[RFC] Options for ECN target

3 messages, 3 authors, 2002-08-10 · open the first message on its own page

[RFC] Options for ECN target

From: Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org>
Date: 2002-08-06 06:35:41

Hi!

Some time ago I've written an ECN target for the iptables mangle table. 
It has now undergone some final bugfixes and I intend to submit it to
the kernel.

The main goal of this target is to be able to selectively work around 
known ECN blackholes rather than disabling ECN for the whole host using
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn".

There is one question left: How much flexibility do we want to give the user?

The ECN target currently allows:

--ecn-tcp-remove	Remove CWR+ECE bits from TCP header. Should be used
			on TCP syn packets to prevent ECN negotiation

--ecn-ip-ect [0..3] 	Allows arbitrary setting of the ECT codepoint
--ecn-tcp-cwr [0|1]	Allows setting or clearing the TCP CWR bit
--ecn-tcp-ece [0|1]	Allows setting or clearing the TCP ECE bit


The first option is necessarry and is the primary use of the target.
The last three options are more experimental and would allow somebody
to play with 'simulated congestion' by setting the ECT in IP, etc.

However, this is potentially very dangerous and I'm not sure if it was
a good idea to give this power directly to the user.  

Do you suggest removing the last three options and just keep the 
--ecn-tcp-remove ?

Thanks for your assistance,

-- 
Live long and prosper
- Harald Welte / laforge@gnumonks.org               http://www.gnumonks.org/
============================================================================
GCS/E/IT d- s-: a-- C+++ UL++++$ P+++ L++++$ E--- W- N++ o? K- w--- O- M+ 
V-- PS++ PE-- Y++ PGP++ t+ 5-- !X !R tv-- b+++ !DI !D G+ e* h--- r++ y+(*)

Re: [RFC] Options for ECN target

From: <hidden>
Date: 2002-08-06 13:47:56

Hello!
The first option is necessarry and is the primary use of the target.
The last three options are more experimental and would allow somebody
to play with 'simulated congestion' by setting the ECT in IP, etc.
...
However, this is potentially very dangerous
Yes, they are illegal.

I would not say "very dangerous". Surely, much less dangerous
than cp /dev/zero /dev/mem. :-)

So, I think it can be added for debugging purposes, provided hidden
in a section devoted to debugging in manual and not shown in command
line helper.

Alexey

Re: [RFC] Options for ECN target

From: jamal <hidden>
Date: 2002-08-10 14:21:56


The last 3 options are dangerous; although i am pretty sure it is too
late to complain about it since you have released the code at least once.
When ECN nonces comes into effect, it may become a non-issue (but would
still make interesting effect).
suggestion: get rid of them.

cheers,
jamal

On Tue, 6 Aug 2002, Harald Welte wrote:
There is one question left: How much flexibility do we want to give the user?

The ECN target currently allows:

--ecn-tcp-remove	Remove CWR+ECE bits from TCP header. Should be used
			on TCP syn packets to prevent ECN negotiation

--ecn-ip-ect [0..3] 	Allows arbitrary setting of the ECT codepoint
--ecn-tcp-cwr [0|1]	Allows setting or clearing the TCP CWR bit
--ecn-tcp-ece [0|1]	Allows setting or clearing the TCP ECE bit


The first option is necessarry and is the primary use of the target.
The last three options are more experimental and would allow somebody
to play with 'simulated congestion' by setting the ECT in IP, etc.

However, this is potentially very dangerous and I'm not sure if it was
a good idea to give this power directly to the user.

Do you suggest removing the last three options and just keep the
--ecn-tcp-remove ?

Thanks for your assistance,

--
Live long and prosper
- Harald Welte / laforge@gnumonks.org               http://www.gnumonks.org/
============================================================================
GCS/E/IT d- s-: a-- C+++ UL++++$ P+++ L++++$ E--- W- N++ o? K- w--- O- M+
V-- PS++ PE-- Y++ PGP++ t+ 5-- !X !R tv-- b+++ !DI !D G+ e* h--- r++ y+(*)
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