On Tue, 12 Oct 1999, Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:
> > IPv4, IPv6, Appletalk, IPX, ISO ...
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > MAC Framing Layer	ethernet_II, 802.3, HDLC ...
> > Network Interface	eth, tok, fddi, sppp ...
> 
> This layer seems superfluous to me.  Where is there a win over simply
> collapsing your "MAC Framing Layer" and "Network Interface" into a
> "link layer protocol"?

So long as we bind IP addresses to a 'frame' (board for you Netware types)
I think this buys us what we want.

> > Hardware Interface	de, fxp, xl ...
> 
> I'm with you here.
> 
> I believe that if_media with some extensions is flexible enough to
> allow all the relevant options to be set, if you've got multiple layers
> to work on.  This appeared to be the case when I was working on 
> multiprotocol sync serial stuff and thinking about EtherChannel.

I'd like to be able to do loadbalanced routing, backup routing, MAC
address takeover etc.

A 'virtualized' interface layer would make such things a bit easier.

-- 
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