man/man9/ifnet.9

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.Dd May 24, 2022
.Dt IFNET 9
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm ifnet ,
.Nm ifaddr ,
.Nm ifqueue ,
.Nm if_data
.Nd kernel interfaces for manipulating network interfaces
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sys/param.h
.In sys/time.h
.In sys/socket.h
.In net/if.h
.In net/if_var.h
.In net/if_types.h
.\"
.Ss "Interface Manipulation Functions"
.Ft "struct ifnet *"
.Fn if_alloc "u_char type"
.Ft "struct ifnet *"
.Fn if_alloc_dev "u_char type" "device_t dev"
.Ft "struct ifnet *"
.Fn if_alloc_domain "u_char type" "int numa_domain"
.Ft void
.Fn if_attach "struct ifnet *ifp"
.Ft void
.Fn if_detach "struct ifnet *ifp"
.Ft void
.Fn if_free "struct ifnet *ifp"
.Ft void
.Fn if_free_type "struct ifnet *ifp" "u_char type"
.Ft void
.Fn if_down "struct ifnet *ifp"
.Ft int
.Fn ifioctl "struct socket *so" "u_long cmd" "caddr_t data" "struct thread *td"
.Ft int
.Fn ifpromisc "struct ifnet *ifp" "int pswitch"
.Ft int
.Fn if_allmulti "struct ifnet *ifp" "int amswitch"
.Ft "struct ifnet *"
.Fn ifunit "const char *name"
.Ft "struct ifnet *"
.Fn ifunit_ref "const char *name"
.Ft void
.Fn if_up "struct ifnet *ifp"
.\"
.Ss "Interface Address Functions"
.Ft "struct ifaddr *"
.Fn ifaddr_byindex "u_short idx"
.Ft "struct ifaddr *"
.Fn ifa_ifwithaddr "struct sockaddr *addr"
.Ft "struct ifaddr *"
.Fn ifa_ifwithdstaddr "struct sockaddr *addr" "int fib"
.Ft "struct ifaddr *"
.Fn ifa_ifwithnet "struct sockaddr *addr" "int ignore_ptp" "int fib"
.Ft "struct ifaddr *"
.Fn ifaof_ifpforaddr "struct sockaddr *addr" "struct ifnet *ifp"
.Ft void
.Fn ifa_ref "struct ifaddr *ifa"
.Ft void
.Fn ifa_free "struct ifaddr *ifa"
.\"
.Ss "Interface Multicast Address Functions"
.Ft int
.Fn if_addmulti "struct ifnet *ifp" "struct sockaddr *sa" "struct ifmultiaddr **ifmap"
.Ft int
.Fn if_delmulti "struct ifnet *ifp" "struct sockaddr *sa"
.Ft "struct ifmultiaddr *"
.Fn if_findmulti "struct ifnet *ifp" "struct sockaddr *sa"
.Ss "Output queue macros"
.Fn IF_DEQUEUE "struct ifqueue *ifq" "struct mbuf *m"
.\"
.Ss "struct ifnet Member Functions"
.Ft void
.Fn \*(lp*if_input\*(rp "struct ifnet *ifp" "struct mbuf *m"
.Ft int
.Fo \*(lp*if_output\*(rp
.Fa "struct ifnet *ifp" "struct mbuf *m"
.Fa "const struct sockaddr *dst" "struct route *ro"
.Fc
.Ft void
.Fn \*(lp*if_start\*(rp "struct ifnet *ifp"
.Ft int
.Fn \*(lp*if_transmit\*(rp "struct ifnet *ifp" "struct mbuf *m"
.Ft void
.Fn \*(lp*if_qflush\*(rp "struct ifnet *ifp"
.Ft int
.Fn \*(lp*if_ioctl\*(rp "struct ifnet *ifp" "u_long cmd" "caddr_t data"
.Ft void
.Fn \*(lp*if_init\*(rp "void *if_softc"
.Ft int
.Fo \*(lp*if_resolvemulti\*(rp
.Fa "struct ifnet *ifp" "struct sockaddr **retsa" "struct sockaddr *addr"
.Fc
.Ss "struct ifaddr member function"
.Ft void
.Fo \*(lp*ifa_rtrequest\*(rp
.Fa "int cmd" "struct rtentry *rt" "struct rt_addrinfo *info"
.Fc
.\"
.Ss "Global Variables"
.Vt extern struct ifnethead ifnet ;
.\" extern struct ifindex_entry *ifindex_table ;
.Vt extern int if_index ;
.Vt extern int ifqmaxlen ;
.Sh DATA STRUCTURES
The kernel mechanisms for handling network interfaces reside primarily
in the
.Vt ifnet , if_data , ifaddr ,
and
.Vt ifmultiaddr
structures in
.In net/if.h
and
.In net/if_var.h
and the functions named above and defined in
.Pa /sys/net/if.c .
Those interfaces which are intended to be used by user programs
are defined in
.In net/if.h ;
these include the interface flags, the
.Vt if_data
structure, and the structures defining the appearance of
interface-related messages on the
.Xr route 4
routing socket and in
.Xr sysctl 3 .
The header file
.In net/if_var.h
defines the kernel-internal interfaces, including the
.Vt ifnet , ifaddr ,
and
.Vt ifmultiaddr
structures and the functions which manipulate them.
(A few user programs will need
.In net/if_var.h
because it is the prerequisite of some other header file like
.In netinet/if_ether.h .
Most references to those two files in particular can be replaced by
.In net/ethernet.h . )
.Pp
The system keeps a linked list of interfaces using the
.Li TAILQ
macros defined in
.Xr queue 3 ;
this list is headed by a
.Vt "struct ifnethead"
called
.Va ifnet .
The elements of this list are of type
.Vt "struct ifnet" ,
and most kernel routines which manipulate interface as such accept or
return pointers to these structures.
