Ubuntu Manpage: vnetbuild.conf - VNetBuild configuration file

Provided by: firehol-tools-doc_3.1.7+ds-5_all

NAME

       vnetbuild.conf - VNetBuild configuration file

SYNOPSIS

              host *ID*
                  dev *DEVICE* [ *ID*/*PAIRDEV* ] [ *IP*/*MASK*... ]
                  ...
                  bridgedev *BRIDGE* [ *DEVICE*... ] [ *IP*/*MASK*... ]
                  ...
                  route *ROUTECMD*
                  ...
                  pre_up *DEVICE* *CUSTOMCMD*
                  ...
                  exec *CUSTOMCMD*
                  ...

              ...

              switch *ID*
                  dev *DEVICE* [ *ID*/*PAIRDEV* ]
                  ...
                  pre_up *DEVICE* *CUSTOMCMD*
                  ...
                  exec *CUSTOMCMD*
                  ...

              ...

DESCRIPTION

       There  is  no default configuration file for vnetbuild(1); one must always be specified on
       the command line.

       The configuration file defines a set of namespaces that will be operated on.

       VNetBuild defines two types of namespace, a host and a switch.  Any number of each may  be
       specified, with any number of configuration statements in each.

       Note   The Linux kernel does not see any difference between a host and a switch namespace.
              VNetBuild provides the distinction to make it easy build full virtual networks.

NAMESPACE DEFINITIONS

       Namespace definitions come in two types, host and switch.  Simply provide a simple  unique
       alphanumeric ID.  Any subsequent statements apply to this namespace until the next host or
       switch statement.

       A host definition is designed to work like a physical machine.  It allows you  to  specify
       any  number  of dev entries for network interfaces, with their IP addresses.  You can also
       define any number of Linux bridges with bridgedev to add your defined interfaces to.

       A host also allows any number of custom exec commands for  extensibility  and  provides  a
       route statement to deal with the common case of wanting to add network routes to the host.

       A  switch definition is designed to work like a physical network switch.  It allows you to
       add any number of dev entries (and  also  custom  exec  commands  for  extensibility)  but
       nothing else.

       In addition, dev entries in a switch may only specify device names, they cannot have an IP
       address associated.  A switch has a bridge automatically created in it and all dev entries
       are automatically added to it.

CONFIGURATION STATEMENTS

dev DEVICE ...
Define a virtual ethernet device, DEVICE in a host or switch.

Devices must exist in pairs. A dev must first be defined unpaired in a namespace,
then some subsequent dev must define the pair:

host a
dev veth0
host b
dev vppp0 a/veth0

Any DEVICE name which is acceptable to the Linux kernel may be used. We recommend
sticking to e.g. veth0, vppp0 etc. to make it clear that they are virtual and also
how you are thinking of the device in terms of your setup. Devices will be created
as type veth, irrespective of what you call them.

Hosts may optionally specify one or more IP/MASK values which will be applied
(along with the calculated broadcast address) automatically, e.g.:

host a
dev veth0 10.0.0.1/8 192.168.1.2/24
host b
dev vppp0 a/veth0 10.0.0.2/8 192.168.1.3/24

A dev may not specify an IP address if it is in a switch. Switches exist just to
tie together multiple devices in hosts, just like a physical network switch.

bridgedev BRIDGE ...
Define an ethernet bridge, BRIDGE in a host. These are setup automatically using
ip(8) and shown with bridge(8).

A bridge can specify network devices from its own namespace to be automatically
added, as well as its own IP address(es).

host a
dev veth0
dev veth1 otherns/vdev0
bridgedev vbr0 veth0 veth1 10.0.0.3/8

Devices included in a bridge generally do not need their own IP address (although
that is permitted).

Bridges cannot have a pair themselves, but any devices added to a bridge need a
pair as usual.

route ROUTECMD
Specify an additional network route for a host.

Most commonly to add a default route from hosts on a “LAN” to the machine that acts
as a gateway, e.g.:

route default via 10.0.0.254

The syntax of ROUTECMD is anything that can fit this pattern:

ip route add ROUTECMD

See ip(8) and ip-route(8) for help adding routes. If you want to do anything more
complex than simply adding routes, use the exec configuration statement.

pre_up DEVICE CUSTOMCMD
Execute custom commands in a host or switch just before bringing up the specified
device. All of the pre_up statements for a device are combined and executed in the
namespace.

In addition to any explicitly defined interfaces, switches have an implicit bridge
device called switch which can also be used in pre_up commands.

