Jouni Malinen wrote:
> This may be the case with designs that do not provide anything else
> than a simple interface for delivering and receiving frames. However,
> the benefits--and I would be prepared to say even requirements--of
> having a master device are extensive enough to use it with many wlan
> designs. If a generic design is desired for both types, even fullmac
> devices would need to keep the master netdev even if it is not really
> needed. Other option would be to make it optional to add the master
> netdev and have something else presenting the wlan device.
The point of the master not being netdev is to separate the two
functions it serves - configuration and master interface, as combining
them makes sense only for softmac devices.
The single queue that all the packets have to pass and can be sheduled
is the raw/rfmon device.
phy0 # not netdev, represents rather the radio
*->ap0 # no qdisc
*->sta0 # -//-
*->raw0 # qdisc
> In addition, even fullmac devices may have uses for master netdev. For
> example, in AP mode with dynamic VLAN configuration (RADIUS
> authentication server selecting which VLAN to use), there may be
> benefits of being able to use multiple virtual interfaces (netdevs) that
> would logically be collected into master netdev for scheduling and
> transmission.
If I understand what you mean, it could look like this:
phy0
*->ap0 # qdisc
*->vlan0
*->vlan1
There can be temptation to replace the phy0 by the ap0 (and by the raw0
in the former) so the master would still be netdev, but that would
require the ap0 to be able to switch modes.
The design that is rather agreed on proposes a master device that is
not netdev, is used for configuration of the shared resources (radio)
and for virtual devices creation, where the virtual devices cannot
switch mode.
Feyd
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe netdev" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