Each interface structure
contains an
.Vt if_data
structure used for statistics and information.
Each interface also has a
.Li TAILQ
of interface addresses, described by
.Vt ifaddr
structures.
An
.Dv AF_LINK
address
(see
.Xr link_addr 3 )
describing the link layer implemented by the interface (if any)
is accessed by the
.Fn ifaddr_byindex
function or
.Va if_addr
structure.
(Some trivial interfaces do not provide any link layer addresses;
this structure, while still present, serves only to identify the
interface name and index.)
.Pp
Finally, those interfaces supporting reception of multicast datagrams
have a
.Li TAILQ
of multicast group memberships, described by
.Vt ifmultiaddr
structures.
These memberships are reference-counted.
.Pp
Interfaces are also associated with an output queue, defined as a
.Vt "struct ifqueue" ;
this structure is used to hold packets while the interface is in the
process of sending another.
.Ss The ifnet Structure
The fields of
.Vt "struct ifnet"
are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width ".Va if_capabilities" -offset indent
.It Va if_softc
.Pq Vt "void *"
A pointer to the driver's private state block.
(Initialized by driver.)
.It Va if_l2com
.Pq Vt "void *"
A pointer to the common data for the interface's layer 2 protocol.
(Initialized by
.Fn if_alloc . )
.It Va if_vnet
.Pq Vt "struct vnet *"
A pointer to the virtual network stack instance.
(Initialized by
.Fn if_attach . )
.It Va if_home_vnet
.Pq Vt "struct vnet *"
A pointer to the parent virtual network stack, where this
.Vt "struct ifnet"
originates from.
(Initialized by
.Fn if_attach . )
.It Va if_link
.Pq Fn TAILQ_ENTRY ifnet
.Xr queue 3
macro glue.
.It Va if_xname
.Pq Vt "char *"
The name of the interface,
(e.g.,
.Dq Li fxp0
or
.Dq Li lo0 ) .
(Initialized by driver
(usually via
.Fn if_initname ) . )
.It Va if_dname
.Pq Vt "const char *"
The name of the driver.
(Initialized by driver
(usually via
.Fn if_initname ) . )
.It Va if_dunit
.Pq Vt int
A unique number assigned to each interface managed by a particular
driver.
Drivers may choose to set this to
.Dv IF_DUNIT_NONE
if a unit number is not associated with the device.
(Initialized by driver
(usually via
.Fn if_initname ) . )
.It Va if_refcount
.Pq Vt u_int
The reference count.
(Initialized by
.Fn if_alloc . )
.It Va if_addrhead
.Pq Vt "struct ifaddrhead"
The head of the
.Xr queue 3
.Li TAILQ
containing the list of addresses assigned to this interface.
.It Va if_pcount
.Pq Vt int
A count of promiscuous listeners on this interface, used to
reference-count the
.Dv IFF_PROMISC
flag.
.It Va if_carp
.Pq Vt "struct carp_if *"
A pointer to the CARP interface structure,
.Xr carp 4 .
(Initialized by the driver-specific
.Fn if_ioctl
routine.)
.It Va if_bpf
.Pq Vt "struct bpf_if *"
Opaque per-interface data for the packet filter,
.Xr bpf 4 .
(Initialized by
.Fn bpf_attach . )
.It Va if_index
.Pq Vt u_short
A unique number assigned to each interface in sequence as it is
attached.
This number can be used in a
.Vt "struct sockaddr_dl"
to refer to a particular interface by index
(see
.Xr link_addr 3 ) .
(Initialized by
.Fn if_alloc . )
.It Va if_vlantrunk
.Pq Vt struct ifvlantrunk *
A pointer to 802.1Q trunk structure,
.Xr vlan 4 .
(Initialized by the driver-specific
.Fn if_ioctl
routine.)
.It Va if_flags
.Pq Vt int
Flags describing operational parameters of this interface (see below).
(Manipulated by generic code.)
.It Va if_drv_flags
.Pq Vt int
Flags describing operational status of this interface (see below).
(Manipulated by driver.)
.It Va if_capabilities
.Pq Vt int
Flags describing the capabilities the interface supports (see below).
.It Va if_capenable
.Pq Vt int
Flags describing the enabled capabilities of the interface (see below).
.It Va if_linkmib
.Pq Vt "void *"
A pointer to an interface-specific MIB structure exported by
.Xr ifmib 4 .
(Initialized by driver.)
.It Va if_linkmiblen
.Pq Vt size_t
The size of said structure.
(Initialized by driver.)
.It Va if_data
.Pq Vt "struct if_data"
More statistics and information; see
.Sx "The if_data structure" ,
below.
(Initialized by driver, manipulated by both driver and generic
code.)
.It Va if_multiaddrs
.Pq Vt struct ifmultihead
The head of the
.Xr queue 3
.Li TAILQ
containing the list of multicast addresses assigned to this interface.
.It Va if_amcount
.Pq Vt int
A number of multicast requests on this interface, used to
reference-count the
.Dv IFF_ALLMULTI
flag.
.It Va if_addr
.Pq Vt "struct ifaddr *"
A pointer to the link-level interface address.
(Initialized by
.Fn if_alloc . )
.\" .It Va if_llsoftc
.\" .Pq Vt "void *"
.\" The purpose of the field is unclear.
.It Va if_snd
.Pq Vt "struct ifaltq"
The output queue.
(Manipulated by driver.)
.It Va if_broadcastaddr
.Pq Vt "const u_int8_t *"
A link-level broadcast bytestring for protocols with variable address
length.
.It Va if_bridge
.Pq Vt "void *"
A pointer to the bridge interface structure,
.Xr if_bridge 4 .
(Initialized by the driver-specific
.Fn if_ioctl
routine.)
