Subject: Re: [PATCH 6/6] netns: configurable number of initial network namespaces

From: Vivien Chappelier <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:06:00 +0100

Hi,

    Yes; the linux-vrf patches had a new netlink message to 
create/remove the equivalent of a network namespace (ip vrf add 1). I've 
not ported this feature yet, so this patch is meant to provide another 
way of setting up networking stacks without the need for a new process 
for each stack. The ability to dynamically create/remove networking 
stacks from userspace would definitely be useful.
    There are also some very minor advantages in creating the namespaces 
statically at boot time, such as increasing the chances that the 
allocation works (though network namespaces are quite small), and 
improving boot time by avoiding a few calls to /sbin/ip on startup. 
Since we are running on embedded devices, that is something that matter 
to us, but it may not be enough to justify the need for this feature. 
Anyway, I do not think it hurts to have the ability to create static 
networking stacks at boot time.

regards,
Vivien.

Patrick McHardy wrote:
> Vivien Chappelier wrote:
>> This allows the creation of more than one network namespace at boot 
>> time.
>
> I'm wondering, what is the advantage over creating them manually?
> They have to be configured by userspace to be useful anyway, don't
> they?
>
>