agr modes

[Pierre-Philipp Braun <pbraun%nethence.com@localhost>]

Hi there,

I would like some insights and explanations on the aggregate 
capabilities of the agr(4) device.  As I understand it, -link0 (dash) 
mode does LACP and should be compatible with manageable network 
switches.  Does the link0 (no dash, load-balance with some warning about 
frame ordering in the manual) works with LACP too?  Is this mode also 
supposed to work with network hardware vendors?  In what cases should 
one use the one or the other?  Any of those is not supposed to work with 
non manageable switches, right?

I tested the default -link0 (dash) mode between two netbsd nodes, and it 
didn't really work out of the box, I had to manually recreate the 
interface on one of the nodes to establish the link and ping, even 
though the '0x3<COLLECTING,DISTRIBUTING>' came right up.  Also once the 
link seemed to be alright, when I physically disconnected *one* of the 
wires, I lost the connection.  So I wasn't very successful with this, 
could be my mistake though, I should try again.  I didn't try to 
validate the link0 (w/o the dash) the same way, but it seemed to me that 
I also had to reinitialize the agr0 interface on one of the two nodes to 
make it work.

On the other hand, as for the link1 mode, I am happily using it on my 
home network on two netbsd hosts, both connected to a non manageable 
switches, and everybody -- even the nodes with no aggregates -- pings.

Thanks!