.It Va if_label
.Pq Vt "struct label *"
A pointer to the MAC Framework label structure,
.Xr mac 4 .
(Initialized by
.Fn if_alloc . )
.It Va if_afdata
.Pq Vt "void *"
An address family dependent data region.
.It Va if_afdata_initialized
.Pq Vt int
Used to track the current state of address family initialization.
.It Va if_afdata_lock
.Pq Vt "struct rwlock"
An
.Xr rwlock 9
lock used to protect
.Va if_afdata
internals.
.It Va if_linktask
.Pq Vt "struct task"
A
.Xr taskqueue 9
task scheduled for link state change events of the interface.
.It Va if_addr_lock
.Pq Vt "struct rwlock"
An
.Xr rwlock 9
lock used to protect interface-related address lists.
.It Va if_clones
.Pq Fn LIST_ENTRY ifnet
.Xr queue 3
macro glue for the list of clonable network interfaces.
.It Va if_groups
.Pq Fn TAILQ_HEAD "" "ifg_list"
The head of the
.Xr queue 3
.Li TAILQ
containing the list of groups per interface.
.It Va if_pf_kif
.Pq Vt "void *"
A pointer to the structure used for interface abstraction by
.Xr pf 4 .
.It Va if_lagg
.Pq Vt "void *"
A pointer to the
.Xr lagg 4
interface structure.
.It Va if_alloctype
.Pq Vt u_char
The type of the interface as it was at the time of its allocation.
It is used to cache the type passed to
.Fn if_alloc ,
but unlike
.Va if_type ,
it would not be changed by drivers.
.It Va if_numa_domain
.Pq Vt uint8_t
The NUMA domain of the hardware device associated with the interface.
This is filled in with a wildcard value unless the kernel is NUMA
aware, the system is a NUMA system, and the ifnet is allocated
using
.Fn if_alloc_dev
or
.Fn if_alloc_domain .
.El
.Pp
References to
.Vt ifnet
structures are gained by calling the
.Fn if_ref
function and released by calling the
.Fn if_rele
function.
They are used to allow kernel code walking global interface lists
to release the
.Vt ifnet
lock yet keep the
.Vt ifnet
structure stable.
.Pp
There are in addition a number of function pointers which the driver
must initialize to complete its interface with the generic interface
layer:
.Bl -ohang -offset indent
.It Fn if_input
Pass a packet to an appropriate upper layer as determined
from the link-layer header of the packet.
This routine is to be called from an interrupt handler or
used to emulate reception of a packet on this interface.
A single function implementing
.Fn if_input
can be shared among multiple drivers utilizing the same link-layer
framing, e.g., Ethernet.
.It Fn if_output
Output a packet on interface
.Fa ifp ,
or queue it on the output queue if the interface is already active.
.It Fn if_transmit
Transmit a packet on an interface or queue it if the interface is
in use.
This function will return
.Dv ENOBUFS
if the devices software and hardware queues are both full.
This function must be installed after
.Fn if_attach
to override the default implementation.
This function is exposed in order to allow drivers to manage their own queues
and to reduce the latency caused by a frequently gratuitous enqueue / dequeue
pair to ifq.
The suggested internal software queuing mechanism is buf_ring.
.It Fn if_qflush
Free mbufs in internally managed queues when the interface is marked down.
This function must be installed after
.Fn if_attach
to override the default implementation.
This function is exposed in order to allow drivers to manage their own queues
and to reduce the latency caused by a frequently gratuitous enqueue / dequeue
pair to ifq.
The suggested internal software queuing mechanism is buf_ring.
.It Fn if_start
Start queued output on an interface.
This function is exposed in
order to provide for some interface classes to share a
.Fn if_output
among all drivers.
.Fn if_start
may only be called when the
.Dv IFF_DRV_OACTIVE
flag is not set.
(Thus,
.Dv IFF_DRV_OACTIVE
does not literally mean that output is active, but rather that the
device's internal output queue is full.) Please note that this function
will soon be deprecated.
.It Fn if_ioctl
Process interface-related
.Xr ioctl 2
requests
(defined in
.In sys/sockio.h ) .
Preliminary processing is done by the generic routine
.Fn ifioctl
to check for appropriate privileges, locate the interface being
manipulated, and perform certain generic operations like twiddling
flags and flushing queues.
See the description of
.Fn ifioctl
below for more information.
.It Fn if_init
Initialize and bring up the hardware,
e.g., reset the chip and enable the receiver unit.
Should mark the interface running,
but not active
.Dv ( IFF_DRV_RUNNING , ~IIF_DRV_OACTIVE ) .
.It Fn if_resolvemulti
Check the requested multicast group membership,
.Fa addr ,
for validity, and if necessary compute a link-layer group which
corresponds to that address which is returned in
.Fa *retsa .
Returns zero on success, or an error code on failure.
.El
.Ss "Interface Flags"
Interface flags are used for a number of different purposes.
Some
flags simply indicate information about the type of interface and its
capabilities; others are dynamically manipulated to reflect the
current state of the interface.
Flags of the former kind are marked
.Aq S
in this table; the latter are marked
.Aq D .
Flags which begin with
.Dq IFF_DRV_
are stored in
.Va if_drv_flags ;
all other flags are stored in
.Va if_flags .
.Pp
The macro
.Dv IFF_CANTCHANGE
defines the bits which cannot be set by a user program using the
.Dv SIOCSIFFLAGS
command to
.Xr ioctl 2 ;
these are indicated by an asterisk
.Pq Ql *
in the following listing.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width ".Dv IFF_POINTOPOINT" -offset indent -compact
.It Dv IFF_UP
.Aq D
The interface has been configured up by the user-level code.
.It Dv IFF_BROADCAST
.Aq S*
The interface supports broadcast.
.It Dv IFF_DEBUG
.Aq D
Used to enable/disable driver debugging code.
