2009/344 Bridging Updates

[James Carlson]

I'm sponsoring this fast-track request for myself.  The timer is set
to 06/15/2009.

The Solaris Bridging project (PSARC 2008/055) has not yet integrated.
In order to support changes encountered in design review, this
proposal modifies that previous project and has the same Minor release
binding.

The primary changes (in summary) are:

  - Self-protection

    A self-protection mechanism for the forwarding table was added to
    avoid both memory explosion and some data theft threats.  Bridges
    by default forward to all interfaces, so avoiding theft generally
    means deleting entries.

  - Optional installation

    The bridging packages are optional, so dladm must return an error
    if the user tries to create a bridge and the optional software
    isn't installed.  A generic Consolidation Private
    DLADM_STATUS_OPTMISSING error is added for this (and for any
    future similar cases).  The packages are placed into a new
    SUNWCbridge cluster.

  - /dev/bridge/ is gone

    This is no longer needed; Clearview's /dev/net/ observability
    nodes serve all the needs of the bridging design.

  - Added accidentally-omitted long option names for dladm

  - Dynamic reconfiguration now supported

    New Project Private SUNW_bridge_rcm.so module added.

  - IEEE STP "mcheck" supported

  - Crossbow polling disabled on bridged links

  - MTU and link up/down handling detailed

The "materials" directory in the case contains these files:

  bridging-design.pdf	- current, reviewed design document (1.3)
  bridging-spec.txt	- updated architecture document
  bridging-spec.diff	- diffs versus final 2008/055 architecture

-- 
James Carlson, Solaris Networking              <james.d.carlson at sun.com>
Sun Microsystems / 35 Network Drive        71.232W   Vox +1 781 442 2084
MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757   42.496N   Fax +1 781 442 1677