Address Family Domain and Network Interface Device Driver Kernel Services
The Address Family Domain and Network Interface Device Driver services enable address family domains (Protocols) and network interface drivers to add and remove themselves from network switch tables.
The if_attach service and if_detach services add and remove network interfaces from the Network Interface List. Protocols search this list to determine an appropriate interface on which to transmit a packet.
Protocols use the add_input_type and del_input_type services to notify network interface drivers that the protocol is available to handle packets of a certain type. The Network Interface Driver uses the find_input_type service to distribute packets to a protocol.
The add_netisr and del_netisr services add and delete network software interrupt handlers. Address families add and delete themselves from the Address Family Domain switch table by using the add_domain_af and del_domain_af services. The Address Family Domain switch table is a list of all available protocols that can be used in the socket subroutine.
The Address Family Domain and Network Interface Device Driver services are:
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| add_domain_af | Adds an address family to the Address Family domain switch table. |
| add_input_type | Adds a new input type to the Network Input table. |
| add_netisr | Adds a network software interrupt service to the Network Interrupt table. |
| del_domain_af | Deletes an address family from the Address Family domain switch table. |
| del_input_type | Deletes an input type from the Network Input table. |
| del_netisr | Deletes a network software interrupt service routine from the Network Interrupt table. |
| find_input_type | Finds the given packet type in the Network Input Interface switch table and distributes the input packet according to the table entry for that type. |
| if_attach | Adds a network interface to the network interface list. |
| if_detach | Deletes a network interface from the network interface list. |
| ifunit | Returns a pointer to the ifnet structure of the requested interface. |
| schednetisr | Schedules or invokes a network software interrupt service routine. |