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20Copyright 2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
21Use is subject to license terms.
22
23Implementation Overview for the NetWork AutoMagic daemon
24John Beck, Renee Danson, Michael Hunter, Alan Maguire, Kacheong Poon,
25Garima Tripathi, Jan Xie, Anurag Maskey
26[Structure and some content shamelessly stolen from Peter Memishian's
27dhcpagent architecture overview.]
28
29INTRODUCTION
30============
31
32Details about the NWAM requirements, architecture, and design are
33available via the NWAM opensolaris project at
34http://opensolaris.org/os/project/nwam.  The point of this document is
35to place details relevant to somebody attempting to understand the
36implementation close to the source code.
37
38THE BASICS
39==========
40
41SOURCE FILE ORGANIZATION
42=======================
43event sources:
44	dlpi_events.c
45	routing_events.c
46	sysevent_events.c
47
48object-specific event handlers:
49	enm.c
50	known_wlans.c
51	loc.c
52	ncp.c
53	ncu_ip.c
54	ncu_phys.c
55
56legacy config upgrade
57	llp.c
58
59generic code:
60	objects.c
61	events.c
62	conditions.c
63	logging.c
64	util.c
65
66nwam door requests:
67	door_if.c
68
69entry point:
70	main.c
71
72OVERVIEW
73========
74
75Here we discuss the essential objects and subtle aspects of the NWAM
76daemon implementation.  Note that there is of course much more that is
77not discussed here, but after this overview you should be able to fend
78for yourself in the source code.
79
80Events and Objects
81==================
82
83Events come to NWAM from a variety of different sources asyncronously.
84
85o	routing socket
86o	dlpi
87o	sysevents
88o	doors
89
90Routing sockets and dlpi (DL_NOTE_LINK_UP|DOWN events) are handled by
91dedicated threads.  Sysevents and doors are both seen as callbacks into
92the process proper and will often post their results to the main event
93queue.  All event sources post events onto the main event queue.  In
94addition state changes of objects and door requests (requesting current
95state or a change of state, specification of a WiFi key etc) can
96lead to additional events.  We have daemon-internal events (object
97initialization, periodic state checks) which are simply enqueued
98on the event queue, and external events which are both enqueued on
99the event queue and sent to registered listeners (via nwam_event_send()).
100
101So the structure of the daemon is a set of threads that drive event
102generation.  Events are posted either directly onto the event queue
103or are delayed by posting onto the pending event queue.  SIGALARMs
104are set for the event delay,  and when the SIGALARM is received
105pending events that have expired are moved onto the event queue
106proper.  Delayed enqueueing is useful for periodic checks.
107
108Decisions to change conditions based upon object state changes are
109delayed until after bursts of events.  This is achieved by marking a
110flag when it is deemed checking is necessary and then the next time the
111queue is empty performing those checks.  A typical event profile will
112be one event (e.g. a link down) causing a flurry of other events (e.g.
113related interface down).  By waiting until all the consequences of the
114initial event have been carried out to make higher level decisions we
115implicitly debounce those higher level decisions.
116
117At the moment queue quiet actually means that the queue has been quiet
118for some short period of time (.1s).  Typically the flurry of events we
119want to work through are internally generated and are back to back in
120the queue.  We wait a bit longer in case there are reprucussions from
121what we do that cause external events to be posted on us.  We are not
122interested in waiting for longer term things to happen but merely to
123catch immediate changes.
124
125When running, the daemon will consist of a number of threads:
126
127o	the event handling thread: a thread blocking until events appear on the
128	event queue, processing each event in order.  Events that require
129	time-consuming processing are spawned in worker threads (e.g. WiFi
130	connect, DHCP requests etc).
131o	door request threads: the door infrastructure manages server threads
132	which process synchronous NWAM client requests (e.g. get state of an
133	object, connect to a specific WLAN, initiate a scan on a link etc).
134o	various wifi/IP threads: threads which do asynchronous work such as
135	DHCP requests, WLAN scans etc that cannot hold up event processing in
136	the main event handling thread.
137o	routing socket threads: process routing socket messages of interest
138	(address additons/deletions) and package them as NWAM messages.
