JavaScript is required to for searching.
Skip Navigation Links
Exit Print View
search filter icon
search icon

Document Information


1.  Overview of the Networking Stack

Network Configuration in This Oracle Solaris Release

The Network Stack in Oracle Solaris

Network Devices and Datalink Names

Administration of Other Link Types

Part I Network Auto-Magic

2.  Introduction to NWAM

3.  NWAM Configuration and Administration (Overview)

4.  NWAM Profile Configuration (Tasks)

5.  NWAM Profile Administration (Tasks)

6.  About the NWAM Graphical User Interface

Part II Datalink and Interface Configuration

7.  Using Datalink and Interface Configuration Commands on Profiles

8.  Datalink Configuration and Administration

9.  Configuring an IP Interface

10.  Configuring Wireless Interface Communications on Oracle Solaris

11.  Administering Bridges

Bridging Overview

Link Properties

STP Daemon

TRILL Daemon

Debugging Bridges

Other Bridge Behaviors

DLPI Behavior

VLAN Administration

VLAN Behavior

Bridge Configuration Examples

Administering Bridges (Task Map)

How to View Information About Configured Bridges

How to View Configuration Information About Bridge Links

How to Create a Bridge

How to Modify the Protection Type for a Bridge

How to Add One or More Links to an Existing Bridge

How to Remove Links From a Bridge

How to Delete a Bridge From the System

12.  Administering Link Aggregations

13.  Administering VLANs

14.  Introducing IPMP

15.  Administering IPMP

16.  Exchanging Network Connectivity Information With LLDP

Part III Network Virtualization and Resource Management

17.  Introducing Network Virtualization and Resource Control (Overview)

18.  Planning for Network Virtualization and Resource Control

19.  Configuring Virtual Networks (Tasks)

20.  Using Link Protection in Virtualized Environments

21.  Managing Network Resources

22.  Monitoring Network Traffic and Resource Usage



Bridging Overview

Bridges are used to connect separate network segments. When connected by a bridge, the attached network segments communicate as if they were a single network segment. Bridging is implemented at the datalink layer (L2) of the networking stack. Bridges use a packet-forwarding mechanism to connect subnetworks together.

While bridging and routing can both be used to distribute information about the locations of resources on the network, they differ in several ways. Routing is implemented at the IP layer (L3) and uses routing protocols. No routing protocols are used on the datalink layer. Instead, the destinations of forwarded packets are determined by examining the network traffic that is received on the links that are attached to the bridge.

When a packet is received, its source address is examined. The packet's source address associates the node from which the packet was sent to the link on which it is received. Thereafter, when a received packet uses that same address as the destination address, the bridge forwards the packet over the link to that address.

The link associated with a source address might be an intermediate link that is connected to another bridge in the bridged subnetwork. Over time, all of the bridges within the bridged subnetwork “learn” which of the links sends a packet toward a given node. Thus, the packet's destination address is used to direct the packet to its final destination by means of hop-by-hop bridging.

A local “link-down” notification indicates that all nodes on a given link are no longer reachable. In this situation, packet forwarding to the link is halted and all forwarding entries over the link are flushed. Forwarding entries are also aged away over time. When a link is restored, packets that are received over the link are treated as new. The “learning” process based on a packet's source address begins again. This process enables the bridge to properly forward packets over that link when the address is used as the destination address.

To forward packets to their destinations, bridges must listen in promiscuous mode on every link that is attached to the bridge. Listening in promiscuous mode causes bridges to become vulnerable to the occurrences of forwarding loops, in which packets circle forever at full line rate. Thus, bridging uses the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) mechanism to prevent network loops that would render the subnetworks unusable.

In addition to using STP and the Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) for bridges, Oracle Solaris supports the TRILL protection enhancement. STP is used by default, but you can use TRILL by specifying the -P trill option for the bridging commands.

Using a bridge configuration simplifies the administration of the various nodes in the network by connecting them into a single network. By connecting these segments through a bridge, all the nodes share a single broadcast network. Thus, each node can reach the others by using network protocols such as IP rather than by using routers to forward traffic across network segments. If you do not use a bridge, you must configure IP routing to permit the forwarding of IP traffic between nodes.

The following figure shows a simple bridged network configuration. The bridge, goldengate, is an Oracle Solaris system that has bridging configured. sanfrancisco and sausalito are systems that are physically connected to the bridge. Network A uses a hub that is physically connected to the bridge on one side and to computer systems on the other side. The bridge ports are links, such as bge0, bge1, and bge2.

Figure 11-1 Simple Bridged Network

image:Diagram showing how three network segments are connected by means of a bridge to form a single network.

Bridge networks can be formed into rings that physically connect several bridges together. Such configurations are common in networks. This type of configuration could cause problems with old packets saturating the network links by endlessly looping around the ring. To protect against such looping conditions, Oracle Solaris bridges implement both the STP and TRILL protocols. Note that most hardware bridges also implement STP loop protection.

The following figure shows a bridged network that is configured in a ring. The configuration shows three bridges. Two systems are physically connected to westminster. One system is physically connected to waterloo. And one system is physically connected to tower. Each of the bridges are physically connected to each other through the bridge ports.