Bridges always start after other devices, so to run a command after all everything
has been created but before any interfaces are up, you can make use of pre_up on
the first defined dev.

See below for some common uses for custom pre_up and exec commands.

exec CUSTOMCMD
Execute a custom command in a host or switch once the rest of the namespace setup
is complete.

Once all the namespaces are created, the final step in setting each one up is to
have its exec statements combined and executed.

It is roughly the equivalent to writing your own script and executing it after
vnetbuild start has finished:

sudo ip netns exec myns ./myscript.sh

See below for some common uses for custom pre_up and exec commands.

COMMON CUSTOM COMMANDS

       For  the  most  part  it  doesn’t matter whether these commands are used in pre_up or exec
       operations - the only difference is when they will execute, so e.g. if you want a firewall
       in  place before any interfaces come up then start it from the pre_up of the first device.
       If you only want the firewall after all devices are up, put it in exec, e.g.:

              host myfirewall
                  ...
                  exec firehol myfirewall.conf start

       Forwarding is not enabled by the Linux kernel when a namespace is first created.  This can
       be easily done for any hosts that need to forward traffic:

              host mygateway
                  ...
                  exec echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

       The exec operates in the mygateway namespace so your host is not affected.

       Bridges  are  created  without  STP  being enabled.  To enable STP to ensure loops are not
       created, the following can be done:

              host myhost
                  bridgedev vbr0 ...
                  ...
                  pre_up vbr0 echo 2 > /sys/class/net/vbr0/bridge/stp_state

              switch myswitch
                  ...
                  pre_up switch echo 2 > /sys/class/net/vbr0/bridge/stp_state

       You could also use brctl stp vbr0 on and brctl stp switch on instead of setting the values
       directly.  To disable multicast snooping you can use exactly the same method e.g.:

              switch myswitch
                  ...
                  pre_up switch echo 0 > /sys/class/net/switch/bridge/multicast_snooping

       It is possible to run firehol within a namespace to set up custom

       Logs  from  network  namespaces  are  not  included  in the normal system logs.  To enable
       iptables logging you must start an instance of ulogd(8) in the namespace and use  ULOG  or
       NFLOG    logging.     For    FireHOL,    that    means    set   FIREHOL_LOG_MODE=ULOG   or
       FIREHOL_LOG_MODE=NFLOG.  Note that NFLOG only works with ulogd version 2.

       The default configuration for ulogd(8) is /etc/ulogd.conf.  Assuming the default place  it
       will  write  iptables  logs  to  is  /var/log/ulog/syslogemu.log (otherwise change the sed
       command as required), it is simple to set up per-namespace logging:

              host mygateway
                ...
                exec sed 's:/var/log/ulog/syslogemu.log:/var/log/ulog/mygateway.log:' /etc/ulogd.conf > $NSTMP/ulogd.conf
                exec /usr/sbin/ulogd -d -c $NSTMP/ulogd.conf

       The -d flag to ulogd(8) makes it become a daemon; when vnetbuild  stop  executes  it  will
       automatically  kill  any programs running in the namespaces is is stopping, which includes
       the logging daemon.

       The configuration file will get cleaned as soon as vnetbuild start  is  finished.   To  be
       able  to access such files you need to write them to a location not under $NSTMP or create
       them outside the vnetbuild configuration altogether.

EXAMPLE

       A simple LAN arrangement with two hosts, one of which is a gateway to third host:

              host host01
                dev veth0 10.0.0.1/8
                dev vppp0 192.168.0.1/24
                exec echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
                route default via 192.168.0.1

              host host02
                dev veth0 10.0.0.2/8
                route default via 10.0.0.1

              switch lan
                dev d01 host01/veth0
                dev d02 host02/veth0

              host extern01
                dev veth0 host01/vppp0 192.168.0.254/24
                route default via 192.168.0.1
                exec echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

LIMITATIONS

       When created, the namespaces setup by vnetbuild are completely disconnected from any  real
       network.   There is no way of defining such a connection in the vnetbuild configuration as
       allowing it would lead to conflicts with the normal network setup tools and  configuration
       files in most distributions.

       It  is  possible  to arrange your network so you can connect real devices into one or more
       network      namespaces.       For      the      general      approach      see       this
       http://lists.firehol.org/pipermail/firehol-support/2015-April/003043.html   mailing   list
       post ⟨⟩.

AUTHORS

       FireHOL Team.