139o	dlpi threads: used to monitor for DL_NOTE_LINK messages on links
140
141The daemon is structured around a set of objects representing NCPs[1],
142NCUs[2], ENMs[3] and known WLANs and a set of state machines which
143consume events which act on those objects.  Object lists are maintained
144for each object type, and these contain both a libnwam handle (to allow
145reading the object directly) and an optional object data pointer which
146can point to state information used to configure the object.
147
148Events can be associated with specific objects (e.g. link up), or associated
149with no object in particular (e.g. shutdown).
150
151Each object type registers a set of event handler functions with the event
152framework such that when an event occurs, the appropriate handler for the
153object type is used.  The event handlers are usually called
154nwamd_handle_*_event().
155
156[1] NCP Network Configuration Profile; the set of link- and IP-layer
157configuration units which collectively specify how a system should be
158connected to the network
159
160[2] NCU Network Configuration Unit; the individual components of an NCP
161
162[3] ENM External Network Modifiers; user executable scripts often used
163to configure a VPN
164
165Doors and External Events
166=========================
167
168The command interface to nwamd is thread a door at NWAM_DOOR
169(/etc/svc/volatile/nwam/nwam_door).  This door allows external program to send
170messages to nwamd.  The way doors work is to provide a mechanism for
171another process to execute code in your process space.  This looks like
172a CSPish send/receive/reply in that the receiving process provide a
173syncronization point (via door_create(3C)), the calling process uses
174that syncronization point to rendezvous with and provide arguments (via
175door_call(3C), and then the receive process reply (via
176door_return(3C))) passing back data as required.  The OS makes it such
177that the memory used to pass data via door_call(3C) is mapped into the
178receiving process which can write back into it and then transparently
179have it mapped back to the calling process.
180
181As well as handling internal events of interest, the daemon also needs
182to send events of interest (link up/down, WLAN scan/connect results etc)
183to (possibly) multiple NWAM client listeners.  This is done via
184System V message queues. On registering for events via a libnwam door
185request into the daemon (nwam_events_register()), a per-client
186(identified by pid) message queue file is created.  The
187daemon sends messages to all listeners by examining the list of
188message queue files (allowing registration to be robust across
189daemon restarts) and sending events to each listener.  This is done
190via the libnwam function nwam_event_send() which hides the IPC
191mechanism from the daemon.
192
193Objects
194=======
195Four object lists are maintained within the daemon - one each for
196the configuration objects libnwam manages. i.e.:
197
198o	ENMs
199o	locations
200o	known WLANs
201o	NCUs of the current active NCP
202
203Objects have an associated libnwam handle and an optional data
204field (which is used for NCUs only).
205
206Locking is straightforward - nwamd_object_init() will initialize
207an object of a particular type in the appropriate object list,
208returning it with the object lock held. When it is no longer  needed,
209nwamd_object_unlock() should be called on the object.
210
211To retrieve an existing object, nwamd_object_find() should be
212called - again this returns the object in a locked state.
213
214nwamd_object_lock() is deliberately not exposed outside of objects.c,
215since object locking is implicit in the above creation/retrieval
216functions.
217
218An object is removed from the object list (with handle destroyed)
219via nwamd_object_fini() - the object data (if any) is returned
220from this call to allow deallocation.
221
222Object state
223============
224nwamd deals with 3 broad types of object that need to maintain
225internal state: NCUs, ENMs and locations (known WLANs are configuration
226objects but don't have a state beyond simply being present).
227NWAM objects all share a basic set of states:
228
229State		Description
230=====		===========
231uninitialized	object representation not present on system or in nwamd
232initialized	object representation present in system and in nwamd
233disabled	disabled manually
234offline		external conditions are not satisfied
235offline*	external conditions are satisfied, trying to move online
236online*		external conditions no longer satisfied, trying to move offline
237online		conditions satisfied and configured
238maintenance	error occurred in applying configuration
239
240These deliberately mimic SMF states.
241
242The states of interest are offline, offline* and online.
