BRCONFIG(8) BSD System Manager's Manual BRCONFIG(8)
NAME
brconfig -- configure network bridge parameters
SYNOPSIS
brconfig -a
brconfig bridge
brconfig bridge command [args ...]
DESCRIPTION
The brconfig utility is used to configure network bridge parameters and retrieve network bridge parameters and status from the kernel. The
bridging function is implemented by the bridge(4) driver.
A network bridge creates a logical link between two or more IEEE 802 networks that use the same (or ``similar enough'') framing format. For
example, it is possible to bridge Ethernet and 802.11 networks together, but it is not possible to bridge Ethernet and Token Ring together.
Bridge interfaces are created using the ifconfig(8) command's ``create'' sub-command. All other bridge configuration is performed using
brconfig.
The options are as follows:
-a Display the status of all bridge devices present on the system. This flag is mutually exclusive with all other sub-commands.
All other operations require that a bridge be specified. If a bridge is specified with no sub-commands, the status of that bridge is dis-
played. The following sub-commands are available:
up Start forwarding packets on the bridge.
down Stop forwarding packets on the bridge.
add interface
Add the interface named by interface as a member of the bridge. The interface is put into promiscuous mode so that it can receive
every packet sent on the network.
delete interface
Remove the interface named by interface from the bridge. Promiscuous mode is disabled on the interface when it is removed from the
bridge.
maxaddr size
Set the size of the bridge address cache to size. The default is 100 entries.
timeout seconds
Set the timeout of address cache entries to seconds seconds. If seconds is zero, then address cache entries will not be expired.
The default is 1200 seconds.
deladdr address
Delete address from the address cache.
flush Delete all dynamically-learned addresses from the address cache.
flushall
Delete all addresses, including static addresses, from the address cache.
discover interface
Mark an interface as a ``discovering'' interface. When the bridge has no address cache entry (either dynamic or static) for the des-
tination address of a packet, the bridge will forward the packet to all member interfaces marked as ``discovering''. This is the
default for all interfaces added to a bridge.
-discover interface
Clear the ``discovering'' attribute on a member interface. For packets without the ``discovering'' attribute, the only packets for-
warded on the interface are broadcast or multicast packets and packets for which the destination address is known to be on the inter-
face's segment.
ipf Enable packet filtering with pfil(9) on the bridge. The current implementation passes all ARP and RARP packets through the bridge
while filtering IP and IPv6 packets through the configured packet filter, such as ipf(4) or pf(4). Other packet types are blocked.
learn interface
Mark an interface as a ``learning'' interface. When a packet arrives on such an interface, the source address of the packet is
entered into the address cache as being a destination address on the interface's segment. This is the default for all interfaces
added to a bridge.
-learn interface
Clear the ``learning'' attribute on a member interface.
stp interface
Enable Spanning Tree protocol on interface. The bridge(4) driver has support for the IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree protocol (STP).
Spanning Tree is used to detect and remove loops in a network topology.
-stp interface
Disable Spanning Tree protocol on interface. This is the default for all interfaces added to a bridge.
maxage seconds
Set the time that a Spanning Tree protocol configuration is valid. The default is 20 seconds. The minimum is 1 second and the maxi-
mum is 255 seconds.
fwddelay seconds
Set the time that must pass before an interface begins forwarding packets when Spanning Tree is enabled. The default is 15 seconds.
The minimum is 1 second and the maximum is 255 seconds.
hellotime seconds
Set the time between broadcasting of Spanning Tree protocol configuration messages. The default is 2 seconds. The minimum is 1 sec-
ond and the maximum is 255 seconds.
priority value
Set the bridge priority for Spanning Tree. The default is 32768. Allowed numerical values range from 0 (highest priority) to 65535
(lowest priority).
ifpriority interface value
Set the Spanning Tree priority of interface to value. The default is 128. The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 255.
ifpathcost interface value
Set the Spanning Tree path cost of interface to value. The default is 55. The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 65535.
EXAMPLES
The following, when placed in the file /etc/ifconfig.bridge0, will cause a bridge called 'bridge0' to be created, add the interfaces 'ray0'
and 'fxp0' to the bridge, and then enable packet forwarding. Such a configuration could be used to implement a simple 802.11-to-Ethernet
bridge (assuming the 802.11 interface is in ad-hoc mode).
create
!brconfig $int add ray0 add fxp0 up
Consider a system with two 4-port Ethernet boards. The following placed in the file /etc/ifconfig.bridge0 will cause a bridge consisting of
all 8 ports with Spanning Tree enabled to be created:
create
!brconfig $int
add tlp0 stp tlp0
add tlp1 stp tlp1
add tlp2 stp tlp2
add tlp3 stp tlp3
add tlp4 stp tlp4
add tlp5 stp tlp5
add tlp6 stp tlp6
add tlp7 stp tlp7
up
SEE ALSO
bridge(4), pf(4), ifconfig.if(5), ifconfig(8), ipf(8), pfil(9)
HISTORY
The brconfig utility first appeared in NetBSD 1.6.
AUTHORS
The bridge(4) driver and brconfig utility were originally written by Jason L. Wright <jason@thought.net> as part of an undergraduate indepen-
dent study at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
This version of the brconfig utility was written from scratch by
Jason R. Thorpe <thorpej@wasabisystems.com>.
BSD
January 7, 2007 BSD