[Xen-devel] [PATCH v5 4/4] docs: Introduce xenstore paths for guest network address information

[Paul Durrant <paul.durrant@xxxxxxxxxx>]

It is useful for a toolstack to be able to see the network addresses
in use by a domain for a particular vif in xenstore for display
purposes and, for example, so that a VNC session can be established
to the guest GUI.

This patch documents paths to allow a domain to advertise an interface
name, MAC (unicast and multicast) and IP (version 4 and 6) address
information.

Signed-off-by: Paul Durrant <paul.durrant@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ian Campbell <ian.campbell@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ian Jackson <ian.jackson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Jan Beulich <jbeulich@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: Keir Fraser <keir@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Tim Deegan <tim@xxxxxxx>
---

v5:
 - Add references for MAC and IP address formats
 - Further clarification of attr paths

v4:
 - Add clarification of use and level of trust that should be placed
   on the various paths

v2:
 - Allow for compression of IPv6 addresses
---
 docs/misc/xenstore-paths.markdown | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/misc/xenstore-paths.markdown 
b/docs/misc/xenstore-paths.markdown
index 624b7fd..197bb0f 100644
--- a/docs/misc/xenstore-paths.markdown
+++ b/docs/misc/xenstore-paths.markdown
@@ -76,6 +76,15 @@ VALUES are strings and can take the following forms:
                                 should be inferred. It is intended for
                                 display purposes only.
 
+* MAC_ADDRESS -- 6 integers, in hexadecimal form, separated by ':',
+                 specifying an IEEE 802.3 ethernet MAC address.
+* IPV4_ADDRESS -- 4 integers, in decimal form, separated by '.',
+                  specifying an IP version 4 address as described
+                  IETF RFC 791.
+* IPV6_ADDRESS -- Up to 8 integers, in hexadecimal form, separated
+                  by ':', specifying an IP version 6 address as
+                  described in IETF RFC 4291.
+
 Additional TAGS may follow as a comma separated set of the following
 tags enclosed in square brackets.
 
@@ -421,6 +430,33 @@ definitely unable to respond immediately and hence the 
toolstack should
 defer instantiaton to the next VM start. However, if the path is absent
 then the toolstack may attempt the operation.
 
+#### ~/attr/vif/$DEVID/name = STRING [w]
+
+A domain may write its internal 'friendly' name for a network device
+using this path using UTF-8 encoding. A toolstack or UI may use this
+for display purposes. No particular meaning should be inferred from the
+name.
+
+#### ~/attr/vif/$DEVID/mac/$INDEX = MAC_ADDRESS [w]
+
+Paths of this form may be written by the guest to indicate MAC addresses
+it is currently using. These may be multicast or unicast addresses. For
+any of the paths the value of $INDEX is arbitrary.
+The values written are primarily for display purposes and must not be used
+for packet filtering or routing purposes.
+
+#### ~/attr/vif/$DEVID/ipv4/$INDEX = IPV4_ADDRESS [w]
+#### ~/attr/vif/$DEVID/ipv6/$INDEX = IPV6_ADDRESS [w]
+
+Paths of this form may be written by the guest to indicate IP addresses
+in use by the stack bound to the network frontend. For any of the paths
+the value of $INDEX is arbitrary.
+The values written are primarily for display purposes and must not be used
+for packet filtering or routing purposes. A toolstack may attempt to use an
+address written in one of these paths to, for example, establish a VNC
+session to the guest (although clearly some level of trust is placed
+in the value supplied by the guest in this case).
+
 ### Paths private to the toolstack
 
 #### ~/device-model/$DOMID/state [w]
-- 
2.1.4


_______________________________________________
Xen-devel mailing list
Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xen.org/xen-devel