Frame Processing

Frame Processing

The internal/frame/ module provides low-level Ethernet frame processing for TAP device networking. This module is essential for Layer 2 mesh networking, enabling virtual LAN functionality between peers.

Overview

The frame processing system provides:

• Ethernet Frame Parsing - Parse raw Ethernet frames from TAP devices
• Frame Building - Construct Ethernet frames for transmission
• ARP Handling - Process ARP requests/replies for address resolution
• MAC Table Management - Learn and lookup MAC addresses for forwarding decisions

Architecture

Module Components

Component	File	Purpose
EthernetFrame	ethernet.go	Ethernet frame parsing and building
ARPPacket	arp.go	ARP packet handling and ARP interceptor
MACTable	mac_table.go	Thread-safe MAC address learning and lookup

Ethernet Frame Processing

Frame Structure

The Ethernet frame follows the IEEE 802.3 standard:

Implementation details (internal/frame/ethernet.go):

// EthernetHeader represents an Ethernet frame header
type EthernetHeader struct {
    DstMAC    net.HardwareAddr // Destination MAC address (6 bytes)
    SrcMAC    net.HardwareAddr // Source MAC address (6 bytes)
    EtherType EtherType        // EtherType field (2 bytes)
}

// EthernetFrame represents a complete Ethernet frame
type EthernetFrame struct {
    Header  EthernetHeader
    Payload []byte
    Raw     []byte // Original raw frame (for forwarding)
}

Size Constants

Constant	Value	Description
EthernetHeaderSize	14 bytes	Header size without payload
MinEthernetFrame	60 bytes	Minimum frame size (padded if smaller)
MaxEthernetFrame	1522 bytes	Maximum with VLAN tag
MaxPayload	1500 bytes	Standard MTU

Supported EtherTypes

EtherType	Value	Description
EtherTypeIPv4	0x0800	IPv4 packets
EtherTypeARP	0x0806	ARP packets
EtherTypeIPv6	0x86DD	IPv6 packets
EtherTypeVLAN	0x8100	802.1Q VLAN-tagged frames

Parsing Frames

// Parse a raw Ethernet frame from TAP device
frame, err := frame.ParseEthernetFrame(rawBytes)
if err != nil {
    // Handle: ErrFrameTooShort, etc.
}

// Access frame fields
destMAC := frame.Header.DstMAC
srcMAC := frame.Header.SrcMAC
etherType := frame.Header.EtherType
payload := frame.Payload

// Check frame type
if frame.IsIPv4() {
    // Process IPv4 packet
} else if frame.IsARP() {
    // Process ARP packet
}

// Check destination type
if frame.IsBroadcast() {
    // Flood to all peers
} else if frame.IsMulticast() {
    // Send to multicast group
} else {
    // Unicast - lookup MAC table
}

Building Frames

// Build an Ethernet frame
frameBytes, err := frame.BuildEthernetFrame(
    dstMAC,        // Destination MAC
    srcMAC,        // Source MAC
    frame.EtherTypeIPv4,  // EtherType
    ipPayload,     // IP packet payload
)
if err != nil {
    // Handle: ErrInvalidMAC, ErrPayloadTooLarge
}

// Write to TAP device
_, err = tapDevice.Write(frameBytes)

Frame Processing Flow

ARP Processing

ARP Packet Structure

Implementation details (internal/frame/arp.go):

// ARPPacket represents an ARP packet
type ARPPacket struct {
    HardwareType       uint16           // Ethernet = 1
    ProtocolType       uint16           // IPv4 = 0x0800
    HardwareAddrLen    uint8            // 6 for Ethernet
    ProtocolAddrLen    uint8            // 4 for IPv4
    Operation          uint16           // 1 = request, 2 = reply
    SenderHardwareAddr net.HardwareAddr
    SenderProtocolAddr netip.Addr
    TargetHardwareAddr net.HardwareAddr
    TargetProtocolAddr netip.Addr
}

ARP Operations

Operation	Value	Description
ARPRequest	1	Who has IP X? Tell IP Y
ARPReply	2	IP X is at MAC Z

ARP Interceptor

The ARPInterceptor handles ARP traffic for virtual network interfaces:

// Create ARP interceptor for a virtual interface
interceptor := frame.NewARPInterceptor(
    localMAC,   // Our virtual MAC address
    localIP,    // Our virtual IP address
    macTable,   // MAC table for learning
)

// Process incoming frame
response := interceptor.HandleFrame(frameData)
if response != nil {
    // Write ARP reply to TAP device
    tapDevice.Write(response)
}

ARP Request/Reply Flow

Building ARP Packets

// Build ARP request
arpRequest, _ := frame.BuildARPRequest(
    senderMAC,    // Our MAC
    senderIP,     // Our IP
    targetIP,     // IP we're looking for
)

// Build ARP reply
arpReply, _ := frame.BuildARPReply(
    senderMAC,    // Our MAC
    senderIP,     // Our IP
    targetMAC,    // Requester's MAC
    targetIP,     // Requester's IP
)

// Build complete Ethernet frame with ARP packet
ethFrame, _ := frame.BuildARPRequestFrame(senderMAC, senderIP, targetIP)
// Automatically uses broadcast destination for requests

MAC Address Table

Purpose

The MAC table maintains a mapping between:

• MAC addresses seen on the virtual network
• Peer IDs that own those MAC addresses
• Optional virtual IP addresses

This enables the mesh node to forward unicast frames directly to the correct peer.

