xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/ng_bridge.4 (revision 16e549ebe2ab5dbc43b78856ee9932f14867be20)
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33.\" Author: Archie Cobbs <archie@FreeBSD.org>
34.\"
35.\" $FreeBSD$
36.\"
37.Dd February 6, 2021
38.Dt NG_BRIDGE 4
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm ng_bridge
42.Nd Ethernet bridging netgraph node type
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.In sys/types.h
45.In netgraph/ng_bridge.h
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47The
48.Nm bridge
49node type performs Ethernet bridging over one or more links.
50Each link (represented by a connected hook) is used to transmit
51and receive raw Ethernet frames.
52As packets are received, the node learns which link each
53host resides on.
54Packets unicast to a known host are directed out the appropriate
55link only, and other links are spared the traffic.
56This behavior is in contrast to a hub, which always forwards
57every received packet to every other link.
58.Sh LOOP DETECTION
59The
60.Nm bridge
61node incorporates a simple loop detection algorithm.
62A loop is when two ports are connected to the same physical medium.
63Loops are important to avoid because of packet storms, which severely
64degrade performance.
65A packet storm results when the same packet is sent and received
66over and over again.
67If a host is detected on link A, and is then detected on link B
68within a certain time period after first being detected on link A,
69then link B is considered to be a looped back link.
70The time period is called the minimum stable time.
71.Pp
72A looped back link will be temporarily muted, i.e., all traffic
73received on that link is ignored.
74.Sh IPFW PROCESSING
75Processing of IP packets via the
76.Xr ipfirewall 4
77mechanism on a per-link basis is not yet implemented.
78.Sh HOOKS
79This node type supports an unlimited number of hooks.
80Each connected hook represents a bridged link.
81The hooks are named
82.Ar link0 ,
83.Ar link1 ,
84etc.
85Typically these hooks are connected to the
86.Ar lower
87hooks of one or more
88.Xr ng_ether 4
89nodes.
90To connect the host machine to a bridged network, simply connect the
91.Ar upper
92hook of an
93.Xr ng_ether 4
94node to the bridge node.
95.Pp
96Instead of naming a hook
97.Ar linkX
98the hook might be also named
99.Ar uplinkX .
100The node does not learn MAC addresses on uplink hooks, which keeps
101the internal address table small.
102This way it is desirable to connect the
103.Ar lower
104hook of an
105.Xr ng_ether 4
106node to an
107.Ar uplink
108hook of the bridge, and ignore the complexity of the outside world.
109Frames with unknown MACs are always sent out to
110.Ar uplink
111hooks, so no functionality is lost.
112.Pp
113Frames with unknown destination MAC addresses are replicated to any
114available hook, unless the first connected hook is an
115.Ar uplink
116hook.
117In this case the node assumes, that all unknown MAC addresses are
118located soley on the
119.Ar uplink
120hooks and only those hooks will be used to send out frames with
121unknown destination MACs.
122If the first connected hook is an
123.Ar link
124hook, the node will replicate such frames to all types of hooks,
125even if
126.Ar uplink
127hooks are connected later.
128.Sh CONTROL MESSAGES
129This node type supports the generic control messages, plus the
130following:
131.Bl -tag -width foo
132.It Dv NGM_BRIDGE_SET_CONFIG Pq Ar setconfig
133Set the node configuration.
134This command takes a
135.Vt "struct ng_bridge_config"
136as an argument:
137.Bd -literal -offset 0n
138/* Node configuration structure */
139struct ng_bridge_config {
140  u_char      debugLevel;           /* debug level */
141  uint32_t    loopTimeout;          /* link loopback mute time */
142  uint32_t    maxStaleness;         /* max host age before nuking */
143  uint32_t    minStableAge;         /* min time for a stable host */
144};
145.Ed
146.Pp
147The
148.Va debugLevel
149field sets the debug level on the node.
150At level of 2 or greater, detected loops are logged.
151The default level is 1.
152.Pp
153The
154.Va loopTimeout
155determines how long (in seconds) a looped link is muted.
