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HSR: How to set IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN?

DISCUSSION Arvid Brodin 2 participants 4 messages Jun 26, 2012 – Jun 27, 2012

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#0 lore raw

Hi,

According to Documentation/networking/operstates.txt a network interface have an operational state and an administrative state.

If I understand things correctly the administrative state is the desired state set by userspace, and the operational state is the actual state which depends on things like the administrative state, whether a carrier is present, or (for virtual interfaces lite VLAN) whether the lower interface is available.

In the driver I'm writing (for the "HSR" redundancy protocol) a hsr (virtual) interface is useable as long as any of its (physical) slaves are useable. I.e. the operstate of a hsr device might be set like this:

void hsr_set_operstate()

{
	if (!is_admin_up(hsr_dev)) /* Check IFF_UP */ {
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_DOWN);
		return;
	}

	if (is_operstate_up(slave1) || is_operstate_up(slave2)) /* Check IF_OPER_UP */
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_UP);
	else
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN);
}

However, the function set_operstate() (in net/core/rtnetlink.c) only accept transitions to IF_OPER_UP and IF_OPER_DORMANT - other transitions are ignored. (There is a function rfc2863_policy() (net/core/link_watch.c) that may return IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN iff (!netif_carrier_ok(dev) && (dev->ifindex != dev->iflink)), but I don't know what that means.)

So how do I signal my interface as being IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN?

In another, related matter, I'm wondering if I should set the carrier state of my virtual interface so that it shows netif_carrier_ok() when it is possible to get the interface to IF_OPER_UP:

void hsr_set_carrier()

{
	if (is_operstate_up(slave1) || is_operstate_up(slave2))
		netif_carrier_on(hsr_dev);
	else
		netif_carrier_off(hsr_dev);
}

Thanks,

Signature · 2 lines
Arvid Brodin | Consultant (Linux)
XDIN AB | Jan Stenbecks Torg 17 | SE-164 40 Kista | Sweden | xdin.com
#1 lore raw
Quoted 16 lines · On Tue, 26 Jun 2012 22:28:51 +0000 Arvid Brodin <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi,

According to Documentation/networking/operstates.txt a network interface have an operational state and an administrative state.

If I understand things correctly the administrative state is the desired state set by userspace, and the operational state is the actual state which depends on things like the administrative state, whether a carrier is present, or (for virtual interfaces lite VLAN) whether the lower interface is available.

In the driver I'm writing (for the "HSR" redundancy protocol) a hsr (virtual) interface is useable as long as any of its (physical) slaves are useable. I.e. the operstate of a hsr device might be set like this:

void hsr_set_operstate()

Quoted 11 lines
{
	if (!is_admin_up(hsr_dev)) /* Check IFF_UP */ {
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_DOWN);
		return;
	}

	if (is_operstate_up(slave1) || is_operstate_up(slave2)) /* Check IF_OPER_UP */
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_UP);
	else
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN);
}

According to 802.1X example in documentation to set it down you need to set IF_OPER_DORMANT not IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN. Probably a kernel bug in there somwhere.

#2 lore raw
Quoted 32 lines · Stephen Hemminger
Quoted 16 lines · On Tue, 26 Jun 2012 22:28:51 +0000 Arvid Brodin <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi,

According to Documentation/networking/operstates.txt a network interface have an operational state and an administrative state.

If I understand things correctly the administrative state is the desired state set by userspace, and the operational state is the actual state which depends on things like the administrative state, whether a carrier is present, or (for virtual interfaces lite VLAN) whether the lower interface is available.

In the driver I'm writing (for the "HSR" redundancy protocol) a hsr (virtual) interface is useable as long as any of its (physical) slaves are useable. I.e. the operstate of a hsr device might be set like this:

void hsr_set_operstate()

Quoted 11 lines
{
	if (!is_admin_up(hsr_dev)) /* Check IFF_UP */ {
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_DOWN);
		return;
	}

	if (is_operstate_up(slave1) || is_operstate_up(slave2)) /* Check IF_OPER_UP */
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_UP);
	else
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN);
}
Quoted 3 lines

According to 802.1X example in documentation to set it down you need to set IF_OPER_DORMANT not IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN. Probably a kernel bug in there somwhere.

