[linuxkernelnewbies] Linux-Kernel Archive: Re: tcp/ip stack in user space (possible

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:08:09 -0700

http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0204.2/0193.html

Re: tcp/ip stack in user space (possible FAQ addition?)

From: Eric Weigle ([email protected])
Date: Tue Apr 16 2002 - 15:00:45 EST

> i want to move tcp/ip stack(including routing and
> netfilter) to userspace, my goal is to trace all the
> instructions involved in a firewall and router since i
> don't know how to trace these instructions inside the
> kernel. i want to get something like:
>
> incoming ip packets(a file)-->fake ISR-->tcp/ip
> stack-->outgoing ip packets( to /dev/null).
>
> my question is: is it possible and relatively easy to
> move tcp/ip stack to user space?
This comes up fairly frequently, it might be a good addition to the FAQ.
Here's my attempt at an answer culled from prior messages.

Several people have user-mode network stacks at various levels of
development, but it is *highly* unlikely for them ever to get into
the kernel proper (see the monolithic versus microkernel debate at
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/lkml/#s15-4).

Here are some URLs to which you can refer for more information:
        http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/arsenic/
        http://www.cs.nwu.edu/~pdinda/minet/minet.html
        http://www.joerch.org/tcpip/
        http://freshmeat.net/projects/libutcp/

However, for security purposes, you probably do not want a user-mode stack.
You want an extensible packet handling mechanism, and can be found with:
        iptables/ipchains -- the native Linux firewalling tools,
                http://netfilter.samba.org/
        tc -- the Traffic control program,
                http://www.sparre.dk/pub/linux/tc/
        libpcap -- packet capture library,
                http://www.tcpdump.org

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