batman-adv makes no difference between ethernet or radio interfaces, they are all simply just interfaces that somehow link to other batman-adv nodes (with some -or zero- packet loss) so link alternation would work the same: if packet comes in through radio, and batman-adv can reach the destination through the ethernet port (it doesn't matter if that implies hopping through more batman-adv nodes) it will prefer sending it through this "alternate" path (alternate in the sense it doesn't use the same interface the packet came in)
So how does hop count come into play or does it? Is it just the connection quality that is considered?
A long thread earlier this month was particularly clarifying on the subject. https://lists.open-mesh.org/pipermail/b.a.t.m.a.n/2012-March/006351.html
Thanks, I'll check that out
Yes. in addition you might also be interested in interface bonding, which is not enabled by default but can be activated after understanding a few caveats. it's documented on batctl manpage online.
I read up on bonding, I think that leaving the dynamic interface alternation is more ideal but I think I'll play with it.
If picostations are only connected point-to-point to each other, and there are no other clients sending traffic to them (except the supernodes), then interface alternating won't take advantage of the "faster dual link connection" You must use interface bonding to achieve that.
Interface alternating would be useful, for example, if picostation2 from supernode2 was receiving a radio transmission from a distant supernode3 (not pictured) destined at supernode1. Then, instead of trying to relay the packets through that same picostation2, it would use picostation1 to send them and avoid reusing the same interface.
Cheers!
Guido
I think I understand. Basically, so long as two interfaces both have a path the to destination of acceptable quality, it will send the packets out the interface that did not receive the packets. Hop count doesn't have a direct effect, we don't really care about hop count, only about link quality.
Is that the case?
If hop count doesn't really matter, how do I identify my high quality, high capacity backhauls?