Re: [patch 2.6.11] bonding: avoid tx balance for IGMP (alb/tlb mode)

Rick Jones [off-list ref] wrote:

<blank> treats IGMP packets the same as all other non-broadcast traffic (i.e. it
will attempt to load balance). This switch behavior seems rather odd in an
aggregated case, given the fact that most traffic (except broadcast packets)
will be load balanced by the partner device. In addition, the switch (in
theory) is suppose to treat the aggregated switch ports as 1 logical port
and therefore it should allow IGMP packets to be received back on any port
in the logical aggregation.

IMO, the switch behavior in this case seems questionable.

	This patch only applies to the bonding balance-alb/tlb modes,
which do not require the switch to be configured for aggregation.  Since
the switch has no explicit knowledge that the links are being
aggregated, it seems reasonable for it to be confused by what it gets in
the described case.

	I haven't tested the patch, but conceptually the problem John
described in his original mail sounds plausible, as does the fix for it.

	-J

---
	-Jay Vosburgh, IBM Linux Technology Center, fubar@us.ibm.com

I didn't look to see if there's a case in that switch for IPv6, but MLD 
will have
the same issue with switches, and probably needs a similar exception.

                                        +-DLS