER)
+		dev->flags |= IFF_BROADCAST;
+#ifdef CONFIG_NET_IPGRE_BROADCAST
+	else if (MULTICAST(iph->daddr)) {
+		if (!iph->saddr)
+			return -EINVAL;
+		dev->flags = IFF_BROADCAST;
+		dev->hard_header = ipgre_header;
+		dev->open = ipgre_open;
+		dev->stop = ipgre_close;
+	}
+#endif
+	else if (iph->daddr)
+		dev->flags |= IFF_POINTOPOINT;
 
 	/* Guess output device to choose reasonable mtu and hard_header_len */
 
@@ -1179,19 +1254,6 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_init(struct net_
 			tdev = rt->u.dst.dev;
 			ip_rt_put(rt);
 		}
-
-		dev->flags |= IFF_POINTOPOINT;
-
-#ifdef CONFIG_NET_IPGRE_BROADCAST
-		if (MULTICAST(iph->daddr)) {
-			if (!iph->saddr)
-				return -EINVAL;
-			dev->flags = IFF_BROADCAST;
-			dev->hard_header = ipgre_header;
-			dev->open = ipgre_open;
-			dev->stop = ipgre_close;
-		}
-#endif
 	}
 
 	if (!tdev && tunnel->parms.link)
@@ -1212,6 +1274,8 @@ static int ipgre_tunnel_init(struct net_
 		if (tunnel->parms.o_flags&GRE_SEQ)
 			addend += 4;
 	}
+	if (dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER)
+		addend += ETH_HLEN;
 	dev->hard_header_len = hlen + addend;
 	dev->mtu = mtu - addend;
 	tunnel->hlen = addend;
--- linux-2.6.x/net/bridge/br_netfilter.c	18 Jun 2006 23:30:55 -0000	1.1.1.25
+++ linux-2.6.x/net/bridge/br_netfilter.c	11 Aug 2006 04:10:04 -0000
@@ -765,14 +765,28 @@ out:
 	return NF_STOLEN;
 }
 
+/*
+ * We've finished passing through netfilter, so we can remove the fake dst.
+ * This is required by some lower layers, eg ip_gre
+ */
+static int br_nf_dev_queue_xmit_finish(struct sk_buff *skb)
+{
+	if (skb->dst == (struct dst_entry *)&__fake_rtable) {
+		dst_release(skb->dst);
+		skb->dst = NULL;
+	}
+
+	return br_dev_queue_push_xmit(skb);
+}
+
 static int br_nf_dev_queue_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb)
 {
 	if (skb->protocol == htons(ETH_P_IP) &&
 	    skb->len > skb->dev->mtu &&
 	    !(skb_shinfo(skb)->ufo_size || skb_shinfo(skb)->tso_size))
-		return ip_fragment(skb, br_dev_queue_push_xmit);
+		return ip_fragment(skb, br_nf_dev_queue_xmit_finish);
 	else
-		return br_dev_queue_push_xmit(skb);
+		return br_nf_dev_queue_xmit_finish(skb);
 }
 
 /* PF_BRIDGE/POST_ROUTING ********************************************/
--- linux-2.6.x/net/bridge/br_stp_bpdu.c	18 Jun 2006 23:30:55 -0000	1.1.1.9
+++ linux-2.6.x/net/bridge/br_stp_bpdu.c	11 Aug 2006 04:10:04 -0000
@@ -124,35 +124,23 @@ void br_send_tcn_bpdu(struct net_bridge_
 	br_send_bpdu(p, buf, 7);
 }
 
-/*
- * Called from llc.
- *
- * NO locks, but rcu_read_lock (preempt_disabled)
- */
-int br_stp_rcv(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev,
-	       struct packet_type *pt, struct net_device *orig_dev)
+static void __br_stp_rcv(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev,
+			 const unsigned char *dest)
 {
-	const struct llc_pdu_un *pdu = llc_pdu_un_hdr(skb);
-	const unsigned char *dest = eth_hdr(skb)->h_dest;
 	struct net_bridge_port *p = rcu_dereference(dev->br_port);
 	struct net_bridge *br;
 	const unsigned char *buf;
 
 	if (!p)
-		goto err;
-
-	if (pdu->ssap != LLC_SAP_BSPAN
-	    || pdu->dsap != LLC_SAP_BSPAN
-	    || pdu->ctrl_1 != LLC_PDU_TYPE_U)
-		goto err;
+		return;
 
 	if (!pskb_may_pull(skb, 4))
-		goto err;
+		return;
 