.It Dv IFF_LOOPBACK
.Aq S
The interface is a loopback device.
.It Dv IFF_POINTOPOINT
.Aq S*
The interface is point-to-point;
.Dq broadcast
address is actually the address of the other end.
.It Dv IFF_DRV_RUNNING
.Aq D*
The interface has been configured and dynamic resources were
successfully allocated.
Probably only useful internal to the
interface.
.It Dv IFF_NOARP
.Aq D
Disable network address resolution on this interface.
.It Dv IFF_PROMISC
.Aq D*
This interface is in promiscuous mode.
.It Dv IFF_PPROMISC
.Aq D
This interface is in the permanently promiscuous mode (implies
.Dv IFF_PROMISC ) .
.It Dv IFF_ALLMULTI
.Aq D*
This interface is in all-multicasts mode (used by multicast routers).
.It Dv IFF_DRV_OACTIVE
.Aq D*
The interface's hardware output queue (if any) is full; output packets
are to be queued.
.It Dv IFF_SIMPLEX
.Aq S*
The interface cannot hear its own transmissions.
.It Dv IFF_LINK0
.It Dv IFF_LINK1
.It Dv IFF_LINK2
.Aq D
Control flags for the link layer.
(Currently abused to select among
multiple physical layers on some devices.)
.It Dv IFF_MULTICAST
.Aq S*
This interface supports multicast.
.It Dv IFF_CANTCONFIG
.Aq S*
The interface is not configurable in a meaningful way.
Primarily useful for
.Dv IFT_USB
interfaces registered at the interface list.
.It Dv IFF_MONITOR
.Aq D
This interface blocks transmission of packets and discards incoming
packets after BPF processing.
Used to monitor network traffic but not interact
with the network in question.
.It Dv IFF_STATICARP
.Aq D
Used to enable/disable ARP requests on this interface.
.It Dv IFF_DYING
.Aq D*
Set when the
.Vt ifnet
structure of this interface is being released and still has
.Va if_refcount
references.
.It Dv IFF_RENAMING
.Aq D
Set when this interface is being renamed.
.El
.Ss "Interface Capabilities Flags"
Interface capabilities are specialized features an interface may
or may not support.
These capabilities are very hardware-specific
and allow, when enabled,
to offload specific network processing to the interface
or to offer a particular feature for use by other kernel parts.
.Pp
It should be stressed that a capability can be completely
uncontrolled (i.e., stay always enabled with no way to disable it)
or allow limited control over itself (e.g., depend on another
capability's state.)
Such peculiarities are determined solely by the hardware and driver
of a particular interface.
Only the driver possesses
the knowledge on whether and how the interface capabilities
can be controlled.
Consequently, capabilities flags in
.Va if_capenable
should never be modified directly by kernel code other than
the interface driver.
The command
.Dv SIOCSIFCAP
to
.Fn ifioctl
is the dedicated means to attempt altering
.Va if_capenable
on an interface.
Userland code shall use
.Xr ioctl 2 .
.Pp
The following capabilities are currently supported by the system:
.Bl -tag -width ".Dv IFCAP_VLAN_HWTAGGING" -offset indent
.It Dv IFCAP_RXCSUM
This interface can do checksum validation on receiving data.
Some interfaces do not have sufficient buffer storage to store frames
above a certain MTU-size completely.
The driver for the interface might disable hardware checksum validation
if the MTU is set above the hardcoded limit.
.It Dv IFCAP_TXCSUM
This interface can do checksum calculation on transmitting data.
.It Dv IFCAP_HWCSUM
A shorthand for
.Pq Dv IFCAP_RXCSUM | IFCAP_TXCSUM .
.It Dv IFCAP_NETCONS
This interface can be a network console.
.It Dv IFCAP_VLAN_MTU
The
.Xr vlan 4
driver can operate over this interface in software tagging mode
without having to decrease MTU on
.Xr vlan 4
interfaces below 1500 bytes.
This implies the ability of this interface to cope with frames somewhat
longer than permitted by the Ethernet specification.
.It Dv IFCAP_VLAN_HWTAGGING
This interface can do VLAN tagging on output and
demultiplex frames by their VLAN tag on input.
.It Dv IFCAP_JUMBO_MTU
This Ethernet interface can transmit and receive frames up to
9000 bytes long.
.It Dv IFCAP_POLLING
This interface supports
.Xr polling 4 .
See below for details.
.It Dv IFCAP_VLAN_HWCSUM
This interface can do checksum calculation on both transmitting
and receiving data on
.Xr vlan 4
interfaces (implies
.Dv IFCAP_HWCSUM ) .
.It Dv IFCAP_TSO4
This Ethernet interface supports TCP4 Segmentation offloading.
.It Dv IFCAP_TSO6
This Ethernet interface supports TCP6 Segmentation offloading.
.It Dv IFCAP_TSO
A shorthand for
.Pq Dv IFCAP_TSO4 | IFCAP_TSO6 .
.It Dv IFCAP_TOE4
This Ethernet interface supports TCP4 Offload Engine.
.It Dv IFCAP_TOE6
This Ethernet interface supports TCP6 Offload Engine.
.It Dv IFCAP_TOE
A shorthand for
.Pq Dv IFCAP_TOE4 | IFCAP_TOE6 .
.It Dv IFCAP_WOL_UCAST
This Ethernet interface supports waking up on any Unicast packet.
.It Dv IFCAP_WOL_MCAST
This Ethernet interface supports waking up on any Multicast packet.
.It Dv IFCAP_WOL_MAGIC
This Ethernet interface supports waking up on any Magic packet such
as those sent by
.Xr wake 8 .
.It Dv IFCAP_WOL
A shorthand for
.Pq Dv IFCAP_WOL_UCAST | IFCAP_WOL_MCAST | IFCAP_WOL_MAGIC .