MAC Entry Structure

type MACEntry struct {
    MAC       net.HardwareAddr // MAC address
    PeerID    string           // Peer that owns this MAC
    VirtualIP netip.Addr       // Associated IP (if known)
    LastSeen  time.Time        // Last traffic timestamp
    LearnedAt time.Time        // When first learned
    Static    bool             // Static entries don't expire
}

MAC Table Operations

Implementation details (internal/frame/mac_table.go):

Operation	Description
Learn(mac, peerID)	Add or update a MAC entry
LearnWithIP(mac, peerID, ip)	Learn with associated IP
LearnStatic(mac, peerID, ip)	Add non-expiring entry
Lookup(mac)	Get peer ID for MAC
LookupEntry(mac)	Get full entry for MAC
LookupByIP(ip)	Find MAC by IP address
GetPeerMACs(peerID)	Get all MACs for a peer
Remove(mac)	Remove specific entry
RemovePeer(peerID)	Remove all entries for peer
Expire()	Remove stale entries

Learning Process

Entry Expiration

Entries automatically expire after the configured MaxAge (default: 5 minutes):

// Configure MAC table
cfg := frame.MACTableConfig{
    MaxAge: 5 * time.Minute,
}
table := frame.NewMACTable(cfg)

// Start background expiry worker
stopCh := make(chan struct{})
table.StartExpiryWorker(time.Minute, stopCh)

// Manual expiration
expired := table.Expire() // Returns count of expired entries

Thread Safety

The MAC table is fully thread-safe:

• Uses sync.RWMutex for concurrent access
• Read operations use RLock() for parallelism
• Write operations use Lock() for exclusivity

Integration with Mesh Node

Frame Processing in MeshNode

The MeshNode (internal/mesh/node.go) integrates the frame module:

// MeshNode uses frame processing for TAP networking
type MeshNode struct {
    // ...
    macTable   *frame.MACTable
    arpHandler *frame.ARPInterceptor
    // ...
}

// Initialization
func (n *MeshNode) initializeDevice() error {
    // Create MAC table
    n.macTable = frame.NewMACTable(frame.MACTableConfig{
        MaxAge: 5 * time.Minute,
    })

    // Create ARP handler for TAP mode
    if n.config.Device.Type == "tap" && n.localMAC != nil {
        n.arpHandler = frame.NewARPInterceptor(
            n.localMAC,
            n.localIP,
            n.macTable,
        )
    }
    // ...
}

TAP Frame Handling

// handleTAPFrame processes frames from TAP device
func (n *MeshNode) handleTAPFrame(frameData []byte) {
    // Parse Ethernet frame
    ethFrame, err := frame.ParseEthernetFrame(frameData)
    if err != nil {
        return
    }

    // Learn source MAC
    n.macTable.Learn(ethFrame.Header.SrcMAC, n.localPeerID)

    // Handle ARP
    if ethFrame.Header.EtherType == frame.EtherTypeARP {
        response := n.arpHandler.HandleFrame(frameData)
        if response != nil {
            n.device.Write(response)
        }
        return
    }

    // Route based on destination
    if frame.IsBroadcast(ethFrame.Header.DstMAC) {
        n.broadcast.Broadcast(frameData, 8)
    } else if frame.IsMulticast(ethFrame.Header.DstMAC) {
        n.broadcast.Multicast(groupID, frameData, 8)
    } else {
        // Unicast - lookup and send
        entry, found := n.macTable.LookupEntry(ethFrame.Header.DstMAC)
        if found {
            n.sendToP2P(entry.PeerID, frameData)
        } else {
            n.broadcast.Broadcast(frameData, 8) // Unknown - flood
        }
    }
}

Complete Frame Flow

Extension Points

Custom Frame Handlers

You can extend the frame processing by implementing custom handlers:

// Custom frame handler interface (conceptual)
type FrameHandler interface {
    HandleFrame(frame *frame.EthernetFrame) (response []byte, handled bool)
}

// Example: Custom protocol handler
type MyProtocolHandler struct {
    etherType frame.EtherType
}

func (h *MyProtocolHandler) HandleFrame(f *frame.EthernetFrame) ([]byte, bool) {
    if f.Header.EtherType != h.etherType {
        return nil, false
    }
    // Process custom protocol
    return response, true
}

Custom MAC Table Filters

Implement custom lookups using the Find method:

// Find all MACs for a specific IP subnet
subnetMACs := macTable.Find(func(e *frame.MACEntry) bool {
    if !e.VirtualIP.IsValid() {
        return false
    }
    prefix := netip.MustParsePrefix("10.100.0.0/24")
    return prefix.Contains(e.VirtualIP)
})

