Re: [patch net-next 0/3] net: devlink: Finish network namespace support

[David Ahern <dsahern@gmail.com>]

On 7/31/19 4:02 PM, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Wed, 31 Jul 2019 15:50:26 -0600, David Ahern wrote:
>> On 7/30/19 12:08 AM, Jiri Pirko wrote:
>>> Mon, Jul 29, 2019 at 10:17:25PM CEST, dsahern@gmail.com wrote:  
>>>> On 7/27/19 3:44 AM, Jiri Pirko wrote:  
>>>>> From: Jiri Pirko <jiri@mellanox.com>
>>>>>
>>>>> Devlink from the beginning counts with network namespaces, but the
>>>>> instances has been fixed to init_net. The first patch allows user
>>>>> to move existing devlink instances into namespaces:
>>>>>  
>>>>
>>>> so you intend for an asic, for example, to have multiple devlink
>>>> instances where each instance governs a set of related ports (e.g.,
>>>> ports that share a set of hardware resources) and those instances can be
>>>> managed from distinct network namespaces?  
>>>
>>> No, no multiple devlink instances for asic intended.  
>>
>> So it should be allowed for an asic to have resources split across
>> network namespaces. e.g., something like this:
>>
>>    namespace 1 |  namespace 2  | ... | namespace N
>>                |               |     |
>>   { ports 1 }  |   { ports 2 } | ... | { ports N }
>>                |               |     |
>>    devlink 1   |    devlink 2  | ... |  devlink N
>>   =================================================
>>                    driver
> 
> Can you elaborate further? Ports for most purposes are represented by
> netdevices. Devlink port instances expose global topological view of
> the ports which is primarily relevant if you can see the entire ASIC.
> I think the global configuration and global view of resources is still
> the most relevant need, so in your diagram you must account for some
> "all-seeing" instance, e.g.:
> 
>    namespace 1 |  namespace 2  | ... | namespace N
>                |               |     |
>   { ports 1 }  |   { ports 2 } | ... | { ports N }
>                |               |     |
> subdevlink 1   | subdevlink 2  | ... |  subdevlink N
>          \______      |              _______/
>                  master ASIC devlink
>   =================================================
>                    driver
> 
> No?
> 

sure, there could be a master devlink visible to the user if that makes
sense or the driver can account for it behind the scenes as the sum of
the devlink instances.

The goal is to allow ports within an asic [1] to be divided across
network namespace where each namespace sees a subset of the ports. This
allows creating multiple logical switches from a single physical asic.

[1] within constraints imposed by the driver/hardware - for example to
account for resources shared by a set of ports. e.g., front panel ports
1 - 4 have shared resources and must always be in the same devlink instance.