LIBVDEPLUG_VLAN(1)

💖 LIBVDEPLUG_VLAN — the general commands manual glow-up 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about libvdeplug_vlan, a page from the General Commands Manual and honestly? it's giving network magic. 🧚✨

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✨ NAME ✨

libvdeplug_vlan — the vdeplug nested module for VLANs (802.1Q). yes we're doing VLANs today. slay. 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

libvdeplug_vlan.so

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so. this is a libvdeplug module and what it does is implement VLANs (IEEE 802.1Q). iconic behavior, no cap.

here's the tea tho: with this plugin, VLANs are implemented in a distributed fashion. the tagging (and the untagging) of the packets is NOT done by the switch — it's done by the plugin itself, the one attached to the VM. the VM is the main character here. 👑

this module of libvdeplug4 can be used in any program that supports vde, like vde_plug, vdens, kvm, qemu, user-mode-linux and virtualbox. so many besties. so many vibes. 🫶

the vde_plug_url syntax of this module is literally this:

vlan://[untagged_vlan][[OPTION[/OPTION]...]]{vde nested url}

untagged_vlan is the number of the VLAN that the virtual machine is connected to in untagged mode. the traffic on this VLAN will be seen by the VM as untagged, which is lowkey the whole point. if you omit it, the default value is 0, and 0 is an invalid VLAN number meaning the VM is not connected to any VLAN in untagged mode. so like, it's the "i'm not in a VLAN bestie" number. 💀

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• u, untag — untagged traffic on the network will be seen by the VM as traffic tagged with this tag. the default value is 0, which is an invalid VLAN number meaning untagged traffic will not be tagged. so basically nothing happens to it.

now listen, important lore: if we are sure that the traffic going over the virtual link will only be tagged, then the untag argument is useless. you can just not. but if untagged traffic is expected and untag is 0, then untagged_vlan should be 0 too — otherwise there would be no method to tell untagged traffic apart from traffic tagged for the untagged VLAN, and errors during send or receive may occur. so like, keep them matching or the whole thing gets confused. 😭

• t, tag — a string used to specify the VLANs the VM is connected to in tagged mode. the string is made up of a list of tokens separated by ":" or ".". these tokens can have two forms:
  1. a single vlan tag number, meaning the VM is connected to that VLAN in tagged mode. simple. clean. periodt.
  2. two numbers separated by "-", meaning that the tagged packets sent out by the VM with the first number as VLAN tag are remapped onto the VLAN with the second tag number, and the packets received by the VM on the VLAN with the second number are remapped onto the VLAN with the first number. it's a whole swap situation, mutual, iconic. 🔥
• x, trunk — a boolean argument, to be used only if the connection uses trunking. if you use it, the VM will be able to send and receive packets from VLANs that are not listed in the tag string. surprise VLANs, we love to see it. 👑
• q, qinq, ad — use the ethernet type 0x88A8 for the double tagging protocol 802.1ad (also known as QinQ). double tagging?? double the drama, double the flavor. 💅

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

vlan://3{tap://mytap}

the VM is connected to vlan 3 and receives only traffic from here. exclusive. no other VLANs invited to the party. 🎀

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vlan://3[untag=4/trunk/tag=10:11-12:12-11]{vde:///tmp/myswitch}

the VM is connected to vlan 3 in untagged mode and receives untagged traffic with vlan tag 4. the vlan also receives traffic from VLANs 10, 11 and 12. and VLANs 11 and 12 are switched — look at that 11-12:12-11, that's the remap both ways, chef's kiss. 😚👌

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vdens vlan://4{vlan://5/qinq{vxvde://234.1.2.3}}

this example uses 802.1ad: the VDE client is connected to the VLAN 4 of the QinQ VLAN 5. nested VLANs inside VLANs, it's giving inception but make it ethernet. 🌀✨

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🫶 NOTICE 🫶

just so we're clear bestie, Virtual Distributed Ethernet is not related in any way with www.vde.com ("Verband der Elektrotechnik, Elektronik und Informationstechnik", i.e. the German "Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies"). same letters, different energy. do not confuse them. 🙈

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• vde_plug(1)

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! brought to you by the iconique folks at VirtualSquare, dated July 2020, written for the General Commands Manual. go forth and tag your packets. mwah. 💖🎀🦋