Request for Comments: Allow specifying speeds on links

[robinchrist]

Hi,

It would be nice to add first-class speed support for links. This could be integrated into default config generation to set interface speeds.

While veth interfaces do report a speed (e.g., 10000Mb/s via ethtool), some network OSes like cEOS don't respect this and default to 1G regardless of the actual veth speed.
Would it be acceptable to only use the speed property for config generation, or should we also attempt to set the actual speed on the veth interface itself?

Main use case: Protocols like OSPF use link speed for cost calculations, so having this built-in would make it easier to create realistic lab topologies.

Let me know what you think.

[hellt]

This feels more like a use case for link variables. You can add arbitrary vars under the link section and then the config template can sense the presence of it and configure the device accordingly

[robinchrist]

Feels weird to place it under variables honestly, specifically when looking into the possible incorporation into default config tempates.

speed is such a fundamental property of a link (like MTU or Mac), that I think there should be first class support for it.