[Xorp-hackers] Interface configuration under xorp.

Pavlin Radoslavov pavlin@icir.org
Fri, 20 May 2005 13:31:28 -0700


> I have been working with both asic based routers from cisco, juniper, extreme
> and so forth as well as with computer/unix based routers for a few years now.
> Up until a few months ago the latter has been limited to the zebra/quagga suite
> of routing daemons.
> They don't leave a very good impression although with a few modifications of my
> own I've learned to live with them.
> Anyway, a few months ago I first found out about xorp and having taken a look at
> it I must say it looks good. I have done some basic testing which looks
> promising.
> What I lack the most is the lack of ways to configure interfaces from within
> xorp.
> I don't think we have a single router not using VLANs and it would be really
> neat to be able to do all configuration from within xorp.
> Is there anyone working on this? I'm no programmer but I would like work on this
> to make xorp even better.

Kristian,

Currently XORP cannot be used to directly configure VLANs. Those
should be configured before starting XORP, and then in your XORP
configuration you can include the VLAN interfaces you want to use.
The "default-system-config" per-interface configuration statement
basically says: "use this network interface and take all
configuration about it from the underlying system".

In the future we would like to add support for configuring
VLANs inside the XORP configuration. However, due to lack of
resources and given the fact that our hands are already full with a
number of items (see http://www.xorp.org/roadmap.html) we cannot
give you good estimate when we can add this feature.

> Also, why do one have to `create` before configuring an interface? Would it not
> be easier to check what interfaces exist at system startup?
> This is something I'm also interested in writing unless it's a deliberate design
> choice not to.

Probably I don't understand your question correctly, but the
"default-system-config" statement mentioned above allows you to
implicitly configure an interface, though you should explicitly
mention the interfaces inside the XORP configuration.

Do you mean that:

 - We should have a single (per system) "default-system-config"
   statement that instructs XORP to take all existing network
   interfaces from the system?
OR
 - Inside xorpsh the system should assist you with information about
   interfaces that already exist in the underlying system before
   starting XORP so it can provide better command-line completion,
   etc.

Thanks,
Pavlin