net: resolve forwarding path from virtual netdevice and HW destination address
authorPablo Neira Ayuso <pablo@netfilter.org>
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 01:30:32 +0000 (02:30 +0100)
committerDavid S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 19:48:38 +0000 (12:48 -0700)
commitddb94eafab8b597b05904c8277194ea2d6357fa9
treebc1e973139f23b2cc2ab62af919b58fb2a9e7cf3
parentad248f7761eb9a3ff9ba2a8c93b548600185a938
net: resolve forwarding path from virtual netdevice and HW destination address

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: Pablo Neira Ayuso <pablo@netfilter.org>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
include/linux/netdevice.h
net/core/dev.c