clarify documentation for net.ipv4.igmp_max_memberships

This patch helps clarify documentation for
net.ipv4.igmp_max_memberships by providing a formula for
calculating the maximum number of multicast groups that can be
subscribed to, plus defining the theoretical limit.

Signed-off-by: Jiri Pirko <jpirko@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Jeremy Eder <jeder@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>

diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
index fe95105992c57f1c81248dd8d3c1c38c3272e0f9..ae5522703d16e8b579e3ed3c0b2e03f1d707bea5 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
+++ b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
@@ -707,10 +707,28 @@ igmp_max_memberships - INTEGER
        Change the maximum number of multicast groups we can subscribe to.
        Default: 20
 
-conf/interface/*  changes special settings per interface (where "interface" is
-                 the name of your network interface)
-conf/all/*       is special, changes the settings for all interfaces
+       Theoretical maximum value is bounded by having to send a membership
+       report in a single datagram (i.e. the report can't span multiple
+       datagrams, or risk confusing the switch and leaving groups you don't
+       intend to).
 
+       The number of supported groups 'M' is bounded by the number of group
+       report entries you can fit into a single datagram of 65535 bytes.
+
+       M = 65536-sizeof (ip header)/(sizeof(Group record))
+
+       Group records are variable length, with a minimum of 12 bytes.
+       So net.ipv4.igmp_max_memberships should not be set higher than:
+
+       (65536-24) / 12 = 5459
+
+       The value 5459 assumes no IP header options, so in practice
+       this number may be lower.
+
+       conf/interface/*  changes special settings per interface (where
+       "interface" is the name of your network interface)
+
+       conf/all/*        is special, changes the settings for all interfaces
 
 log_martians - BOOLEAN
        Log packets with impossible addresses to kernel log.