netconf

Getting Debian network configuration up to speed

FOSDEM 2007, Brussels, Belgium 25 Feb 2007

What is netconf

http://netconf.alioth.debian.org/

Overview

Let's go

ifupdown

Shortcomings of ifupdown: one-way hooks

not enough information/feedback for many helpers, such as wpasupplicant or even dhclient:

lapse:~# ifdown eth0
ifdown: interface eth0 not configured

lapse:~# ifup eth0
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4
^C

lapse:~# ifup eth0
ifup: interface eth0 already configured

lapse:~# echo $?
0

Shortcomings of ifupdown: inflexible hooks

failures cannot be overridden by --force:

lapse:~# tail -2 /etc/network/interfaces
iface test inet manual
  pre-up false

lapse:~# ifup eth0=test
Failed to bring up test.

lapse:~# ifup --force eth0=test
Failed to bring up test.

lapse:~# echo $?
0

Shortcomings of ifupdown: brittle hooks #1

disagreement on up failures:

lapse:~# tail -2 /etc/network/interfaces
iface test inet dhcp
  up false

lapse:~# ifup eth0=test
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4
[...]
bound to 10.0.0.24 -- renewal in 20425 seconds.
Failed to bring up test.

lapse:~# grep eth0 /etc/networ/run/ifstate || echo none
none

lapse:~# ip l show eth0
2: eth0: <[...],UP> mtu 1500 [...]

Shortcomings of ifupdown: brittle hooks #2

ignoring of down failures:

lapse:~# tail -2 /etc/network/interfaces
iface test inet dhcp
  down false

lapse:~# ifdown eth0
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4
[...]
DHCPRELEASE on cable to 192.168.14.1 port 67
[...]

lapse:~# echo $?
0

Other shortcomings of ifupdown

Other problems

I have tried to address most of these problems, but either I could not make sense of the code or patches went unnoticed.

Anything else?

Can you think of anything else I haven't mentioned?

Will you hear me desires

My wishlist

My wishlist, cont'd...

Your wishlist?

What would you love to see in a network configuration system?

A glance around

Alternative: NetworkManager

Extension: ifupdown-scripts-zg2

Extension: ifupdown-extra

Outlook

Braindump

Design

design.png

Configuration broker

Methods

Thoughts on DHCP

Implementation

Outlook

Thank you

Thank you for your attention!

Licence

These slides, their design, and the content are © Martin F. Krafft and released under the terms of the CC by-nc-sa 2.5 licence.

reStructuredText sources: slides.rst and ui/debian/*.

Slides based on the S5 presentation system.