Re: [developer] [REVIEW] 16763: dladm simnet functionality should be documented

["Joshua M. Clulow" <josh@sysmgr.org>]

On Thu, 12 Sept 2024 at 01:33, Olaf Bohlen <olbohlen@eenfach.de> wrote:
> "H. William Welliver" <william@welliver.org> writes:
> > I did add a brief description of what simnets are in the “Description”
> > section, as that is where other types of objects (vnics, etherstubs,
> > etc) are introduced. I’ll also willingly admit that I don’t normally
> > read that section and jump right to the command details but I was
> > trying to remain consistent with the existing document.
>
> Yes, I meant something like "the dladm create-simnet creates an
> instance of a simulated network device mostly used for debugging
> purposes" or similar...so an indirect formulation - because a lot
> of people just skip the descriptions ;)

I think "debugging purposes" is a bit too editorial, to be honest.
You can use them for really any purpose, including tinkering and
simulating different network topologies between zones or VMs.  At
Oxide, we have a framework called Falcon for driving networking and
virtualisation test topologies that makes pretty heavy use of simnets
for certain things:

    https://github.com/oxidecomputer/falcon


Cheers.

-- 
Joshua M. Clulow
http://blog.sysmgr.org