When STP or RSTP is used for loop protection, the physical loop is mitigated by preventing one of the connections in the loop from forwarding packets. The figure shows that the physical link between the westminster and tower bridges is not used to forward packets.

Note that by shutting down usable physical links to perform loop protection, STP and RSTP cost you bandwidth.

Unlike STP and RSTP, TRILL does not shut down physical links to prevent loops. Instead, TRILL computes the shortest-path information for each TRILL node in the network and uses that information to forward packets to individual destinations.

As a result, TRILL enables the system to leave all links in use at all times. Loops are not a problem as they are handled similarly to the way that IP handles loops. Namely, TRILL creates routes as needed and uses forwarding hop limits to avoid problems that are caused by momentary loop states.

Figure 11-2 Bridged Network Ring

image:Diagram showing how the STP or TRILL protocols prevent loops by eliminating one connection in a bridge ring.


Caution - Do not set local-mac-address?=false on SPARC platforms, or the systems will errantly use the same MAC address on multiple ports and on the same network.

Note - Do not configure a link into a bridge when the highest possible levels of performance are required. Bridging requires that the underlying interfaces are in promiscuous mode, which disables a number of important optimizations that are in the hardware, driver, and other layers of the system. The disabling of these performance enhancements is an unavoidable consequence of the bridging mechanism.

You can use a bridge on a system where some of the system's links are not bridged and are thus not subject to those constraints. These performance issues only affect those links that are configured to be part of a bridge.

For information about STP, see IEEE 802.1D-1998. For information about RSTP, see IEEE 820.1Q-2004. For information about TRILL, see the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) TRILL draft documents.

Link Properties

These link properties can be shown and modified by the dladm show-linkprop, dladm set-linkprop, and reset-linkprop commands:


Define the default virtual local area network (VLAN) ID for untagged packets that are sent to and from the link. Valid values are from 0 to 4094. The default value is 1. Only non-VLAN and non-virtual network interface card (VNIC) type links have this property. Setting this value to 0 disables the forwarding of untagged packets to and from the port. (This is a MAC property.)

Note - This property is also used outside the scope of bridging to specify the IEEE Port VLAN Identifier (PVID) for the link. When default_tag is non-zero, you cannot create a VLAN that has that same ID on the link because the base link itself automatically represents the PVID.

For example, if PVID is set to 5 on net0, you cannot create a VLAN with ID 5 on net0. To specify VLAN 5 in this situation, use net0.

You cannot set default_tag to be equal to the ID of any existing VLAN that is created on that link. For instance, the following command creates VLAN 22 on net0:

# dladm create-vlan -l net0 -v 22 myvlan0

In this situation, you cannot set default_tag to 22, which would make both net0 and myvlan0 represent the same VLAN.

By setting default_tag to 0, you enable untagged packets on net0 to be unassociated with any VLAN at all. This situation prevents such packets from being forwarded by a configured bridge.


Enable and disable traffic forwarding through the bridge. This property exists on all links except for VNIC links. Valid values are 1 (true) and 0 (false). The default value is 1. When disabled, a VLAN that is associated with a link instance will not forward traffic through the bridge. Disabling forwarding is equivalent to removing the VLAN from the “allowed set” for a traditional bridge. This means that VLAN-based I/O to the underlying link from local clients continues, but no bridge-based forwarding is performed.


Enable and disable STP and RSTP. Valid values are 1 (true) and 0 (false). The default value is 1, which enables STP and RSTP. When set to 0, the link does not use any type of Spanning Tree Protocol and is placed into forwarding mode at all times. The forwarding mode uses bridge protocol data unit (BPDU) guarding. Disable STP and RSTP when you want to configure point-to-point links that are connected to end nodes. Only non-VLAN and non-VNIC type links have this property.


Represent STP and RSTP cost values for using the link. Valid values are from 1 to 65535. The default value is 0, which is used to signal that cost is automatically computed by link type. The following values represent the cost for several link types: 100 for 10 Mbps, 19 for 100 Mbps, 4 for 1 Gbps, and 2 for 10 Gbps.


Specify whether the port is connected to other bridges. Valid values are 1 (true) and 0 (false). The default value is 1. If set to 0, the daemon assumes that the port is connected to other bridges even if no BPDUs of any type are seen.


Specify the connection mode type. Valid values are true, false, and auto. The default value is auto, which automatically discovers point-to-point connections. Specify true to force to point-to-point mode, and specify false to force normal multipoint mode.


Set the STP and RSTP port priority value. Valid values are from 0 to 255. The default value is 128. The STP and RSTP port priority value is used to determine the preferred root port of a bridge by prepending the value to the port identifier. The lower the numerical value is, the higher the priority.

STP Daemon

Each bridge that you create by using the dladm create-bridge command is represented as an identically named SMF instance of svc:/network/bridge. Each instance runs a copy of the /usr/lib/bridged daemon, which implements the STP.

