[rbridge] Consensus Check: Configure ports to disableend stationtraffic

[Caitlin Bestler]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: rbridge-bounces at postel.org [mailto:rbridge-bounces at postel.org]
On
> Behalf Of Joe Touch
> Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 11:32 AM
> To: Anoop Ghanwani
> Cc: Rbridge at postel.org
> Subject: Re: [rbridge] Consensus Check: Configure ports to disableend
> stationtraffic
> 
> I'm concerned about the case where an end station moves and doesn't
> announce itself. There's no requirement in ethernet to do so, and such
> a station would never be discovered if we don't flood broadcast to all
> links.
> 
> I.e., the optimization below is a recipe for ARP failure in such
cases.
> I disagree with it.
> 
> Joe
> 

In the general case, I agree with you. But I believe there are special
cases where such optimization are valid and valuable. For example, a
chassis manager does not need to rely on ARP to detect when the card
in a given slot has been inserted or removed.

In other words, designation of an "edge port" should be based on
something more than a network administrator checking a box that
says "I don't plan on putting any rbridges to the left of this
rbridge". Inherent physical topology is at least one criteria
that I think justifies making such assumptions. There may be
others, but I haven't worked with any of them.