Types of InterfacesΒΆ
- Regular Interfaces
Typically these are hardware interfaces on the host, or virtualized by the hypervisor in a virtual machine environment. These are made available to TNSR through VPP, as described in Setup Interfaces.
- VLAN Subinterfaces
VLAN interfaces are configured on top of regular interfaces. They send and receive traffic tagged with 802.1q VLAN identifiers, allowing multiple discrete networks to be used when connected to a managed switch performing VLAN trunking or tagging.
- memif
Shared memory packet interfaces (memif) are virtual interfaces which connect between TNSR and other applications on the same host.
- tap
Virtual network TAP interfaces which are available for use by host applications.
- ipip
Generic IP-in-IP interfaces. An tunneling interface which can carry traffic inside a routed IPsec IPsec tunnel (encrypted by IPsec) or on its own unencrypted as either a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint tunnel.
- Loopback
Local loopback interfaces used for a variety of reasons, including management and routing so that the address on the interface is always available, no matter the status of a physical interface.
- GRE
Generic Routing Encapsulation, an unencrypted tunneling interface which can be used to route traffic to remote hosts over a virtual point-to-point interface connection.
- SPAN
Switch Port Analyzer, copies packets from one interface to another for traffic analysis.
- Bond
Bonded interfaces, aggregate links to switches or other devices employing a load balancing or failover protocol such as LACP.
- Bridge
Bridges connect interfaces together bidirectionally, linking the networks on bridge members together into a single bridge domain. The net effect is similar to the members being connected to the same layer 2 or switch.
- VXLAN Interfaces
Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) is a similar concept to VLANs, but it encapsulates Layer 2 traffic in UDP, which can be transported across other IP networks. This enables L2 connectivity between physically separated networks in a scalable fashion.
- Host Interfaces
Host interfaces exist outside TNSR, in the operating system. These are used primarily for host OS management.