243
244An object (link/interface NCU, ENM or location) should only move online
245when its conditions are satisfied _and_ its configuration has been successfully
246applied. This occurs when an ENM method has run or a link is up, or an
247interface has at least one address assigned.
248
249To understand the distinction between offline and offline*, consider the case
250where a link is of prioritized activation, and either is a lower priority
251group - and hence inactive (due to cable being unplugged  or inability to
252connect to wifi) - or a higher priority group - and hence active. In general,
253we want to distinguish between two cases:
254
2551) when we are actively configuring the link with a view to moving online
256(offline*), as would be the case when the link's priority group is
257active.
2582) when external policy-based conditions prevent a link from being active.
259offline should be used for such cases. Links in priority groups above and
260below the currently-active group will be offline, since policy precludes them
261from activating (as less-prioritized links).
262
263So we see that offline and offline* can thus be used to distinguish between
264cases that have the potentiality to move online (offline*) from a policy
265perspective - i.e. conditions on the location allow it, or link prioritization
266allows it - and cases where external conditions dictate that it should not
267(offline).
268
269Once an object reaches offline*, its configuration processes should kick in.
270This is where auxiliary state is useful, as it allows us to distinguish between
271various states in that configuration process. For example, a link can be
272waiting for WLAN selection or key data, or an interface can be waiting for
273DHCP response. This auxiliary state can then also be used diagnostically by
274libnwam consumers to determine the current status of a link, interface, ENM
275etc.
276
277WiFi links present a problem however. On the one hand, we want them
278to be inactive when they are not part of the current priority grouping,
279while on the other we want to watch out for new WLANs appearing in
280scan data if the WiFi link is of a higher priority than the currently-selected
281group. The reason we watch out for these is they represent the potential
282to change priority grouping to a more preferred group.  To accommodate this,
283WiFi links of the same or lower (more preferred) priority group will always
284be trying to connect (and thus be offline* if they cannot).
285
286It might appear unnecessary to have a separate state value/machine for
287auxiliary state - why can't we simply add the auxiliary state machine to the
288global object state machine? Part of the answer is that there are times we
289need to run through the same configuration state machine when the global
290object state is different - in paticular either offline* or online. Consider
291WiFi - we want to do periodic scans to find a "better" WLAN - we can easily
292do this by running back through the link state machine of auxiliary
293states, but we want to stay online while we do it, since we are still
294connected (if the WLAN disconnects of course we go to LINK_DOWN and offline).
295
296Another reason we wish to separate the more general states (offline, online
297etc) from the more specific ones (WIFI_NEED_SELECTION etc) is to ensure
298that the representation of configuration objects closely matches the way
299SMF works.
300
301For an NCU physical link, the following link-specific auxiliary states are
302used:
303
304Auxiliary state			Description
305===============			===========
306
307LINK_WIFI_SCANNING		Scan in progress
308LINK_WIFI_NEED_SELECTION	Need user to specify WLAN
309LINK_WIFI_NEED_KEY		Need user to specify a WLAN key for selection
310LINK_WIFI_CONNECTING		Connecting to current selection
311
312A WiFI link differs from a wired one in that it always has the
313potential to be available - it just depends if visited WLANs are in range.
314So such links - if they are higher in the priority grouping than the
315currently-active priority group - should always be able to scan, as they
316are always "trying" to be activated.
317
318Wired links that do not support  DL_NOTE_LINK_UP/DOWN are problematic,
319since we have to simply assume a cable is plugged in.  If an IP NCU
320is activated above such a link, and that NCU uses DHCP, a timeout
321will be triggered eventually (user-configurable via the nwamd/ncu_wait_time
322SMF property of the network/physical:nwam instance) which will cause
323us to give up on the link.
324
325For an IP interface NCU, the following auxiliary states are suggested.
326
327Auxiliary state				Description
328===============				===========
329
330NWAM_AUX_STATE_IF_WAITING_FOR_ADDR	Waiting for an address to be assigned
331NWAM_AUX_STATE_IF_DHCP_TIMED_OUT	DHCP timed out on interface
332
333A link can have multiple logical interfaces plumbed on it consisting
334of a mix of static and DHCP-acquired addresses. This means that
335we need to decide how to aggregate the state of these logical
336interfaces into the NCU state. The concept of "up" we use here
337does not correspond to IFF_UP or IFF_RUNNING, but rather
338when we get (via getting RTM_NEWADDR events with non-zero
339addresses) at least one address assigned to the link.