.It Dv IFCAP_VLAN_HWFILTER
This interface supports frame filtering in hardware on
.Xr vlan 4
interfaces.
.It Dv IFCAP_VLAN_HWTSO
This interface supports TCP Segmentation offloading on
.Xr vlan 4
interfaces (implies
.Dv IFCAP_TSO ) .
.It Dv IFCAP_LINKSTATE
This Ethernet interface supports dynamic link state changes.
.It Dv IFCAP_NETMAP
This Ethernet interface supports
.Xr netmap  4 .
.El
.Pp
The ability of advanced network interfaces to offload certain
computational tasks from the host CPU to the board is limited
mostly to TCP/IP.
Therefore a separate field associated with an interface
(see
.Va ifnet.if_data.ifi_hwassist
below)
keeps a detailed description of its enabled capabilities
specific to TCP/IP processing.
The TCP/IP module consults the field to see which tasks
can be done on an
.Em outgoing
packet by the interface.
The flags defined for that field are a superset of those for
.Va mbuf.m_pkthdr.csum_flags ,
namely:
.Bl -tag -width ".Dv CSUM_FRAGMENT" -offset indent
.It Dv CSUM_IP
The interface will compute IP checksums.
.It Dv CSUM_TCP
The interface will compute TCP checksums.
.It Dv CSUM_UDP
The interface will compute UDP checksums.
.El
.Pp
An interface notifies the TCP/IP module about the tasks
the former has performed on an
.Em incoming
packet by setting the corresponding flags in the field
.Va mbuf.m_pkthdr.csum_flags
of the
.Vt mbuf chain
containing the packet.
See
.Xr mbuf 9
for details.
.Pp
The capability of a network interface to operate in
.Xr polling 4
mode involves several flags in different
global variables and per-interface fields.
The capability flag
.Dv IFCAP_POLLING
set in interface's
.Va if_capabilities
indicates support for
.Xr polling 4
on the particular interface.
If set in
.Va if_capabilities ,
the same flag can be marked or cleared in the interface's
.Va if_capenable
within
.Fn ifioctl ,
thus initiating switch of the interface to
.Xr polling 4
mode or interrupt
mode, respectively.
The actual mode change is managed by the driver-specific
.Fn if_ioctl
routine.
The
.Xr polling 4
handler returns the number of packets processed.
.Ss The if_data Structure
The
.Vt if_data
structure contains statistics and identifying information used
by management programs, and which is exported to user programs by way
of the
.Xr ifmib 4
branch of the
.Xr sysctl 3
MIB.
The following elements of the
.Vt if_data
structure are initialized by the interface and are not expected to change
significantly over the course of normal operation:
.Bl -tag -width ".Va ifi_lastchange" -offset indent
.It Va ifi_type
.Pq Vt u_char
The type of the interface, as defined in
.In net/if_types.h
and described below in the
.Sx "Interface Types"
section.
.It Va ifi_physical
.Pq Vt u_char
Intended to represent a selection of physical layers on devices which
support more than one; never implemented.
.It Va ifi_addrlen
.Pq Vt u_char
Length of a link-layer address on this device, or zero if there are
none.
Used to initialized the address length field in
.Vt sockaddr_dl
structures referring to this interface.
.It Va ifi_hdrlen
.Pq Vt u_char
Maximum length of any link-layer header which might be prepended by
the driver to a packet before transmission.
The generic code computes
the maximum over all interfaces and uses that value to influence the
placement of data in
.Vt mbuf Ns s
to attempt to ensure that there is always
sufficient space to prepend a link-layer header without allocating an
additional
.Vt mbuf .
.It Va ifi_datalen
.Pq Vt u_char
Length of the
.Vt if_data
structure.
Allows some stabilization of the routing socket ABI in the face of
increases in the length of
.Vt struct ifdata .
.It Va ifi_mtu
.Pq Vt u_long
The maximum transmission unit of the medium, exclusive of any
link-layer overhead.
.It Va ifi_metric
.Pq Vt u_long
A dimensionless metric interpreted by a user-mode routing process.
.It Va ifi_baudrate
.Pq Vt u_long
The line rate of the interface, in bits per second.
.It Va ifi_hwassist
.Pq Vt u_long
A detailed interpretation of the capabilities
to offload computational tasks for
.Em outgoing
packets.
The interface driver must keep this field in accord with
the current value of
.Va if_capenable .
.It Va ifi_epoch
.Pq Vt time_t
The system uptime when interface was attached or the statistics
below were reset.
This is intended to be used to set the SNMP variable
.Va ifCounterDiscontinuityTime .
It may also be used to determine if two successive queries for an
interface of the same index have returned results for the same
interface.
.El
.Pp
The structure additionally contains generic statistics applicable to a
variety of different interface types (except as noted, all members are
of type
.Vt u_long ) :
.Bl -tag -width ".Va ifi_lastchange" -offset indent
.It Va ifi_link_state
.Pq Vt u_char
The current link state of Ethernet interfaces.
See the
.Sx Interface Link States
section for possible values.
.It Va ifi_ipackets
Number of packets received.
.It Va ifi_ierrors
Number of receive errors detected (e.g., FCS errors, DMA overruns,
etc.).
More detailed breakdowns can often be had by way of a
link-specific MIB.
.It Va ifi_opackets
Number of packets transmitted.
.It Va ifi_oerrors
Number of output errors detected (e.g., late collisions, DMA overruns,
etc.).
More detailed breakdowns can often be had by way of a
link-specific MIB.
.It Va ifi_collisions
Total number of collisions detected on output for CSMA interfaces.
(This member is sometimes [ab]used by other types of interfaces for
other output error counts.)
.It Va ifi_ibytes
Total traffic received, in bytes.
