OK, here are some snippets which I found from reading the IEEE 802.x
standards. As far as I can see, the only justification for your and Sun's
(OpenBootProm) method is to assume that all ports will be aggregated.
IEEE 802:
---------
However, due to the shared-medium nature of the IEEE 802 LANs, there is
always a MAC Sublayer.
IEEE 802:
---------
5.1 Organizationally Unique Identifier
5.1.1 Concept.
Organizationally Unique Identifiers allow a general means of assuring unique
identifiers for a
number of purposes. Currently, the IEEE assigns Organizationally Unique
Identifiers to be used
for generating LAN MAC addresses and protocol identifiers. Assuming correct
administration by
the assignee, the LAN MAC addresses and protocol identifiers will be
universally unique.
IEEE 802.1D
-----------
a) A Bridge is not directly addressed by communicating end stations, except
as an end station for
management purposes: frames transmitted between end stations carry the MAC
Address of the peer-end
station in their Destination Address field, not the MAC Address, if any, of
the Bridge.
b) All MAC Addresses must be unique within the Bridged LAN.
c) The MAC Addresses of end stations are not restricted by the topology and
configuration of the Bridged LAN.
IEEE 802.1G
-------------
Preservation of the MAC service The MAC service offered by a remotely bridged
LAN is
similar (see 5.3) to that offered by a single LAN. In consequence
a) A bridge is not directly addressed by communicating end stations, except
as an end station for management purposes: frames transmitted between end
stations carry the MAC address of the peer end station in their Destination
Address fields,
not the MAC address, if any, of a bridge.
b) All MAC addresses are unique and addressable within the bridged LAN.
c) The MAC addresses of end stations are not restricted by the topology and
configuration of the bridged LAN.
IEEE 802.1Q
----------------
B.1.2 Duplicate MAC Addresses
The simplest example of a need for Independent VLAN Learning occurs where
two (or more) distinct devices in different parts of the network reuse
the same individual MAC Address, or where a single device is connected to
multiple LAN segments, and all of its LAN interfaces use the same individual
MAC Address. This is shown in Figure B-3.
[picture ommitted for obvious reasons]
The example shows two clients with access to the same server; both clients
are using the same individual MAC Address, X. If the Bridge shares learning
between VLAN Red (which serves Client A) and VLAN Blue (which serves Client
B),
i.e., the Bridge uses the same FID for both VLANs, then Address X will appear
to
move between Ports 1 and 2 of the Bridge, depending upon which client has
most recently
trans-mitted a frame. Communication between these Clients and the server will
therefore
be seriously disrupted. Assignment of distinct FIDs for Red and Blue ensures
that
communication can take place correctly.
IEEE 802.3
----------
The only thing which I could find that supported you and Sun's
position is in using LACP. Then, one uses the SystemID
(the hostid from eeprom, or one of the port's MAC). So, if you are
assuming that all ports should belong to an aggregate group by
default, then I could understand this point. However, the vast
majority of system's NICs (aside from the QFE cards) are never
aggregated. So, it's a bit of a stretch to using LACP as a default.
Quotations:
i)Each port is assigned a unique,globally administered MAC address.This MAC
address
is used as the source address for frame exchanges that are initiated by
entities within
the Link Aggregation sublayer itself (i.e.,LACP and Marker protocol
exchanges). NOTE
The LACP and Marker protocols use a multicast destination address for all
exchanges,
and do not impose any requirement for a port to recognize more than one
unicast address
on received frames.
j)Each Aggregator is assigned a unique,globally administered MAC address;this
address is
used as the MAC address of the aggregation from the perspective of the MAC
Client, both as
a source address for transmitted frames and as the destination address for
received frames.
The MAC address of the Aggregator may be one of the MAC addresses of a port
in the associated
Link Aggregation Group (see 43.2.10).
43.2.8 Aggregator An Aggregator comprises an instance of a Frame Collection
function,
an instance of a Frame Distribution function and one or more instances of the
Aggregator
Parser/Multiplexer function for a Link Aggregation Group.A single Aggregator
is associated
with each Link Aggregation Group. An Aggregator offers a standard IEEE 802.3
MAC service
interface to its associated MAC Client;access to the MAC service by a MAC
Client is always
achieved via an Aggregator. An Aggregator can therefore be considered to be a
logical MAC ,
bound to one or more ports,through which the MAC client is provided access to
the MAC service.
A single,individual MAC address is associated with each Aggregator (see
43.2.10). An Aggregator is
available for use by the MAC Client if the following are all true:
a)It has one or more attached ports.
b)The Aggregator has not been set to a disabled state by administrative
action (see 30.7.1.1.13).
c)The collection and/or distribution function associated with one or more of
the attached ports is
enabled (see 30.7.1.1.14).
NOTE To simplify the modeling and description of the operation of Link
Aggregation,it is assumed that
there are as many Aggregators as there are ports in a given System; however,
this is not a requirement
of this standard.Aggregation of two or more ports consists of changing the
bindings between ports and
Aggregators such that more than one port is bound to a single Aggregator.The
creation of any aggregations
of two or more links will therefore result in one or more Aggregators that
are bound to more than one port,
and one or more Aggregators that are not bound to any port.An Aggregator that
is not bound to any port appears
to a MAC Client as a MAC interface to an inactive port.During times when the
bindings between ports and Aggregators a
re changing,or as a consequence of particular con guration choices, there
may be occasions when one or more ports
are not bound to any Aggregator.
43.2.10 Addressing Each IEEE 802.3 MAC has an associated globally-unique
individual MAC address,whether that MAC
is used for Link Aggregation or not (see Clause 4). Each Aggregator to which
one or more ports are attached has
an associated globally-unique individual MAC address (see 43.3.3).The MAC
address of the Aggregator may be the
globally-unique individual MAC addresses of one of the MACs in the associated
Link Aggregation Group,or it may
be a distinct MAC address.The manner in which such addresses are chosen is
not otherwise constrained by this standard.
Protocol entities sourcing frames from within the Link Aggregation sublayer
(e.g.,LACP and the Marker protocol)use the
MAC address of the MAC within an underlying port as the source address in
frames transmitted through that port.The MAC
Client sees only the Aggregator and not the underlying MACs,and therefore
uses the Aggregator s MAC address as the source
address in transmitted frames.If a MAC Client submits a frame to the
Aggregator for transmission without specifying a
source address,the Aggregator inserts its own MAC address as the source
address for transmitted frames.
RFC 826:
--------
However, 48.bit Ethernet addresses are supposed to be unique and fixed for
all time, so they shouldn't
change.
----------------------
02.10Q: What is a MAC address?
A: It is the unique hexadecimal serial number assigned to each Ether-
net network device to identify it on the network. With Ethernet
devices (as with most other network types), this address is
permanently set at the time of manufacturer, though it can usually
be changed through software (though this is generally a Very
Bad Thing to do).
02.11Q: Why must the MAC address to be unique?
A: Each card has a unique MAC address, so that
it will be able to exclusively grab packets off the wire
meant for it. If MAC addresses are not unique, there is
no way to distinguish between two stations. Devices on the
network watch network traffic and look for their own MAC address
in each packet to determine whether they should decode it or not.
Special circumstances exist for broadcasting to every device.
04.01Q: What is a "segment"?
A: A piece of network wire bounded by bridges, routers, repeaters or
terminators.
04.02Q: What is a "subnet"?
A: Another overloaded term. It can mean, depending on the usage, a
segment, a set of machines grouped together by a specific protocol
feature (note that these machines do not have to be on the same
segment, but they could be) or a big nylon thing used to capture
enemy subs.
-- timothy.covell@ashavan.org. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/