[Bridge] RE: [PATCH] (3/4) bridge linkstate handling
Eble, Dan
DanE at aiinet.com
Thu Jul 29 06:24:53 PDT 2004
> > This makes bridge port status reflect both the
> > state of the interface from software (up/down)
> > and the carrier. It makes STP handle link failure
> > (cable breakage, etc).
>
> nice. Does this entrench STP further in the kernel?
> Still planning to move it out to user space?
>
Even if STP were implemented in user space, this part should be done in
the kernel to make sure that there is no window of time for a packet to
be received or transmitted after the link state changes. Cable failure
is not the worst problem here. Imagine some dunce pulling out a cable,
realizing he pulled the wrong one, and then plugging it back into the
wrong port. If he has created a loop in the network, even a single
packet getting through can cause problems.
One could be really paranoid and flush the hardware transmit queue too.
Is there a way to do that for a port from the bridge driver? (Or should
the device drivers do that anyway after a link change?)
Are there any ethernet controllers that can automatically disable tx/rx
after a link change, requiring the driver to reenable them? That would
also be useful.
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