.It Va ifi_obytes
Total traffic transmitted, in bytes.
.It Va ifi_imcasts
Number of packets received which were sent by link-layer multicast.
.It Va ifi_omcasts
Number of packets sent by link-layer multicast.
.It Va ifi_iqdrops
Number of packets dropped on input.
Rarely implemented.
.It Va ifi_oqdrops
Number of packets dropped on output.
.It Va ifi_noproto
Number of packets received for unknown network-layer protocol.
.It Va ifi_lastchange
.Pq Vt "struct timeval"
The time of the last administrative change to the interface (as required
for
.Tn SNMP ) .
.El
.Ss Interface Types
The header file
.In net/if_types.h
defines symbolic constants for a number of different types of
interfaces.
The most common are:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Dv IFT_PROPVIRTUAL" -compact
.It Dv IFT_OTHER
none of the following
.It Dv IFT_ETHER
Ethernet
.It Dv IFT_ISO88023
ISO 8802-3 CSMA/CD
.It Dv IFT_ISO88024
ISO 8802-4 Token Bus
.It Dv IFT_ISO88025
ISO 8802-5 Token Ring
.It Dv IFT_ISO88026
ISO 8802-6 DQDB MAN
.It Dv IFT_FDDI
FDDI
.It Dv IFT_PPP
Internet Point-to-Point Protocol
.Pq Xr ppp 8
.It Dv IFT_LOOP
The loopback
.Pq Xr lo 4
interface
.It Dv IFT_SLIP
Serial Line IP
.It Dv IFT_PARA
Parallel-port IP
.Pq Dq Tn PLIP
.It Dv IFT_ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
.It Dv IFT_USB
USB Interface
.El
.Ss Interface Link States
The following link states are currently defined:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Dv LINK_STATE_UNKNOWN" -compact
.It Dv LINK_STATE_UNKNOWN
The link is in an invalid or unknown state.
.It Dv LINK_STATE_DOWN
The link is down.
.It Dv LINK_STATE_UP
The link is up.
.El
.Ss The ifaddr Structure
Every interface is associated with a list
(or, rather, a
.Li TAILQ )
of addresses, rooted at the interface structure's
.Va if_addrhead
member.
The first element in this list is always an
.Dv AF_LINK
address representing the interface itself; multi-access network
drivers should complete this structure by filling in their link-layer
addresses after calling
.Fn if_attach .
Other members of the structure represent network-layer addresses which
have been configured by means of the
.Dv SIOCAIFADDR
command to
.Xr ioctl 2 ,
called on a socket of the appropriate protocol family.
The elements of this list consist of
.Vt ifaddr
structures.
Most protocols will declare their own protocol-specific
interface address structures, but all begin with a
.Vt "struct ifaddr"
which provides the most-commonly-needed functionality across all
protocols.
Interface addresses are reference-counted.
.Pp
The members of
.Vt "struct ifaddr"
are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width ".Va ifa_rtrequest" -offset indent
.It Va ifa_addr
.Pq Vt "struct sockaddr *"
The local address of the interface.
.It Va ifa_dstaddr
.Pq Vt "struct sockaddr *"
The remote address of point-to-point interfaces, and the broadcast
address of broadcast interfaces.
.Va ( ifa_broadaddr
is a macro for
.Va ifa_dstaddr . )
.It Va ifa_netmask
.Pq Vt "struct sockaddr *"
The network mask for multi-access interfaces, and the confusion
generator for point-to-point interfaces.
.It Va ifa_ifp
.Pq Vt "struct ifnet *"
A link back to the interface structure.
.It Va ifa_link
.Pq Fn TAILQ_ENTRY ifaddr
.Xr queue 3
glue for list of addresses on each interface.
.It Va ifa_rtrequest
See below.
.It Va ifa_flags
.Pq Vt u_short
Some of the flags which would be used for a route representing this
address in the route table.
.It Va ifa_refcnt
.Pq Vt short
The reference count.
.El
.Pp
References to
.Vt ifaddr
structures are gained by calling the
.Fn ifa_ref
function and released by calling the
.Fn ifa_free
function.
.Pp
.Fn ifa_rtrequest
is a pointer to a function which receives callouts from the routing
code
.Pq Fn rtrequest
to perform link-layer-specific actions upon requests to add,
or delete routes.
The
.Fa cmd
argument indicates the request in question:
.Dv RTM_ADD ,
or
.Dv RTM_DELETE .
The
.Fa rt
argument is the route in question; the
.Fa info
argument contains the specific destination being manipulated.
.Sh FUNCTIONS
The functions provided by the generic interface code can be divided
into two groups: those which manipulate interfaces, and those which
manipulate interface addresses.
In addition to these functions, there
may also be link-layer support routines which are used by a number of
drivers implementing a specific link layer over different hardware;
see the documentation for that link layer for more details.
.Ss The ifmultiaddr Structure
Every multicast-capable interface is associated with a list of
multicast group memberships, which indicate at a low level which
link-layer multicast addresses (if any) should be accepted, and at a
high level, in which network-layer multicast groups a user process has
expressed interest.
.Pp
The elements of the structure are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width ".Va ifma_refcount" -offset indent
.It Va ifma_link
.Pq Fn LIST_ENTRY ifmultiaddr
.Xr queue 3
macro glue.
.It Va ifma_addr
.Pq Vt "struct sockaddr *"
A pointer to the address which this record represents.
The
memberships for various address families are stored in arbitrary
order.
.It Va ifma_lladdr
.Pq Vt "struct sockaddr *"
A pointer to the link-layer multicast address, if any, to which the
network-layer multicast address in
.Va ifma_addr
is mapped, else a null pointer.
If this element is non-nil, this
membership also holds an invisible reference to another membership for
that link-layer address.
.It Va ifma_refcount
.Pq Vt u_int
A reference count of requests for this particular membership.
