802.3ad?

[Edward B. DREGER]

B> Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 23:45:58 -0500
B> From: Brad

B> Yes, 2 redundant paths represented by a virtual L2 interface is what he is
B> asking for. VRRP is for providing L3 redundancy for the next hop. A completely
B> different scenario.

I hesitate to speak for others, but I'm pretty confident RAS knows that. 
;-)


B> > A properly designed system should be seperating out these layers
B> > internally, in order to tie all of these features together under a common

B> I'm not sure what exactly it is that you're describing above. It almost sounds
B> as if you want a flat config with no config information split up by interfaces
B> be it physical, virtual L2 or virtual L3. I can't say as I've seen *any*
B> OS that can do that *exactly* as you describe.

Sounds to me like a request for something analogous to netgraph(4), 
busdma(9), or scsipi(9).  (A local attempt to integrate some custom FIB 
code in 4.x led me through some rather messy code.  IIRC, I found 
several opportunities for better abstraction and lower cyclomatic code 
complexity.  Perhaps memory fails me, or maybe things have changed.)


B> trunking = 801.Q/ISL and nothing else.

The IEEE has results from their "802.3 Trunking Study Group" available.  
If the body that writes the standard uses "802.3" and "trunking" 
together, I can see why others might do the same.


B> link aggregation implies that all links are active. this is FAILOVER. there is
B> no hash involved.

[ Note: I didn't quite follow your pronoun/antecedent usage. ]

There normally _is_ hashing involved with link aggregation.  It's not 
part of the 802.3ad protocol per se, but devices spread traffic across 
the active links.  Straight L2 devices hash on src/dst MAC addr.  More 
intelligent counterparts inspect higher layers when selecting a link.


Eddy
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