oxidecomputer / oxidecomputer/omicron

Want API endpoints for full switch router information base (RIB)

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api networking
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
572
Forks
97
Avg merge
2d 12h
Merged PRs (30d)
96

Description

Right now, we have the ability to list static routes per port and show imported BGP prefixes per switch through the Omicron API. But for complex networking setups, this does not tell the whole story. Routes have a set of attributes that all come together under the best path algorithm to determine what path or paths are considered optimal in the presence of multiple path choices. Only paths that are in the optimal set get installed into the forwarding plane.

The mgd API provides a way to get at the information that the best path algorithm is using for selection as shown through the CLI invocation below.

root@oxz_switch:~# mgadm bgp status selected
BGP Routes
=============
Prefix        Nexthop       Local Pref  Origin AS  Peer ID        MED   AS Path         Stale
0.0.0.0/0     169.254.10.1  None        64500      192.168.1.168  None  [64500, 64510]  None
2.0.1.0/24    169.254.50.1  Some(20)    64501      192.168.1.176  None  [64501, 64570]  None
[...]

There is also a mgadm bgp status imported command that allows operators to see the delta between imported and selected routes. (Note that bgp here is a bit of a misnomer as this started out as just a BGP CLI command, but now includes static routing, so this should be more like mgadm rib status selected and mgadm rib status imported.)

All this information should be available to the operator through the Omicron API.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading rdb/src/bestpath.rs and the existing Omicron API endpoints for static routes and imported BGP prefixes. Compare the mgadm bgp status selected and imported outputs, including the route attributes used by the best path algorithm. Done means operators can access equivalent full RIB information through the Omicron API, with selected and imported route views.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
api, backend-api-design, networking
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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