tl;dr
=====
Add a new neighbor flag ("extern_valid") that can be used to indicate to
the kernel that a neighbor entry was learned and determined to be valid
externally. The kernel will not try to remove or invalidate such an
entry, leaving these decisions to the user space control plane. This is
needed for EVPN multi-homing where a neighbor entry for a multi-homed
host needs to be synced across all the VTEPs among which the host is
multi-homed.
Background
==========
In a typical EVPN multi-homing setup each host is multi-homed using a
set of links called ES (Ethernet Segment, i.e., LAG) to multiple leaf
switches (VTEPs). VTEPs that are connected to the same ES are called ES
peers.
When a neighbor entry is learned on a VTEP, it is distributed to both ES
peers and remote VTEPs using EVPN MAC/IP advertisement routes. ES peers
use the neighbor entry when routing traffic towards the multi-homed host
and remote VTEPs use it for ARP/NS suppression.
Motivation
==========
If the ES link between a host and the VTEP on which the neighbor entry
was locally learned goes down, the EVPN MAC/IP advertisement route will
be withdrawn and the neighbor entries will be removed from both ES peers
and remote VTEPs. Routing towards the multi-homed host and ARP/NS
suppression can fail until another ES peer locally learns the neighbor
entry and distributes it via an EVPN MAC/IP advertisement route.
"draft-rbickhart-evpn-ip-mac-proxy-adv-03" [1] suggests avoiding these
intermittent failures by having the ES peers install the neighbor
entries as before, but also injecting EVPN MAC/IP advertisement routes
with a proxy indication. When the previously mentioned ES link goes down
and the original EVPN MAC/IP advertisement route is withdrawn, the ES
peers will not withdraw their neighbor entries, but instead start aging
timers for the proxy indication.
If an ES peer locally learns the neighbor entry (i.e., it becomes
"reachable"), it will restart its aging timer for the entry and emit an
EVPN MAC/IP advertisement route without a proxy indication. An ES peer
will stop its aging timer for the proxy indication if it observes the
removal of the proxy indication from at least one of the ES peers
advertising the entry.
In the event that the aging timer for the proxy indication expired, an
ES peer will withdraw its EVPN MAC/IP advertisement route. If the timer
expired on all ES peers and they all withdrew their proxy
advertisements, the neighbor entry will be completely removed from the
EVPN fabric.
Implementation
==============
In the above scheme, when the control plane (e.g., FRR) advertises a
neighbor entry with a proxy indication, it expects the corresponding
entry in the data plane (i.e., the kernel) to remain valid and not be
removed due to garbage collection or loss of carrier. The control plane
also expects the kernel to notify it if the entry was learned locally
(i.e., became "reachable") so that it will remove the proxy indication
from the EVPN MAC/IP advertisement route. That is why these entries
cannot be programmed with dummy states such as "permanent" or "noarp".
Instead, add a new neighbor flag ("extern_valid") which indicates that
the entry was learned and determined to be valid externally and should
not be removed or invalidated by the kernel. The kernel can probe the
entry and notify user space when it becomes "reachable" (it is initially
installed as "stale"). However, if the kernel does not receive a
confirmation, have it return the entry to the "stale" state instead of
the "failed" state.
In other words, an entry marked with the "extern_valid" flag behaves
like any other dynamically learned entry other than the fact that the
kernel cannot remove or invalidate it.
One can argue that the "extern_valid" flag should not prevent garbage
collection and that instead a neighbor entry should be programmed with
both the "extern_valid" and "extern_learn" flags. There are two reasons
for not doing that:
1. Unclear why a control plane would like to program an entry that the
kernel cannot invalidate but can completely remove.
2. The "extern_learn" flag is used by FRR for neighbor entries learned
on remote VTEPs (for ARP/NS suppression) whereas here we are
concerned with local entries. This distinction is currently irrelevant
for the kernel, but might be relevant in the future.
Given that the flag only makes sense when the neighbor has a valid
state, reject attempts to add a neighbor with an invalid state and with
this flag set. For example:
# ip neigh add 192.0.2.1 nud none dev br0.10 extern_valid
Error: Cannot create externally validated neighbor with an invalid state.