Hmm... if you're referring to the example in Documentation/networking/operstates.txt it seems to me that the usage of IF_OPER_DORMANT there is in compliance with RFC2863 - i.e. the device is waiting for some kind of handshake to finish. I don't think it has anything to do with taking the device down?

Oh, and I see now that set_operstate() is called from do_setlink() in net/core/rtnetlink.c, which means this function is used to set operstate from userspace. The limitations then fits with the description in operstates.txt, and this function is probably not meant to set an interface's operational state from within the kernel. I wrote my own hsr_set_operstate that accepts any values, and it seems to work... (?)

Is there a way to get notifications when an interface's operational state change? NETDEV_CHANGE seems to trigger on carrier change, and NETDEV_UP/DOWN triggers when the administrative state changes - is there something similar for operational state?

(Unfortunately NETDEV_UP/DOWN triggers before the operational state for the interface in question changes accordingly, so it's not possible to just check dev->operstate in the handler for these messages. NETDEV_CHANGE seems to trigger after the interface's operational state has been changed, though.)

Signature · 2 lines
Arvid Brodin | Consultant (Linux)
XDIN AB | Jan Stenbecks Torg 17 | SE-164 40 Kista | Sweden | xdin.com
#3 lore raw
Quoted 49 lines · On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 01:42:12 +0000 Arvid Brodin <[email protected]> wrote:
Quoted 32 lines · Stephen Hemminger
Quoted 16 lines · On Tue, 26 Jun 2012 22:28:51 +0000 Arvid Brodin <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi,

According to Documentation/networking/operstates.txt a network interface have an operational state and an administrative state.

If I understand things correctly the administrative state is the desired state set by userspace, and the operational state is the actual state which depends on things like the administrative state, whether a carrier is present, or (for virtual interfaces lite VLAN) whether the lower interface is available.

In the driver I'm writing (for the "HSR" redundancy protocol) a hsr (virtual) interface is useable as long as any of its (physical) slaves are useable. I.e. the operstate of a hsr device might be set like this:

void hsr_set_operstate()

Quoted 11 lines
{
	if (!is_admin_up(hsr_dev)) /* Check IFF_UP */ {
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_DOWN);
		return;
	}

	if (is_operstate_up(slave1) || is_operstate_up(slave2)) /* Check IF_OPER_UP */
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_UP);
	else
		set_operstate(hsr_dev, IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN);
}
Quoted 3 lines

According to 802.1X example in documentation to set it down you need to set IF_OPER_DORMANT not IF_OPER_LOWERLAYERDOWN. Probably a kernel bug in there somwhere.

Hmm... if you're referring to the example in Documentation/networking/operstates.txt it seems to me that the usage of IF_OPER_DORMANT there is in compliance with RFC2863 - i.e. the device is waiting for some kind of handshake to finish. I don't think it has anything to do with taking the device down?

Oh, and I see now that set_operstate() is called from do_setlink() in net/core/rtnetlink.c, which means this function is used to set operstate from userspace. The limitations then fits with the description in operstates.txt, and this function is probably not meant to set an interface's operational state from within the kernel. I wrote my own hsr_set_operstate that accepts any values, and it seems to work... (?)

Quoted 9 lines

Is there a way to get notifications when an interface's operational state change? NETDEV_CHANGE seems to trigger on carrier change, and NETDEV_UP/DOWN triggers when the administrative state changes - is there something similar for operational state?

(Unfortunately NETDEV_UP/DOWN triggers before the operational state for the interface in question changes accordingly, so it's not possible to just check dev->operstate in the handler for these messages. NETDEV_CHANGE seems to trigger after the interface's operational state has been changed, though.)

I think the original intention was for kernel drivers to use netif_carrier_on/off rather than manipulating operstate directly.