Offering presents for more routing tables!

I've asked for this feature several years ago and evidently it is not trivial to increase the number of routing tables.

But, perhaps someone now has time & inclination?

I would like to have more (a few thousand) routing tables available in the kernel so that I can use a routing table for each of my many VLANs. Currently, the netlink protocol only specifies an 8-bit id for the routing table:
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3549.html Section 3.1.1
so a new netlink message would need to be created and the 'ip' tool updated. I think at least a 16-bit identifier should be used, possibly a full 32 bits so we don't have to revisit this again for a while!

The kernel itself would also need to be modified so that it can have more routing tables. I realize most people don't need a large number of tables, so the maximum number should be configured at either compile time or run time.

If I remember right, there are certain tables (253 - 255) that are currently special in the kernel. For complete backwards compatibility, this hole would probably have to remain as it is, with the new tables starting at 256.

I would be willing to help test any resulting patches, and can also offer bribes of money, hardware, beer, etc.

Thanks,
Ben

Ben Greear <[email protected]>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com