// Find recently active MACs
recentMACs := macTable.Find(func(e *frame.MACEntry) bool {
    return time.Since(e.LastSeen) < time.Minute
})

Adding New EtherTypes

To handle additional protocols:

// Add new EtherType constant
const (
    EtherTypeMyProtocol frame.EtherType = 0x88B5 // Example
)

// Check for custom protocol in handler
if ethFrame.Header.EtherType == EtherTypeMyProtocol {
    handleMyProtocol(ethFrame.Payload)
}

Error Handling

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
ErrFrameTooShort	Frame < 14 bytes	Check TAP device reads
ErrFrameTooLong	Frame > 1522 bytes	Check MTU settings
ErrInvalidMAC	MAC not 6 bytes	Validate input addresses
ErrPayloadTooLarge	Payload > 1500 bytes	Fragment or reduce MTU
ErrARPTooShort	ARP packet < 28 bytes	Check frame parsing
ErrARPInvalidType	Non-Ethernet/IPv4 ARP	Only Ethernet/IPv4 supported

Error Handling Pattern

frame, err := frame.ParseEthernetFrame(data)
if err != nil {
    switch {
    case errors.Is(err, frame.ErrFrameTooShort):
        // Log and skip malformed frame
        slog.Debug("frame too short", "len", len(data))
    case errors.Is(err, frame.ErrFrameTooLong):
        // Possible MTU issue
        slog.Warn("frame too long", "len", len(data))
    default:
        slog.Error("frame parse error", "error", err)
    }
    return
}

Performance Considerations

Memory Efficiency

• Frames use Raw field to preserve original bytes for forwarding
• MAC table uses pre-allocated maps
• Entry expiration prevents unbounded growth

Throughput Optimization

1. Minimize copying: Use frame.Raw for forwarding instead of rebuilding
2. Batch operations: Process multiple frames before flushing
3. Tune MAC table expiry: Balance memory vs. lookup misses

Benchmarks

Typical performance characteristics:

Operation	Approximate Time
Parse Ethernet frame	~50 ns
Build Ethernet frame	~100 ns
MAC table lookup	~20 ns
MAC table learn	~50 ns
ARP packet parse	~80 ns

Debugging

Logging Frame Processing

Enable debug logging to trace frame handling:

slog.Debug("processing frame",
    "src_mac", ethFrame.Header.SrcMAC,
    "dst_mac", ethFrame.Header.DstMAC,
    "ether_type", ethFrame.Header.EtherType,
    "payload_len", len(ethFrame.Payload),
)

MAC Table Inspection

// Get all entries for debugging
entries := macTable.All()
for _, e := range entries {
    slog.Info("mac entry",
        "mac", e.MAC,
        "peer_id", e.PeerID,
        "ip", e.VirtualIP,
        "age", time.Since(e.LearnedAt),
    )
}

Common Issues

Symptom	Possible Cause	Debug Steps
Frames not reaching peers	MAC not learned	Check macTable.Lookup()
ARP not resolving	ARP interceptor not handling	Verify localIP matches
High broadcast traffic	MAC table missing entries	Check expiry settings
Duplicate frames	Loop in forwarding	Verify source MAC learning

API Reference

EthernetFrame Methods

Method	Returns	Description
IsBroadcast()	bool	Check if destination is broadcast
IsMulticast()	bool	Check if destination is multicast
IsUnicast()	bool	Check if destination is unicast
IsIPv4()	bool	Check if payload is IPv4
IsIPv6()	bool	Check if payload is IPv6
IsARP()	bool	Check if payload is ARP
IsIP()	bool	Check if payload is IP (v4 or v6)
Clone()	*EthernetFrame	Deep copy the frame
MarshalBinary()	([]byte, error)	Serialize to bytes
ExtractIPAddresses()	(src, dst IP, error)	Get IP addresses from payload
String()	string	Human-readable representation

MACTable Methods

Method	Returns	Description
Learn(mac, peerID)	void	Learn/update MAC entry
LearnWithIP(mac, peerID, ip)	void	Learn with IP association
LearnStatic(mac, peerID, ip)	void	Add non-expiring entry
Lookup(mac)	(peerID, bool)	Get peer ID for MAC
LookupEntry(mac)	(*MACEntry, bool)	Get full entry
LookupByIP(ip)	(MAC, bool)	Reverse lookup by IP
GetPeerMACs(peerID)	[]MAC	Get all MACs for peer
Remove(mac)	void	Remove specific entry
RemovePeer(peerID)	void	Remove all peer entries
Expire()	int	Remove stale entries
Clear()	void	Remove all entries
Count()	int	Number of entries
All()	[]*MACEntry	All current entries

ARPInterceptor Methods

Method	Returns	Description
HandleFrame(data)	[]byte	Process frame, return response
HandlePacket(data)	([]byte, error)	Process ARP packet only
LocalMAC()	HardwareAddr	Get local MAC address
LocalIP()	netip.Addr	Get local IP address