Re: [Xen-devel] xen 2.0, networking, bridging, and nfsroot

[Ian Pratt <Ian.Pratt@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> So, along comes 2.0.  It now uses a normal bridge to connect dom0 and domN.
> However, the bridge has a hole, where the network does not exist, while it
> copies the addresses from eth0 to br0, and changes all the routes.
> 
> In nfsroot mode, this fails, as suddenly the network is inaccessible, so
> brctl(and friends) can no longer be found.

It's an unfortunate mis-feature of the Linux bridge code that
when adding an interface to the bridge it doesn't inherit the IP
addresses associated with the interface: As I recall, one of
either tx or rx breaks, but the other direction is OK.

I presume 2.6 exhibits the same behaviour? 

We've tried to work around this in the /etc/xen/network script,
but it's certainly a problem for nfsroot dom0 systems. 

One option is to come up with a patch to the linux bridge code to
'fix' the current arguably broken behaviour. It would be
interesting to take this up with the bridge code maintainer. Any
volumteers?

The other alternative is to route rather than bridge VIF's onto
the real network. We've supplied example scripts for bridging,
but it would be good to include example scripts for a routed
setup too. 

Just edit the network-script and vif-script parameters in
/etc/xen/xend-config.sxp to point at a pair of new scripts.

I've had routed setups working just fine. The only slight
annoyance is that I had to configure a dummy IP address for the
backend (vifX.Y) interfaces to point routes through. I was hoping
to set them up as explicit point-to-point links and avoid this,
but ifconfig wouldn't let me. Perhaps there's some device flag
that our backend driver should be setting to allow this? If so, a
patch for this would be great.

Thanks,
Ian



-------------------------------------------------------
SF.Net email is sponsored by Shop4tech.com-Lowest price on Blank Media
100pk Sonic DVD-R 4x for only $29 -100pk Sonic DVD+R for only $33
Save 50% off Retail on Ink & Toner - Free Shipping and Free Gift.
http://www.shop4tech.com/z/Inkjet_Cartridges/9_108_r285
_______________________________________________
Xen-devel mailing list
Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xen-devel