Re: Linux router

> Try searching for "bridge" instead. Routing is really a layer-3
> concept. STP is a layer-2 protocol, it really does 2 things;

Yes but when you buy a layer 3 switch from cisco or dlink, it does all
the stuff the lower layer switches can do too.

> Is the proposed linux box going to route, bridge or both? What exactly
> is your functional goal; segment the IP network to isolate sections,
> provide redundant wiring paths for the Ethernet, etc?

There will be multiple edge switches that will have multiple vlans on
them. I want the linux router to be the default gateway for all those
vlans and with iptables decide which vlan can reach what. So I need a
vlan trunk from a switch to linux router.

Then, for redundancy, I want multiple trunks. The best way I know of,
and what I'd do with cisco gear, is use a couple cables and use STP to
do failover.

So that would mean I'd have to bridge two linux NICs together and then
I can run STP. Then linux would have eth0 (or whatever the name is at
this point, br0?) and break out the vlans (eth0.1 eth0.2 eth0.3), then
finally I can apply iptables rules to those interfaces.

This seems to be a start for me:
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_setup_a_gentoo_bridge#Bridging_With_VLANs

Though I seem to recall a couple years ago an project to bring all
this together. Can't find it right now.
Received on Tue Jun 3 16:01:03 2008