 	/* compare of protocol id and version */
 	buf = skb->data;
 	if (buf[0] != 0 || buf[1] != 0 || buf[2] != 0)
-		goto err;
+		return;
 
 	br = p->br;
 	spin_lock(&br->lock);
@@ -162,7 +150,7 @@ int br_stp_rcv(struct sk_buff *skb, stru
 	    || !(br->dev->flags & IFF_UP))
 		goto out;
 
-	if (compare_ether_addr(dest, br->group_addr) != 0)
+	if (dest && compare_ether_addr(dest, br->group_addr) != 0)
 		goto out;
 
 	buf = skb_pull(skb, 3);
@@ -213,7 +201,34 @@ int br_stp_rcv(struct sk_buff *skb, stru
 	}
  out:
 	spin_unlock(&br->lock);
+}
+
+/*
+ * Called from llc.
+ *
+ * NO locks, but rcu_read_lock (preempt_disabled)
+ */
+int br_stp_rcv(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev,
+	       struct packet_type *pt, struct net_device *orig_dev)
+{
+	const struct llc_pdu_un *pdu = llc_pdu_un_hdr(skb);
+	const unsigned char *dest = eth_hdr(skb)->h_dest;
+
+	if (pdu->ssap != LLC_SAP_BSPAN
+	    || pdu->dsap != LLC_SAP_BSPAN
+	    || pdu->ctrl_1 != LLC_PDU_TYPE_U)
+		goto err;
+
+	__br_stp_rcv(skb, dev, dest);
+
  err:
 	kfree_skb(skb);
 	return 0;
 }
+
+void br_stp_rcv_raw(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
+{
+	rcu_read_lock();
+	__br_stp_rcv(skb, dev, NULL);
+	rcu_read_unlock();
+}
--- linux-2.6.x/include/linux/if_bridge.h	19 Oct 2004 06:13:18 -0000	1.1.1.6
+++ linux-2.6.x/include/linux/if_bridge.h	11 Aug 2006 04:10:04 -0000
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ struct __fdb_entry
 extern void brioctl_set(int (*ioctl_hook)(unsigned int, void __user *));
 extern int (*br_handle_frame_hook)(struct net_bridge_port *p, struct sk_buff **pskb);
 extern int (*br_should_route_hook)(struct sk_buff **pskb);
+extern void br_stp_rcv_raw(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev);
 
 #endif
 
--- linux-2.6.x/include/linux/if_ether.h	18 Jun 2006 23:30:44 -0000	1.1.1.11
+++ linux-2.6.x/include/linux/if_ether.h	11 Aug 2006 04:10:04 -0000
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 #define ETH_P_DIAG      0x6005          /* DEC Diagnostics              */
 #define ETH_P_CUST      0x6006          /* DEC Customer use             */
 #define ETH_P_SCA       0x6007          /* DEC Systems Comms Arch       */
+#define ETH_P_BRIDGE    0x6558          /* Transparent Ethernet Bridging */
 #define ETH_P_RARP      0x8035		/* Reverse Addr Res packet	*/
 #define ETH_P_ATALK	0x809B		/* Appletalk DDP		*/
 #define ETH_P_AARP	0x80F3		/* Appletalk AARP		*/

[-- Attachment #3: gre-bridge-iproute2.patch --]
[-- Type: text/x-diff, Size: 2805 bytes --]

Index: iproute2/ip/iptunnel.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/sw/new-wave/user/iproute2/ip/iptunnel.c,v
retrieving revision 1.4
diff -u -p -r1.4 iptunnel.c
--- iproute2/ip/iptunnel.c	17 Sep 2003 10:04:44 -0000	1.4
+++ iproute2/ip/iptunnel.c	11 Aug 2006 04:19:50 -0000
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <net/if_arp.h>
 #include <netinet/in.h>
 
