Tue, Oct 08, 2024 at 11:16:01AM CEST, antonio@openvpn.net wrote:
On 08/10/2024 10:58, Jiri Pirko wrote:
Tue, Oct 08, 2024 at 10:01:40AM CEST, antonio@openvpn.net wrote:
Hi,
On 07/10/24 17:32, Jiri Pirko wrote:
Wed, Oct 02, 2024 at 11:02:17AM CEST, antonio@openvpn.net wrote:
[...]
+operations:
- list:
name: dev-new
attribute-set: ovpn
flags: [ admin-perm ]
doc: Create a new interface of type ovpn
do:
request:
attributes:
- ifname
- mode
reply:
attributes:
- ifname
- ifindex
name: dev-del
Why you expose new and del here in ovn specific generic netlink iface? Why can't you use the exising RTNL api which is used for creation and destruction of other types of devices?
That was my original approach in v1, but it was argued that an ovpn interface needs a userspace program to be configured and used in a meaningful way, therefore it was decided to concentrate all iface mgmt APIs along with the others in the netlink family and to not expose any RTNL ops.
Can you please point me to the message id?
CAHNKnsQnHAdxC-XhC9RP-cFp0d-E4YGb+7ie3WymXVL9N-QS6A@mail.gmail.com from Sergey and subsequent replies. RTNL vs NL topic starts right after the definition of 'ovpn_link_ops'
Yeah, does not make sense to me. All devices should implement common rtnl ops, the extra-config, if needed, could be on a separate channel. I don't find Sergey's argumentation valid.
Recently Kuniyuki commented on this topic as well in: 20240919055259.17622-1-kuniyu@amazon.com and that is why I added a default dellink implemetation.
Having dellink without newlink implemented is just wrong.
However, recently we decided to add a dellink implementation for better integration with network namespaces and to allow the user to wipe a dangling interface.
Hmm, one more argument to have symmetric add/del impletentation in RTNL
In the future we are planning to also add the possibility to create a "persistent interface", that is an interface created before launching any userspace program and that survives when the latter is stopped. I can guess this functionality may be better suited for RTNL, but I am not sure yet.
That would be quite confusing to have RTNL and genetlink iface to add/del device. From what you described above, makes more sent to have it just in RTNL
All in all I tend to agree.
@Jiri: do you have any particular opinion why we should use RTNL ops and not netlink for creating/destroying interfaces? I feel this is mostly a matter of taste, but maybe there are technical reasons we should consider.
Well. technically, you can probabaly do both. But it is quite common that you can add/delete these kind of devices over RTNL. Lots of examples. People are used to it, aligns with existing flows.
The only counterargument I see is the one brought by Sergey: "the ovpn interface is not usable after creation, if no openvpn process is running".
However, allowing to create "persistent interfaces" will define a use-case for having an ovpn device without any userspace process.
@Sergey what is your opinion here? I am not sure persistent interfaces were discussed at the time you brought your point about RTNL vs NL.
Regards,
Thanks a lot for your contribution.
Regards,
ip link add [link DEV | parentdev NAME] [ name ] NAME [ txqueuelen PACKETS ] [ address LLADDR ] [ broadcast LLADDR ] [ mtu MTU ] [index IDX ] [ numtxqueues QUEUE_COUNT ] [ numrxqueues QUEUE_COUNT ] [ netns { PID | NETNSNAME | NETNSFILE } ] type TYPE [ ARGS ]
ip link delete { DEVICE | dev DEVICE | group DEVGROUP } type TYPE [ ARGS ]
Lots of examples of existing types creation is for example here: https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2018/10/22/introduction-to-linux-interfac...
attribute-set: ovpn
flags: [ admin-perm ]
doc: Delete existing interface of type ovpn
do:
pre: ovpn-nl-pre-doit
post: ovpn-nl-post-doit
request:
attributes:
- ifindex
[...]
-- Antonio Quartulli OpenVPN Inc.
-- Antonio Quartulli OpenVPN Inc.