Aurora Compute

At PCextreme B.V. we started using FreeBSD machines as routers for our Aurora Compute cloud platform.

Using the Intel Xeon E5-v3 processor and the SR-IOV technique of Intel’s 10Gbit Network Cards we can achieve high throughput and low latency through these routers. They actually perform better than most other routers!

By deploying multiple, smaller routers we create smaller failure domains in our network.

IPv6 Router Advertisements

On our Aurora Compute platform we support IPv6 and do this using SLAAC.

This is done by Routers sending out Router Advertisements (RAs) which is done by a daemon running on the router. Under Linux this is done by radvd and under FreeBSD by rtadvd.

rtadvd

The configuration syntax of rtadvd is odd in my opinion. I thought it was worth it to write a small blogpost and share the configuration we are using on of the routers.

The configuration below sends out RAs on multiple VLAN interfaces and also sends out the DNS servers in these advertisements. The templates we use on Aurora Compute pick up these nameservers from the RAs and add them to /etc/resolv.conf.

/etc/rtadvd.conf

vlan704:\
    :addrs#1:addr="2001:db8:100::"\
    :prefixlen#64\
    :tc=default\
    :rdnss="2001:db8:53::1,2001:db8::53::2":

vlan705:\
    :addrs#1:addr="2001:db8:101::"\
    :prefixlen#64\
    :tc=default\
    :rdnss="2001:db8:53::1,2001:db8::53::2":

vlan706:\
    :addrs#1:addr="2001:db8:102::"\
    :prefixlen#64\
    :tc=default\
    :rdnss="2001:db8:53::1,2001:db8::53::2":

You also have to enable rtadvd in your /etc/rc.conf:

/etc/rc.conf

# RADVD
rtadvd_enable="YES"
rtadvd_interfaces="vlan704 vlan705 vlan706"

Last Updated on 19-01-2016 by Wido den Hollander