Re: [libvirt] [PATCH 0/9] network: properly support openvswitch in <network>

On Sat, Aug 4, 2012 at 10:16 PM, Laine Stump <laine(a)laine.org <mailto:laine@laine.org>> wrote: Although it's been possible (ever since openvswitch was added to libvirt in 0.9.11) for a libvirt network to use an openvswitch bridge (by adding <virtualport type='openvswitch'>), the virtualport in the network would always have a default random interfaceid included, which would be re-used for all interfaces using that network, which doesn't really work at all. The alternative was to not specify openvswitch in the <network> definition, but to do it in the guest's <interface> definition instead - this of course goes against the principle of not having host-specific config embedded in guest config. This patch series enhances the functionality of <virtualport> elements, to allow omitting some attributes (and even the type), and to merge the interface, network, and portgroup virtualports rather than simply picking one. This not only makes openvswitch <network>s more practical (because the network can specify type='openvswitch' without also specifying an interfaceid), but also makes <virtualport> in networks and portgroups more useful in general - for example, an interface can specify an interfaceid (used only by openvswitch) *and* an instanceid (used only by 802.1Qbh), while the network's virtualport specifies only the type, and the portgroups specify the managerid, typeid, profileid, or whatever is appropriate for the type of switch used by the network. The result is that the guest config can be completely devoid of knowledge about the type of switch being used on the hardware, but can still enjoy full configurability for whatever switch ends up being used. If I understand correctly, then these patch series should enable following configuration to work: The domain XML: ... <interface type='network'> <mac address='52:54:00:25:0c:bb'/> <source network='ovsnet'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/> </interface> ... The network XML: <network> <name>ovsnet</name> <uuid>ad68ae68-ee26-5c65-8cff-e6c182ff3593</uuid> <bridge name='ovs'/> <forward mode='bridge'/> <mac address='52:54:00:44:A4:D8'/> <virtualport type='openvswitch'/> </network> And then I would expect that libvirt would auto generate the interface IDs for each interface that gets added to this ovsnet network,

but instead I am seeing the following error: 2012-08-08 19:22:16.149+0000: 10840: error : virNetDevVPortProfileCheckComplete:165 : XML error: missing interfaceid in <virtualport type='openvswitch'>

I guess, it would be desirable to auto-generate interface IDs, if the network was of type openvswitch? Otherwise domain XML still needs to know what kind of type is the underlying bridge in the network XML.

Though, how would this work in Actual Config, once the network type gets switched back from OVS to Linux Bridge? Would the interface ID be automatically removed from all relevant Domain XMLs?