linux-cp: Linux Interface Mirroring for Control Plane Integration

Type: feature

please see FEATURE.yaml for details.

Signed-off-by: Neale Ranns <nranns@cisco.com>
Signed-off-by: Matthew Smith <mgsmith@netgate.com>
Signed-off-by: Jon Loeliger <jdl@netgate.com>
Signed-off-by: Pim van Pelt <pim@ipng.nl>
Change-Id: I04a45c15c0838906aa787e06660fa29f39f755fa

1 files changed, 96 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/src/plugins/linux-cp/lcp.rst b/src/plugins/linux-cp/lcp.rst
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+.. _Linux_control_plane:
+
+.. toctree::
+
+Linux Control Plane Integration
+===============================
+
+Overview
+________
+
+This plugin allows VPP to integrate with the Linux. The
+general model is that Linux is the network stack, i.e. it has the
+control plane protocols, like ARP, IPv6 ND/MLD, Ping, etc, and VPP
+provides a SW based ASIC for forwarding.
+
+Interfaces
+__________
+
+VPP owns the interfaces in the system; physical (.e.g PCI), quasi
+physical (e.g. vhost), or virtual (e.g. tunnel). However,
+for the Linux networking stack to function it needs a representation
+of these interfaces; it needs a mirror image in the kernel. For this
+mirror we use a Tap interface, if the VPP interface is multi-point, a
+Tun if it's point-to-point. A physical and its mirror form an
+interface 'pair'.
+
+The host interface has two identities; the sw_if_index of the Tap and
+the virtual interface index in the kernel. It may be in a Linux namespace.
+
+The creation of the interface pairs is required from the control
+plane. It can be statically configured in the VPP startup
+configuration file. The intent here was to make the pair creation
+explicit, rather than have VPP guess which of the interfaces it owns
+require a mirror.
+
+Configuration
+_____________
+
+Linux will send and receive packets on the mirrored tap/tun
+interfaces. Any configuration that is made on these Linux interfaces,
+also needs to be applied on the corresponding physical interface in
+VPP.
+
+This is functionality is not provided in this plugin, but it can be
+achieved in various ways, for example by listening to the netlink
+messages and applying the config. As a result all e.g. routes
+programmed in Linux, will also be present in VPP's FIB.
+
+Linux will own the [ARP/ND] nieghbor tables (which will be copied via
+netlink to VPP also). This means that Linux will send packets with the
+peer's MAC address in the rewrite to VPP. The receiving TAP interface
+must therefore be in promiscuous mode.
+
+
+Forwarding
+__________
+
+The basic principle is to x-connect traffic from a Linux host interface
+(received on the Tap/Tun) to its paired the physical, and vice-versa.
+
+Host to Physical
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+All packets sent by the host, and received by VPP on a Tap/Tun should
+be sent to its paired physical interface. However, they should be sent
+with the same consequences as if they had originated from VPP,
+i.e. they should be subject to all output features on the physical
+interface. To achieve this there is a per-IP-address-family (AF) node
+inserted in the per-AF input feature arc. The node must be per-AF,
+since it must be a sibling of a start node for the ipX-output feature
+arc. This node uses the packet's L2 rewrite to search for the
+adjacency that VPP would have used to send this packet; this adjacency
+is stored in the buffer's meta data so that it is available to all
+output features. Then the packet is sent through the physical
+interface's IP output feature arc.
+All ARP packets are x-connected from the tap to the physical.
+
+Physical to Host
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+All ARP packets received on the physical are sent to the paired
+Tap. This allows the Linux network stack to build the nieghbour table.
+
+IP packets that are punted are sent to the host. They are sent on the
+tap that is paired with the physical on which they were originally
+received. The packet is sent on the Tap/Tun 'exactly' as it was
+received (i.e. with the L2 rewrite) but post any translations that
+input features may have made.
+
+
+Recommendations
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+When using this plugin disable the ARP, ND, IGMP plugins; this is the
+task for Linux.
+Disable ping plugin, since Linux will now respond.