# ip neigh add 192.0.2.1 lladdr 00:11:22:33:44:55 nud stale dev br0.10 extern_valid
# ip neigh replace 192.0.2.1 nud failed dev br0.10 extern_valid
Error: Cannot mark neighbor as externally validated with an invalid state.
The above means that a neighbor cannot be created with the
"extern_valid" flag and flags such as "use" or "managed" as they result
in a neighbor being created with an invalid state ("none") and
immediately getting probed:
# ip neigh add 192.0.2.1 lladdr 00:11:22:33:44:55 nud stale dev br0.10 extern_valid use
Error: Cannot create externally validated neighbor with an invalid state.
However, these flags can be used together with "extern_valid" after the
neighbor was created with a valid state:
# ip neigh add 192.0.2.1 lladdr 00:11:22:33:44:55 nud stale dev br0.10 extern_valid
# ip neigh replace 192.0.2.1 lladdr 00:11:22:33:44:55 nud stale dev br0.10 extern_valid use
One consequence of preventing the kernel from invalidating a neighbor
entry is that by default it will only try to determine reachability
using unicast probes. This can be changed using the "mcast_resolicit"
sysctl:
# sysctl net.ipv4.neigh.br0/10.mcast_resolicit
0
# tcpdump -nn -e -i br0.10 -Q out arp &
# ip neigh replace 192.0.2.1 lladdr 00:11:22:33:44:55 nud stale dev br0.10 extern_valid use
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > 00:11:22:33:44:55, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > 00:11:22:33:44:55, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > 00:11:22:33:44:55, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
# sysctl -wq net.ipv4.neigh.br0/10.mcast_resolicit=3
# ip neigh replace 192.0.2.1 lladdr 00:11:22:33:44:55 nud stale dev br0.10 extern_valid use
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > 00:11:22:33:44:55, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > 00:11:22:33:44:55, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > 00:11:22:33:44:55, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
62:50:1d:11:93:6f > ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Request who-has 192.0.2.1 tell 192.0.2.2, length 28
iproute2 patches can be found here [2].
[1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-rbickhart-evpn-ip-mac-proxy-adv-03
[2] https://github.com/idosch/iproute2/tree/submit/extern_valid_v1
Signed-off-by: Ido Schimmel <idosch@nvidia.com>
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20250626073111.244534-2-idosch@nvidia.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
Clean up all document-start warnings reported by yamllint in the
netlink specs:
warning missing document start "---" (document-start)
Signed-off-by: Donald Hunter <donald.hunter@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Chuck Lever <chuck.lever@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Matthieu Baerts (NGI0) <matttbe@kernel.org> # mptcp_pm.yaml
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20250610125944.85265-2-donald.hunter@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
The notify property should point at the object the notifications
carry, usually the get object, not the cmd which triggers
the notification:
notify:
description: Name of the command sharing the reply type with
this notification.
Not treating this as a fix, I think that only C codegen cares.
Reviewed-by: Donald Hunter <donald.hunter@gmail.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20250418021706.1967583-12-kuba@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
The consistency check complains replies to do and dump don't match
because dump has no value. It doesn't have to by the schema... but
fixing this in code gen would be more code than adjusting the spec.
This is rare.
Reviewed-by: Donald Hunter <donald.hunter@gmail.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20250418021706.1967583-11-kuba@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
The rtnetlink family names are set to rt-$name within the YAML
but the files are called rt_$name. C codegen assumes that the
generated file name will match the family. The use of dashes
is in line with our general expectation that name properties
in the spec use dashes not underscores (even tho, as Donald
points out most genl families use underscores in the name).
We have 3 un-ideal options to choose from:
- accept the slight inconsistency with old families using _, or
- accept the slight annoyance with all languages having to do s/-/_/
when looking up family ID, or
- accept the inconsistency with all name properties in new YAML spec
being separated with - and just the family name always using _.
Pick option 1 and rename the rtnl spec files.
Reviewed-by: Jacob Keller <jacob.e.keller@intel.com>
Reviewed-by: Donald Hunter <donald.hunter@gmail.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20250410014658.782120-2-kuba@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