156The default is 60 seconds.
157The
158.Va maxStaleness
159parameter determines how long a period of inactivity before
160a host's entry is forgotten.
161The default is 15 minutes.
162The
163.Va minStableAge
164determines how quickly a host must jump from one link to another
165before we declare a loopback condition.
166The default is one second.
167.It Dv NGM_BRIDGE_GET_CONFIG Pq Ar getconfig
168Returns the current configuration as a
169.Vt "struct ng_bridge_config" .
170.It Dv NGM_BRIDGE_RESET Pq Ar reset
171Causes the node to forget all hosts and unmute all links.
172The node configuration is not changed.
173.It Dv NGM_BRIDGE_GET_STATS Pq Ar getstats
174This command takes a four byte link number as an argument and
175returns a
176.Vt "struct ng_bridge_link_stats"
177containing statistics for the corresponding
178.Ar link ,
179which must be currently connected:
180.Bd -literal -offset 0n
181/* Statistics structure (one for each link) */
182struct ng_bridge_link_stats {
183  uint64_t   recvOctets;     /* total octets rec'd on link */
184  uint64_t   recvPackets;    /* total pkts rec'd on link */
185  uint64_t   recvMulticasts; /* multicast pkts rec'd on link */
186  uint64_t   recvBroadcasts; /* broadcast pkts rec'd on link */
187  uint64_t   recvUnknown;    /* pkts rec'd with unknown dest addr */
188  uint64_t   recvRunts;      /* pkts rec'd less than 14 bytes */
189  uint64_t   recvInvalid;    /* pkts rec'd with bogus source addr */
190  uint64_t   xmitOctets;     /* total octets xmit'd on link */
191  uint64_t   xmitPackets;    /* total pkts xmit'd on link */
192  uint64_t   xmitMulticasts; /* multicast pkts xmit'd on link */
193  uint64_t   xmitBroadcasts; /* broadcast pkts xmit'd on link */
194  uint64_t   loopDrops;      /* pkts dropped due to loopback */
195  uint64_t   loopDetects;    /* number of loop detections */
196  uint64_t   memoryFailures; /* times couldn't get mem or mbuf */
197};
198.Ed
199.Pp
200Negative numbers refer to the
201.Ar uplink
202hooks.
203So querying for -7 will get the statistics for hook
204.Ar uplink7 .
205.It Dv NGM_BRIDGE_CLR_STATS Pq Ar clrstats
206This command takes a four byte link number as an argument and
207clears the statistics for that link.
208.It Dv NGM_BRIDGE_GETCLR_STATS Pq Ar getclrstats
209Same as
210.Dv NGM_BRIDGE_GET_STATS ,
211but also atomically clears the statistics as well.
212.It Dv NGM_BRIDGE_GET_TABLE Pq Ar gettable
213Returns the current host mapping table used to direct packets, in a
214.Vt "struct ng_bridge_host_ary" .
215.It Dv NGM_BRIDGE_SET_PERSISTENT Pq Ar setpersistent
216This command sets the persistent flag on the node, and takes no arguments.
217.El
218.Sh SHUTDOWN
219This node shuts down upon receipt of a
220.Dv NGM_SHUTDOWN
221control message, or when all hooks have been disconnected.
222Setting the persistent flag via a
223.Dv NGM_BRIDGE_SET_PERSISTENT
224control message disables automatic node shutdown when the last hook gets
225disconnected.
226.Sh FILES
227.Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXX -compact
228.It Pa /usr/share/examples/netgraph/ether.bridge
229Example script showing how to set up a bridging network
230.El
231.Sh SEE ALSO
232.Xr if_bridge 4 ,
233.Xr netgraph 4 ,
234.Xr ng_ether 4 ,
235.Xr ng_hub 4 ,
236.Xr ng_one2many 4 ,
237.Xr ngctl 8
238.Sh HISTORY
239The
240.Nm
241node type was implemented in
242.Fx 4.2 .
243.Sh AUTHORS
244.An Archie Cobbs Aq Mt archie@FreeBSD.org
245