.El
.Ss Interface Manipulation Functions
.Bl -ohang -offset indent
.It Fn if_alloc
Allocate and initialize
.Vt "struct ifnet" .
Initialization includes the allocation of an interface index and may
include the allocation of a
.Fa type
specific structure in
.Va if_l2com .
.It Fn if_alloc_dev
Allocate and initialize
.Vt "struct ifnet"
as
.Fn if_alloc
does, with the addition that the ifnet can be tagged with the
appropriate NUMA domain derived from the
.Fa dev
argument passed by the caller.
.It Fn if_alloc_domain
Allocate and initialize
.Vt "struct ifnet"
as
.Fn if_alloc
does, with the addition that the ifnet will be tagged with the NUMA
domain via the
.Fa numa_domain
argument passed by the caller.
.It Fn if_attach
Link the specified interface
.Fa ifp
into the list of network interfaces.
Also initialize the list of
addresses on that interface, and create a link-layer
.Vt ifaddr
structure to be the first element in that list.
(A pointer to
this address structure is saved in the
.Vt ifnet
structure and is accessed by the
.Fn ifaddr_byindex
function.)
The
.Fa ifp
must have been allocated by
.Fn if_alloc ,
.Fn if_alloc_dev
or
.Fn if_alloc_domain .
.It Fn if_detach
Shut down and unlink the specified
.Fa ifp
from the interface list.
.It Fn if_free
Free the given
.Fa ifp
back to the system.
The interface must have been previously detached if it was ever attached.
.It Fn if_free_type
Identical to
.Fn if_free
except that the given
.Fa type
is used to free
.Va if_l2com
instead of the type in
.Va if_type .
This is intended for use with drivers that change their interface type.
.It Fn if_down
Mark the interface
.Fa ifp
as down (i.e.,
.Dv IFF_UP
is not set),
flush its output queue, notify protocols of the transition,
and generate a message from the
.Xr route 4
routing socket.
.It Fn if_up
Mark the interface
.Fa ifp
as up, notify protocols of the transition,
and generate a message from the
.Xr route 4
routing socket.
.It Fn ifpromisc
Add or remove a promiscuous reference to
.Fa ifp .
If
.Fa pswitch
is true, add a reference;
if it is false, remove a reference.
On reference count transitions
from zero to one and one to zero, set the
.Dv IFF_PROMISC
flag appropriately and call
.Fn if_ioctl
to set up the interface in the desired mode.
.It Fn if_allmulti
As
.Fn ifpromisc ,
but for the all-multicasts
.Pq Dv IFF_ALLMULTI
flag instead of the promiscuous flag.
.It Fn ifunit
Return an
.Vt ifnet
pointer for the interface named
.Fa name .
.It Fn ifunit_ref
Return a reference-counted (via
.Fn ifa_ref )
.Vt ifnet
pointer for the interface named
.Fa name .
This is the preferred function over
.Fn ifunit .
The caller is responsible for releasing the reference with
.Fn if_rele
when it is finished with the ifnet.
.It Fn ifioctl
Process the ioctl request
.Fa cmd ,
issued on socket
.Fa so
by thread
.Fa td ,
with data parameter
.Fa data .
This is the main routine for handling all interface configuration
requests from user mode.
It is ordinarily only called from the socket-layer
.Xr ioctl 2
handler, and only for commands with class
.Sq Li i .
Any unrecognized commands will be passed down to socket
.Fa so Ns 's
protocol for
further interpretation.
The following commands are handled by
.Fn ifioctl :
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width ".Dv SIOCGIFNETMASK" -offset indent -compact
.It Dv SIOCGIFCONF
Get interface configuration.
(No call-down to driver.)
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCSIFNAME
Set the interface name.
.Dv RTM_IFANNOUNCE
departure and arrival messages are sent so that
routing code that relies on the interface name will update its interface
list.
Caller must have appropriate privilege.
(No call-down to driver.)
.It Dv SIOCGIFCAP
.It Dv SIOCGIFDATA
.It Dv SIOCGIFFIB
.It Dv SIOCGIFFLAGS
.It Dv SIOCGIFMETRIC
.It Dv SIOCGIFMTU
.It Dv SIOCGIFPHYS
Get interface capabilities, data, FIB, flags, metric, MTU, medium selection.
(No call-down to driver.)
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCSIFCAP
Enable or disable interface capabilities.
Caller must have appropriate privilege.
Before a call to the driver-specific
.Fn if_ioctl
routine, the requested mask for enabled capabilities is checked
against the mask of capabilities supported by the interface,
.Va if_capabilities .
Requesting to enable an unsupported capability is invalid.
The rest is supposed to be done by the driver,
which includes updating
.Va if_capenable
and
.Va if_data.ifi_hwassist
appropriately.
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCGIFCAPNV
.Xr NV 9
version of the
.Dv SIOCGIFCAP
ioctl.
Caller must provide a pointer to
.Vt struct ifreq_cap_nv
as
.Fa data ,
where the member
.Dv buffer
points to some buffer containing
.Dv buf_length
bytes.
The serialized nvlist with description of the device capabilities
is written to the buffer.
If buffer is too short, the structure is updated with
.Dv buffer
member set to
.Dv NULL ,
.Dv length
set to the minimal required length, and error
.Er EFBIG
is returned.
.Pp
Elements of the returned nvlist for simple capabilities are boolean,
identified by names.
Presence of the boolean element means that corresponding capability is
supported by the interface.
Element's value describes the current configured state:
.Dv true
means that the capability is enabled, and
.Dv false
that it is disabled.
.Pp
Driver indicates support for both
.Dv SIOCGIFCAPNV
and
.Dv SIOCSIFCAPNV
requests by setting
.Dv IFCAP_NV
non-modifiable capability bit in
.Dv if_capabilities .
