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Bridge & it's MAC address question [message #7905] Mon, 30 October 2006 12:27 Go to next message
Mishin Dmitry is currently offline  Mishin Dmitry
Messages: 112
Registered: February 2006
Senior Member
Hi,

Could somebody explain, why bridge uses minimal MAC of the attached devices?
It makes this address instable, variable during bridge life-cycle, which is
not good for DHCP. For example, I want to attach multiple virtual devices to
one physical. Then, I need to make sure that after each virtual device
addition, bridge addr is not changed and still addr of the physical device.
Why not to use MAC of the first attached device?

--
Thanks,
Dmitry.
Re: Bridge & it's MAC address question [message #7917 is a reply to message #7905] Mon, 30 October 2006 15:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Stephen Hemminger is currently offline  Stephen Hemminger
Messages: 37
Registered: August 2006
Member
On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:27:14 +0300
Dmitry Mishin <dim@openvz.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Could somebody explain, why bridge uses minimal MAC of the attached devices?
> It makes this address instable, variable during bridge life-cycle, which is
> not good for DHCP. For example, I want to attach multiple virtual devices to
> one physical. Then, I need to make sure that after each virtual device
> addition, bridge addr is not changed and still addr of the physical device.
> Why not to use MAC of the first attached device?
>

The bridge physical address is the minimum of all the attached devices.
This is done because the STP standard requires it. You can reset it
to be the same as any of the attached devices. This will not cause a problem
unless using STP.
Re: Bridge & it's MAC address question [message #9071 is a reply to message #7917] Fri, 15 December 2006 13:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Lennert Buytenhek is currently offline  Lennert Buytenhek
Messages: 1
Registered: December 2006
Junior Member
On Mon, Oct 30, 2006 at 07:28:37AM -0800, Stephen Hemminger wrote:

> > Could somebody explain, why bridge uses minimal MAC of the attached devices?
> > It makes this address instable, variable during bridge life-cycle, which is
> > not good for DHCP. For example, I want to attach multiple virtual devices to
> > one physical. Then, I need to make sure that after each virtual device
> > addition, bridge addr is not changed and still addr of the physical device.
> > Why not to use MAC of the first attached device?
>
> The bridge physical address is the minimum of all the attached devices.
> This is done because the STP standard requires it. You can reset it
> to be the same as any of the attached devices. This will not cause a
> problem unless using STP.

You can in fact use any MAC address. The STP standard recommends using
the minimum address, as that is deterministic, and so it doesn't depend
on the order in which you enslave subdevices.
Re: [Bridge] Bridge & it's MAC address question [message #9075 is a reply to message #9071] Fri, 15 December 2006 15:52 Go to previous message
Stephen Hemminger is currently offline  Stephen Hemminger
Messages: 37
Registered: August 2006
Member
On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:19:08 +0100
Lennert Buytenhek <buytenh@wantstofly.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 30, 2006 at 07:28:37AM -0800, Stephen Hemminger wrote:
>
> > > Could somebody explain, why bridge uses minimal MAC of the attached devices?
> > > It makes this address instable, variable during bridge life-cycle, which is
> > > not good for DHCP. For example, I want to attach multiple virtual devices to
> > > one physical. Then, I need to make sure that after each virtual device
> > > addition, bridge addr is not changed and still addr of the physical device.
> > > Why not to use MAC of the first attached device?
> >
> > The bridge physical address is the minimum of all the attached devices.
> > This is done because the STP standard requires it. You can reset it
> > to be the same as any of the attached devices. This will not cause a
> > problem unless using STP.
>
> You can in fact use any MAC address. The STP standard recommends using
> the minimum address, as that is deterministic, and so it doesn't depend
> on the order in which you enslave subdevices.

So should restriction be lifted?
Please update wiki page FAQ, or I'll do it
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