340
341We use this concept of up as it represents the potential for
342network communication - e.g. after assigning a static
343address, if the location specifies nameserver etc, it
344is possible to communicate over the network. One important
345edge case here is that when DHCP information comes
346in, we need to reassess location activation conditions and
347possibly change or reapply the current location. The problem
348is that if we have a static/DHCP mix, and if we rely on
349the IP interface's notion of "up" to trigger location activation,
350we will likely first apply the location when the static address
351has been assigned and before the DHCP information has
352been returned (which may include nameserver info). So
353the solution is that on getting an RTM_NEWADDR, we
354check if the (logical) interface associated is DHCP, and
355even if the interface NCU is already up, we reassess
356location activation. This will lead to a reapplication of
357the current location or possibly a location switch.
358
359In order to move through the various states, a generic
360API is supplied
361
362nwam_error_t
363nwamd_object_set_state(nwamd_object_t obj, nwamd_state_t state,
364    nwamd_aux_state_t aux_state);
365
366This function creates an OBJECT_STATE event containing
367the new state/aux_state and enqueues it in the event
368queue. Each object registers its own handler for this
369event, and in response to the current state/aux state and
370desired aux state it responds appropriately in the event
371handling thread, spawning other threads to carry out
372actions as appropriate. The object state event is
373then sent to any registered listeners.
374
375So for NCUs, we define a handle_object_state() function
376to run the state machine for the NCU object.
377
378Link state and NCP policy
379=========================
380
381NCPs can be either:
382
383o	prioritized: where the constituent link NCUs specify priority group
384	numbers (where lower are more favoured) and grouping types.  These
385	are used to allow link NCUs to be either grouped separately (exclusive)
386	or together (shared or all).
387o	manual: their activation is governed by the value of their enabled
388	property.
389o	a combination of the above.
390
391IP interface NCUs interit their activation from the links below them,
392so an IP interface NCU will be active if its underlying link is (assuming
393it hasn't been disabled).
394
395At startup, and at regular intervals (often triggered by NWAM
396events), the NCP policy needs to be reassessed. There
397are a number of causes for NCP policy to be reassessed -
398
399o	a periodic check of link state that occurs every N seconds
400o	a link goes from offline(*) to online (cable plug/wifi connect)
401o	a link goes from online to offline (cable unplug/wifi disconnect).
402
403Any of these should cause the link selecton algorithm to rerun.
404
405The link selection algorithm works as follows:
406
407Starting from the lowest priority grouping value, assess all links
408in that priority group.
409
410The current priority-group is considered failed if:
411
412o	"exclusive" NCUs exist and none are offline*/online,
413o	"shared" NCUs exist and none are offline*/online,
414o	"all" NCUs exist and all are not offline*/online,
415o	no NCUs are offline*/online.
416
417We do not invalidate a link that is offline* since its configuration
418is in progress. This has the unfortunate side-effect that
419wired links that do not do DL_NOTE_LINK_UP/DOWN will never
420fail. If such links wish to be skipped, their priority group value
421should be increased (prioritizing wireless links).
422
423One a priority group has been selected, all links in groups above
424_and_ below it need to be moved offline.
425
426Location Activation
427===================
428A basic set of system-supplied locations are supplied - NoNet and
429Automatic.  nwamd will apply the NoNet location until such a time
430as an interface NCU is online, at which point it will switch
431to the Automatic location.  If a user-supplied location is supplied,
432and it is either manually enabled or its conditions are satisfied, it
433will be preferred and activated instead.  Only one location can be
434active at once since each location has its own specification of nameservices
435etc.
436
437ENM Activation
438==============
439ENMs are either manual or conditional in activation and will be
440activated if they are enabled (manual) or if the conditions
441are met (conditional).  Multiple ENMs can be active at once.
442