+#include "../lib/if_ether.h"
 #include "if_tunnel.h"
 #include "rt_names.h"
 #include "utils.h"
@@ -186,11 +187,20 @@ static int parse_args(int argc, char **a
 				p->iph.protocol = IPPROTO_IPIP;
 			} else if (strcmp(*argv, "gre") == 0 ||
 				   strcmp(*argv, "gre/ip") == 0) {
-				if (p->iph.protocol && p->iph.protocol != IPPROTO_GRE) {
+				if (p->iph.protocol && (p->iph.protocol != IPPROTO_GRE || p->iph.id != 0)) {
 					fprintf(stderr,"You managed to ask for more than one tunnel mode.\n");
 					exit(-1);
 				}
 				p->iph.protocol = IPPROTO_GRE;
+			} else if (strcmp(*argv, "eogre") == 0 ||
+				   strcmp(*argv, "ether/gre") == 0 ||
+				   strcmp(*argv, "ether/gre/ip") == 0) {
+				if (p->iph.protocol && (p->iph.protocol != IPPROTO_GRE || p->iph.id != htons(ETH_P_BRIDGE))) {
+					fprintf(stderr,"You managed to ask for more than one tunnel mode.\n");
+					exit(-1);
+				}
+				p->iph.protocol = IPPROTO_GRE;
+				p->iph.id = htons(ETH_P_BRIDGE);
 			} else if (strcmp(*argv, "sit") == 0 ||
 				   strcmp(*argv, "ipv6/ip") == 0) {
 				if (p->iph.protocol && p->iph.protocol != IPPROTO_IPV6) {
@@ -409,8 +419,9 @@ void print_tunnel(struct ip_tunnel_parm 
 	inet_ntop(AF_INET, &p->i_key, s3, sizeof(s3));
 	inet_ntop(AF_INET, &p->o_key, s4, sizeof(s4));
 
-	printf("%s: %s/ip  remote %s  local %s ",
+	printf("%s: %s%s/ip  remote %s  local %s ",
 	       p->name,
+	       p->iph.id == htons(ETH_P_BRIDGE) ? "ether/" : "",
 	       p->iph.protocol == IPPROTO_IPIP ? "ip" :
 	       (p->iph.protocol == IPPROTO_GRE ? "gre" :
 		(p->iph.protocol == IPPROTO_IPV6 ? "ipv6" : "unknown")),
Index: iproute2/lib/if_ether.h
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/sw/new-wave/user/iproute2/lib/if_ether.h,v
retrieving revision 1.1
diff -u -p -r1.1 if_ether.h
--- iproute2/lib/if_ether.h	10 Sep 2003 05:25:08 -0000	1.1
+++ iproute2/lib/if_ether.h	11 Aug 2006 04:19:50 -0000
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 #define ETH_P_DIAG      0x6005          /* DEC Diagnostics              */
 #define ETH_P_CUST      0x6006          /* DEC Customer use             */
 #define ETH_P_SCA       0x6007          /* DEC Systems Comms Arch       */
+#define ETH_P_BRIDGE    0x6558          /* Transparent Ethernet Bridging */
 #define ETH_P_RARP      0x8035		/* Reverse Addr Res packet	*/
 #define ETH_P_ATALK	0x809B		/* Appletalk DDP		*/
 #define ETH_P_AARP	0x80F3		/* Appletalk AARP		*/

Re: bridging with gre tunnel

[Timo Teräs]

Philip Craig wrote:
> Timo Teräs wrote:
>> Is there newer/better patches to achieve this? Any thoughts about
>> doing bridging with gre tunnels?
> 
> Here's a patch I did against 2.6.17.
> 
> I didn't submit this to mainline though because the userspace ABI
> is ugly.  The basic problem is that the struct used for the ioctl
> isn't extensible.  The only way I can think of to fix it properly
> is to add configuration of gre using netlink, but I never got around
> to doing that.  

There is an essential difference in this patch compared to the one
I referred to. This patch adds a new way to create GRE devices which
results in ethernet style device whereas the older patch modifies
transmit and receive paths to detect packets coming from bridging
code and does not need userland changes at all.

I kind of like the fact that userland tools work as-is and that
I don't need any special flags for the GRE tunnel creation. However
your patch does look way cleaner.

Any comments on what the solution to merged in should look like?

- Timo

Re: bridging with gre tunnel

[Philip Craig]

Timo Teräs wrote:
> There is an essential difference in this patch compared to the one
> I referred to. This patch adds a new way to create GRE devices which
> results in ethernet style device whereas the older patch modifies
> transmit and receive paths to detect packets coming from bridging
> code and does not need userland changes at all.
>
> I kind of like the fact that userland tools work as-is and that
> I don't need any special flags for the GRE tunnel creation. However
> your patch does look way cleaner.
>
> Any comments on what the solution to merged in should look like?

I posted a cleaner version that's similar to what the old patch
did, see http://marc.info/?l=linux-netdev&m=115449948503549&w=2

But I don't think that is the right approach:
- it forces you to use bridging if you only want ethernet over GRE
- the change fundamentally has nothing to do with bridging

BTW, the STP bits in my patch can be removed too if needed, most users
won't want them and they aren't quite right (stp packets are counted
as errors).  I don't even know what device needed it, I just have a
pcap file with the packets.  After removing that, there's nothing
in the patch related to bridging.