The following command example creates a bridge called pontevecchio:

# dladm create-bridge pontevecchio

The system creates an SMF service called svc:/network/bridge:pontevecchio and an observability node called /dev/net/pontevecchio0.

For safety purposes, all ports run standard STP by default. A bridge that does not run some form of bridging protocol, such as STP, can form long-lasting forwarding loops in the network. Because Ethernet has no hop-count or TTL on packets, any such loops are fatal to the network.

When you know that a particular port is not connected to another bridge (for example, a direct point-to-point connection to a host system), you can administratively disable STP for that port. Even if all ports on a bridge have STP disabled, the STP daemon still runs. The daemon continues to run for the following reasons:

When a port has STP disabled, the bridged daemon continues to listen for BPDUs (BPDU guarding). The daemon uses syslog to flag any errors and disables forwarding on the port to indicate a serious network misconfiguration. The link is reenabled when link status goes down and comes up again, or when you manually remove the link and re-add it.

If you disable the SMF service instance for a bridge, bridge forwarding stops on those ports as the STP daemon is stopped. If the instance is restarted, STP starts from its initial state.

TRILL Daemon

Each bridge that you create by using the dladm create-bridge -P trill command is represented as an identically named SMF instance of svc:/network/bridge and svc:/network/routing/trill. Each instance of svc:/network/routing/trill runs a copy of the /usr/lib/trilld daemon, which implements the TRILL protocol.

The following command example creates a bridge called bridgeofsighs:

# dladm create-bridge -P trill bridgeofsighs

The system creates two SMF services called svc:/network/bridge:bridgeofsighs and svc:/network/routing/trill:bridgeofsighs. In addition, the system creates an observability node called /dev/net/bridgeofsighs0.

Debugging Bridges

Each bridge instance is assigned an “observability node,” which appears in the /dev/net/ directory and is named by the bridge name plus a trailing 0.

The observability node is intended for use with the snoop and wireshark utilities. This node behaves like a standard Ethernet interface, except for the transmission of packets, which are silently dropped. You cannot plumb IP on top of an observability node, and you cannot perform bind requests (DL_BIND_REQ) unless you use the passive option.

When used, the observability node makes a single unmodified copy of every packet handled by the bridge available to the user. This behavior is similar to a “monitoring” port on a traditional bridge, and is subject to the usual DLPI “promiscuous mode” rules. You can use pfmod or features in the snoop and wireshark utilities to filter based on VLAN ID.

The delivered packets represent the data that is received by the bridge.


Caution - In the cases where the bridging process adds, removes, or modifies a VLAN tag, the data shown describes the state prior to this process taking place. This rare situation might be confusing if there are distinct default_tag values used on different links.

To see the packets that are transmitted and received on a particular link (after the bridging process is complete), run snoop on the individual links rather than on the bridge observability node.

For information about observability nodes, see Observability Features for Network Virtualization and Resource Control.

Other Bridge Behaviors

The following sections describe how link behavior changes when bridges are used in the configuration.

For information about standard link behavior, see Administering Virtual Local Area Networks.

DLPI Behavior

The following describes the differences in link behavior when a bridge is enabled:

VLAN Administration

By default, VLANs that are configured on the system are forwarded among all the ports on a bridge instance. When you invoke the dladm create-vlan or dladm create-vnic -v command, and the underlying link is part of a bridge, that command will also enable forwarding of the specified VLAN on that bridge link.

To configure a VLAN on a link and disable forwarding to or from other links on the bridge, you must disable forwarding by setting the forward property with the dladm set-linkprop command.

Use the dladm create-vlan command to automatically enable the VLAN for bridging when the underlying link is configured as part of a bridge.

VLANs are ignored in the standards-compliant STP. The bridging protocol computes just one loop-free topology by using tag-free BPDU messages, and uses this tree to enable and disable links. You must configure any duplicate links that are provisioned in your networks such that when those links are automatically disabled by STP, the configured VLANs are not disconnected. This means that you should either run all VLANs everywhere on your bridged backbone or carefully examine all redundant links.

TRILL does not need to follow the complex STP rules. Instead, TRILL automatically encapsulates packets that have the VLAN tag intact, and passes them through the network. This means that TRILL binds together isolated VLANs where the same VLAN ID has been reused within a single bridged network.

This is an important difference from STP where you might reuse VLAN tags in isolated sections of the network to manage sets of VLANs that are larger than the 4094 limit. While you cannot use TRILL to manage networks in this way, you might be able to implement other solutions, such as provider-based VLANs.

In an STP network with VLANs, it might be difficult to configure the failover characteristics to prevent VLAN partitioning when STP disables the “wrong” link. The relatively small loss of functionality in isolated VLANs is more than made up for in the robustness of the TRILL model.

VLAN Behavior

The bridge performs forwarding by examining the allowed set of VLANs and the default_tag property for each link. The general process is as follows:

Note - In the case where forwarding sends to multiple interfaces (for broadcast, multicast, and unknown destinations), the output link check and tag update must be done independently for each output link. Some transmissions might be tagged while others are untagged.

Bridge Configuration Examples

The following examples show how to view information about bridge configurations and bridging services.