Freebsd 7 Network Bridge - Doesn't seem to be bridging

Okay,

// rc.conf

gateway_enable="YES"
#bridge
cloned_interfaces="bridge0"
ifconfig_bridge0="inet 1.2.3.3 netmask 255.255.255.0 addm em0 addm em1 up"
ifconfig_em0="up"
ifconfig_em1="up"

hostname="wall.a.ca"
sendmail_enable="none"
#pf_enable="YES"
#pf_rules="/etc/pf2.conf"
#pflog_enable="YES"

defaultrouter="1.2.3.1"

// ifconfig -a  (note msk0 is my management interface)

msk0: flags=8843<up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast> metric 0 mtu 1500
       options=11a<txcsum,vlan_mtu,vlan_hwtagging,tso4>
       ether 00:30:1b:46:f3:58
       inet 192.168.1.253 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
       media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex,flag0>)
       status: active
em0: flags=8943<up,broadcast,running,promisc,simplex,multicast> metric 0 mtu 1500
       options=9b<rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,vlan_hwtagging,vlan_hwcsum>
       ether 00:1b:21:40:f5:b6
       media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
       status: active
em1: flags=8943<up,broadcast,running,promisc,simplex,multicast> metric 0 mtu 1500
       options=9b<rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,vlan_hwtagging,vlan_hwcsum>
       ether 00:1b:21:40:f5:b7
       media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseTX <full-duplex>)
       status: active
plip0: flags=108810<pointopoint,simplex,multicast,needsgiant> metric 0 mtu 1500
lo0: flags=8049<up,loopback,running,multicast> metric 0 mtu 16384
       inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5
       inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
       inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
bridge0: flags=8843<up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast> metric 0 mtu 1500
       ether 4a:66:67:48:de:58
       inet 1.2.3.3 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 71.7.182.255
       id 00:00:00:00:00:00 priority 32768 hellotime 2 fwddelay 15
       maxage 20 holdcnt 6 proto rstp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200
       root id 00:00:00:00:00:00 priority 32768 ifcost 0 port 0
       member: em1 flags=143<learning,discover,autoedge,autoptp>
               ifmaxaddr 0 port 3 priority 128 path cost 2000000
       member: em0 flags=143<learning,discover,autoedge,autoptp>
               ifmaxaddr 0 port 2 priority 128 path cost 2000000



// /etc/sysctl.conf is empty (standard header)

// /boot/loader.conf

if_dc_load="YES"






</learning,discover,autoedge,autoptp></learning,discover,autoedge,autoptp></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></up,loopback,running,multicast></pointopoint,simplex,multicast,needsgiant></full-duplex></rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,vlan_hwtagging,vlan_hwcsum></up,broadcast,running,promisc,simplex,multicast></full-duplex></rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,vlan_hwtagging,vlan_hwcsum></up,broadcast,running,promisc,simplex,multicast></full-duplex,flag0></txcsum,vlan_mtu,vlan_hwtagging,tso4></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

And here's a quick dump of the sysctl's from a command prompt..

net.link.bridge.ipfw: 0
net.link.bridge.log_stp: 0
net.link.bridge.pfil_local_phys: 0
net.link.bridge.pfil_member: 1
net.link.bridge.pfil_bridge: 1
net.link.bridge.ipfw_arp: 0
net.link.bridge.pfil_onlyip: 1

Manual says:

place the following lines in loader.conf(5):
         if_bridge_load="YES"
         bridgestp_load="YES"

I've done that - Same symptoms... and I believe those are older commands, not needed for 7.2?

(I was running with those two switches off, as I didn't want to change too many things, and the guides I was following didn't mention them).

It is taken from "man bridge" of 7.2

Okay - but when they are on, or when they are off, it still responds the same way. I've tried either setting, no luck. Any other ideas?

Have a look around: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/network-bridging.html

I'd suspect problems with rxcsum etc options - bridge is at lower level and should not do them.
Can you ping IP assigned to bridge from one and other interface? Connect with SSH? It is not needed for functioning of bridge.

Ah yes, that's one of the guides I used to set it up.

I can ping the bridge interface IP just fine - and I can also ping other IP's on the subnet.. I just can't ping the DSL router on the other physical connection in the bridge.

It's like the bridge is not bridging.. the IP's on em1 are all accessable, but the IP's on em0 are not accessable... yet arp is picking up the MAC of the router on em0 - very strange.

When I ping the router, it just goes nowhere.

I think maybe I should try upgrading the box to 8.0 and see if I have any better luck - at least it's got a different network stack, tho I have less options for help under 8 as it's newer.

It worked back then with 4.x, going into experimenting not good. RC contains kernels with debug enabled, avoid it if you can.

sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=1 ? I think this was necessary for filter that redirects.

Yup, that's set as well - I believe it's set by the gateway_enable="YES" in rc.conf

I'd suspect only network drivers. It kind of works fine always.
ifconfig em0 -txsum -rxsum and the likes.