• Pablo Neira Ayuso's avatar
    net: resolve forwarding path from virtual netdevice and HW destination address · ddb94eaf
    Pablo Neira Ayuso authored
    This patch adds dev_fill_forward_path() which resolves the path to reach
    the real netdevice from the IP forwarding side. This function takes as
    input the netdevice and the destination hardware address and it walks
    down the devices calling .ndo_fill_forward_path() for each device until
    the real device is found.
    
    For instance, assuming the following topology:
    
                   IP forwarding
                  /             \
               br0              eth0
               / \
           eth1  eth2
            .
            .
            .
           ethX
     ab:cd:ef:ab:cd:ef
    
    where eth1 and eth2 are bridge ports and eth0 provides WAN connectivity.
    ethX is the interface in another box which is connected to the eth1
    bridge port.
    
    For packets going through IP forwarding to br0 whose destination MAC
    address is ab:cd:ef:ab:cd:ef, dev_fill_forward_path() provides the
    following path:
    
    	br0 -> eth1
    
    .ndo_fill_forward_path for br0 looks up at the FDB for the bridge port
    from the destination MAC address to get the bridge port eth1.
    
    This information allows to create a fast path that bypasses the classic
    bridge and IP forwarding paths, so packets go directly from the bridge
    port eth1 to eth0 (wan interface) and vice versa.
    
                 fast path
          .------------------------.
         /                          \
        |           IP forwarding   |
        |          /             \  \/
        |       br0               eth0
        .       / \
         -> eth1  eth2
            .
            .
            .
           ethX
     ab:cd:ef:ab:cd:ef
    Signed-off-by: default avatarPablo Neira Ayuso <pablo@netfilter.org>
    Signed-off-by: default avatarDavid S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
    ddb94eaf
dev.c 288 KB