Actually, this change doesn't really belong in GRE either, because
that forces you to choose between ethernet encapsulation and not.
It could be a new device that sits on top of GRE and simply does
ethernet encapsulation then passes it to the raw GRE device.
That's a lot of infrastructure for something so simple though,
and I don't think people will want to use both devices at once.

Re: bridging with gre tunnel

[James Chapman]

Philip Craig wrote:
> Timo Teräs wrote:
> I posted a cleaner version that's similar to what the old patch
> did, see http://marc.info/?l=linux-netdev&m=115449948503549&w=2
> 
> But I don't think that is the right approach:
> - it forces you to use bridging if you only want ethernet over GRE
> - the change fundamentally has nothing to do with bridging

I agree.

> It could be a new device that sits on top of GRE and simply does
> ethernet encapsulation then passes it to the raw GRE device.

This would be my preferred approach. There are other drivers that use a 
netdev to do some encap/decap processing on packets which are then 
passed on to another driver, e.g. macvlan, and it works well.

-- 
James Chapman
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Re: bridging with gre tunnel

[Timo Teräs]

Philip Craig wrote:
> Timo Teräs wrote:
>> There is an essential difference in this patch compared to the one
>> I referred to. This patch adds a new way to create GRE devices which
>> results in ethernet style device whereas the older patch modifies
>> transmit and receive paths to detect packets coming from bridging
>> code and does not need userland changes at all.
>>
>> I kind of like the fact that userland tools work as-is and that
>> I don't need any special flags for the GRE tunnel creation. However
>> your patch does look way cleaner.
>>
>> Any comments on what the solution to merged in should look like?
> 
> I posted a cleaner version that's similar to what the old patch
> did, see http://marc.info/?l=linux-netdev&m=115449948503549&w=2

That's a third way to do it. The patch I referred to changed
ip_gre mostly (only change to bridging was the device type check).

But it has the same limitation that ether encapsulation is only
usable in association with bridging.

> But I don't think that is the right approach:
> - it forces you to use bridging if you only want ethernet over GRE
> - the change fundamentally has nothing to do with bridging

Yes, I would not do the ethernet header stuff in bridging code
either.

> Actually, this change doesn't really belong in GRE either, because
> that forces you to choose between ethernet encapsulation and not.
> It could be a new device that sits on top of GRE and simply does
> ethernet encapsulation then passes it to the raw GRE device.
> That's a lot of infrastructure for something so simple though,
> and I don't think people will want to use both devices at once.

This sounds as the most robust way to do it. But yes, it sounds
unlikely that both devices would be used simultaneously.

Not sure how easy it would be to add a new tunnel type. Apparently
they use IPPROTO_* to differentiate type and it would be the same
in this case.

Thanks for the feedback so far.
- Timo

Re: bridging with gre tunnel

[Herbert Xu]

Philip Craig <philipc@snapgear.com> wrote:
> 
> Actually, this change doesn't really belong in GRE either, because
> that forces you to choose between ethernet encapsulation and not.
> It could be a new device that sits on top of GRE and simply does
> ethernet encapsulation then passes it to the raw GRE device.
> That's a lot of infrastructure for something so simple though,
> and I don't think people will want to use both devices at once.

What's the problem with using Ethernet encapsulation on such a
GRE device? If you're referring to the fact that user-space uses
the encapsulation type to determine whether a device is a tunnel,
then we should fix those tools instead.

Rather than trying to resuscitate the ioctl interface, please
create a new extensible netlink interface and make ip(8) use it
where available.

Cheers,
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Email: Herbert Xu ~{PmV>HI~} <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>
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Re: [Bridge] bridging with gre tunnel

[Patrick McHardy]

Herbert Xu wrote:
> Philip Craig <philipc@snapgear.com> wrote:
>> Actually, this change doesn't really belong in GRE either, because
>> that forces you to choose between ethernet encapsulation and not.
>> It could be a new device that sits on top of GRE and simply does
>> ethernet encapsulation then passes it to the raw GRE device.
>> That's a lot of infrastructure for something so simple though,
>> and I don't think people will want to use both devices at once.
> 
> What's the problem with using Ethernet encapsulation on such a
> GRE device? If you're referring to the fact that user-space uses
> the encapsulation type to determine whether a device is a tunnel,
> then we should fix those tools instead.
> 
> Rather than trying to resuscitate the ioctl interface, please
> create a new extensible netlink interface and make ip(8) use it
> where available.


Or use rtnl_link, which was created for this purpose :)

Re: [Bridge] bridging with gre tunnel

[Herbert Xu]

On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 02:15:14PM +0200, Patrick McHardy wrote:
>
> Or use rtnl_link, which was created for this purpose :)

Excellent, now there is even less excuse to bother with the ioctls :)
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