netmap

[grarpamp]

Hi. I read most of the netmap paper. In short, cool work :)

I have one question... is this meant only for use with dedicated
tap interfaces? Or will it be integrated with the mangement interface?

Example...

Today:
fxp0 - onboard NIC, 192.168.0.10, ssh, httpd, smtp, tcpdump, etc.
ixgbe0 - PCIe addon NIC, tap interface, netmap

Tomorrow:
ixgbe0 - all the above functions in one NIC

It would seem to me that an 'emulate an interface' shim/driver
could be written that would hook into netmap below and provide
all the normal interface semantics above.
netmap interface <--> emulation driver <--> 'net0' interface

So example...

/etc/rc.conf:netmap_emulate1='ixgbe0 net0'
/etc/rc.conf:netmap_emulate2='em0 net1'
/etc/rc.conf:netmap_emulate3='fxp1 net2'
/etc/rc.conf:ifconfig_net0='inet 10.0.0.3/24'
ifconfig net0 192.168.0.10/24 -alias
ifconfig net0 ::1
tcpdump, httpd, sshd, ...
ipfw, pf, netgraph, vlan, bridge, carp, ...
and all the other various capabilities of a physical NIC, etc...

Also, though perhaps not needed for line rate capture, but for
making a standard interface to them... will various 10/100/1000
NICS such as fxp, em, de, bfe, etc... end up being netmap capable?