[vbox-dev] [PATCH] UDPTunnel : new network interface backend to allow using this to link to GNS3 and QEMU instances over the network

[Christophe Devriese]

The current patch does exactly that. By default everything's turned off, and
you have to enable it using ./configure --enable-udptunnel. Without this
option, everything's disabled, with only a single minor exception : the
calls in the API are still there (but they don't work, they immediately
return an error). But there is *no* change in any of the standard
applications as a result of this patch. Nothing at all.

--
Christophe

On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 4:59 PM, Perry Halbert <phalbert at cox.net> wrote:

>  What about the regular end user that runs a pre-compiled version.
>
> They will not be able to turn this off and on unless you provide something
> in VBoxManage, and if so should be disabled by default.
>
> Perry
>
>
>
> On 05/11/2011 09:46 AM, Christophe Devriese wrote:
>
> Well this is unfortunately not possible. Extension packs cannot make use of
> the API, they cannot provide support in the UI, nor in the VBoxManage tool.
> So if one wants a somewhat usable solution, it can't be done with an
> extension pack.
>
>  With this patch you *do* have the choice of having this or not. In fact,
> you have to use the --enable-udptunnel configure parameter. So this is on
> par with VDE on that point also.
>
>  --
> Christophe
>
> On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 4:41 PM, Perry Halbert <phalbert at cox.net> wrote:
>
>>  Question,
>>
>> Why not put this in an Extension Pack as an addon instead of changing the
>> base code for everyone?
>>
>> Myself I like the idea of being able to either have this or not. Seems to
>> me that is one reason that the Ext. Pack was implemented.  What about the
>> security of the added UDP protocol such as three-way handshake that is
>> missing in UDP used for the validity of the claimed source address.  I know
>> that all of this seems small but to rush to change the base without
>> considering the underlaying issues seems wrong.
>>
>> If the decision is to include this in the base then there should also be a
>> way to disable it built in as well.
>>
>> Perry
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 05/11/2011 03:02 AM, Nikolay Igotti wrote:
>>
>>       Hello,
>>
>>  Idea of patch is nice, but what I don't understand is how do you
>> implement reliable ethernet
>> (as carrier collision and packet retransmit in real hardware is performed
>> by the NIC) transport over
>> potentially unreliable UDP (no guarantees on delivery or frames ordering).
>> Cursory look shown no
>> code for retransmit or attempts to handle ordering issue in patch.
>>
>> At least some explanations how do you expect that to work, and tests how
>> this whole feature behaves
>> in heavily contended networks would be nice.
>>
>>    Nikolay.
>>
>> On 5/11/11 3:11 AM, Alexey Eromenko wrote:
>>
>> A letter to community:
>>
>> UDP Tunnel networking
>> ---------------------
>>
>> UDP tunnel is a great mechanism to interconnect virtual machines
>> running on different hosts. It is intended for advanced users.
>>
>> Technically this is done by encapsulating guest's ethernet frames into
>> host's UDP/IP packets, and sending them to the destination. This
>> tunnel is a sort of VPN, except that UDP tunnel is not encrypted.
>>
>> ----------------------------
>>
>> This feature will enable GNS3 network simulator to work perfectly
>> together with VirtualBox.
>> GNS3 allows to build clouds and distributed network topologies in very
>> nice graphical way, where you can actually *draw* network topology,
>> and interconnect VMs together, even if they run on different physical
>> hosts. GNS3 is very user friendly.
>>
>> So you all are encouraged to test UDP tunnels, and report your findings.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>
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