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCSIFCAPNV
.Xr NV 9
version of the
.Dv SIOCSIFCAP
ioctl.
Caller must provide the pointer to
.Vt struct ifreq_cap_nv
as
.Fa data ,
where the member
.Dv buffer
points to serialized nvlist of
.Dv length
bytes.
Each element of nvlist describes a requested update of one capability,
identified by the element name.
For simple capabilities, the element must be boolean.
Its
.Dv true
value means that the caller asks to enable the capability, and
.Dv false
value to disable.
Only capabilities listed in the nvlist are affected by the call.
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCSIFFIB
Sets interface FIB.
Caller must have appropriate privilege.
FIB values start at 0 and values greater or equals than
.Va net.fibs
are considered invalid.
.It Dv SIOCSIFFLAGS
Change interface flags.
Caller must have appropriate privilege.
If a change to the
.Dv IFF_UP
flag is requested,
.Fn if_up
or
.Fn if_down
is called as appropriate.
Flags listed in
.Dv IFF_CANTCHANGE
are masked off, and the field
.Va if_flags
in the interface structure is updated.
Finally, the driver
.Fn if_ioctl
routine is called to perform any setup
requested.
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCSIFMETRIC
.It Dv SIOCSIFPHYS
Change interface metric or medium.
Caller must have appropriate privilege.
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCSIFMTU
Change interface MTU.
Caller must have appropriate privilege.
MTU
values less than 72 or greater than 65535 are considered invalid.
The driver
.Fn if_ioctl
routine is called to implement the change; it is responsible for any
additional sanity checking and for actually modifying the MTU in the
interface structure.
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCADDMULTI
.It Dv SIOCDELMULTI
Add or delete permanent multicast group memberships on the interface.
Caller must have appropriate privilege.
The
.Fn if_addmulti
or
.Fn if_delmulti
function is called to perform the operation; qq.v.
.Pp
.It Dv SIOCAIFADDR
.It Dv SIOCDIFADDR
The socket's protocol control routine is called to implement the
requested action.
.El
.El
.Ss "Interface Address Functions"
Several functions exist to look up an interface address structure
given an address.
.Fn ifa_ifwithaddr
returns an interface address with either a local address or a
broadcast address precisely matching the parameter
.Fa addr .
.Fn ifa_ifwithdstaddr
returns an interface address for a point-to-point interface whose
remote
.Pq Dq destination
address is
.Fa addr
and a fib is
.Fa fib .
If
.Fa fib
is
.Dv RT_ALL_FIBS ,
then the first interface address matching
.Fa addr
will be returned.
.Pp
.Fn ifa_ifwithnet
returns the most specific interface address which matches the
specified address,
.Fa addr ,
subject to its configured netmask, or a point-to-point interface
address whose remote address is
.Fa addr
if one is found.
If
.Fa ignore_ptp
is true, skip point-to-point interface addresses.
The
.Fa fib
parameter is handled the same way as by
.Fn ifa_ifwithdstaddr .
.Pp
.Fn ifaof_ifpforaddr
returns the most specific address configured on interface
.Fa ifp
which matches address
.Fa addr ,
subject to its configured netmask.
If the interface is
point-to-point, only an interface address whose remote address is
precisely
.Fa addr
will be returned.
.Pp
.Fn ifaddr_byindex
returns the link-level address of the interface with the given index
.Fa idx .
.Pp
All of these functions return a null pointer if no such address can be
found.
.Ss "Interface Multicast Address Functions"
The
.Fn if_addmulti ,
.Fn if_delmulti ,
and
.Fn if_findmulti
functions provide support for requesting and relinquishing multicast
group memberships, and for querying an interface's membership list,
respectively.
The
.Fn if_addmulti
function takes a pointer to an interface,
.Fa ifp ,
and a generic address,
.Fa sa .
It also takes a pointer to a
.Vt "struct ifmultiaddr *"
which is filled in on successful return with the address of the
group membership control block.
The
.Fn if_addmulti
function performs the following four-step process:
.Bl -enum -offset indent
.It
Call the interface's
.Fn if_resolvemulti
entry point to determine the link-layer address, if any, corresponding
to this membership request, and also to give the link layer an
opportunity to veto this membership request should it so desire.
.It
Check the interface's group membership list for a pre-existing
membership for this group.
If one is not found, allocate a new one;
if one is, increment its reference count.
.It
If the
.Fn if_resolvemulti
routine returned a link-layer address corresponding to the group,
repeat the previous step for that address as well.
.It
If the interface's multicast address filter needs to be changed
because a new membership was added, call the interface's
.Fn if_ioctl
routine
(with a
.Fa cmd
argument of
.Dv SIOCADDMULTI )
to request that it do so.
.El
.Pp
The
.Fn if_delmulti
function, given an interface
.Fa ifp
and an address,
.Fa sa ,
reverses this process.
Both functions return zero on success, or a
standard error number on failure.
.Pp
The
.Fn if_findmulti
function examines the membership list of interface
.Fa ifp
for an address matching
.Fa sa ,
and returns a pointer to that
.Vt "struct ifmultiaddr"
if one is found, else it returns a null pointer.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr ioctl 2 ,
.Xr link_addr 3 ,
.Xr queue 3 ,
.Xr sysctl 3 ,
.Xr bpf 4 ,
.Xr ifmib 4 ,
.Xr lo 4 ,
.Xr netintro 4 ,
.Xr polling 4 ,
.Xr config 8 ,
.Xr ppp 8 ,
.Xr mbuf 9 ,
.Xr rtentry 9
.Rs
.%A Gary R. Wright
.%A W. Richard Stevens
.%B TCP/IP Illustrated
.%V Vol. 2
.%O Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-63354-X
.Re
.Sh AUTHORS
This manual page was written by
.An Garrett A. Wollman .