[j-nsp] Setting forwarding-class in firewall filter, non-match behaviour

[Dale Shaw]

Hi all,

Re: setting the forwarding-class of a packet through a firewall filter.

Many (almost all) of the examples I've looked at do not include a
catch-all term to handle packets not matched by any explicitly-defined
terms. At the risk of exposing myself as a J-noob...

Is it safe to assume that, if the desired result is that packets NOT
matched by explicitly-defined terms are permitted, a catch-all term
must be configured with an 'accept' (or some other non-terminating)
action?

Using this input filter example:
(stolen from http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/en_US/junos10.2/topics/usage-guidelines/policy-configuring-actions-in-firewall-filter-terms.html)

firewall {
 filter filter1 {
  term 1 {
   from {
    dscp 2;
   }
   then {
    dscp 0;
    forwarding-class best-effort;
   }
  }
  term 2 {
   from {
    dscp 3;
   }
   then {
    forwarding-class best-effort;
   }
  }
 }
}

I read this as:

- if the packet is marked DSCP 2, set DSCP to 0 and place in
'best-effort' forwarding class and accept the packet.
- if the packet is marked DSCP 3, place in 'best-effort' forwarding
class and accept the packet.
- discard all other packets

Am I missing something?

I think what I really want, to avoid dropping traffic, is something like:

firewall {
 filter FILTER1 {
  term TERM1 {
   from {
    dscp ef;
   }
   then forwarding-class expedited-forwarding;
  }
  term DEFAULT {
   then forwarding-class best-effort;
   accept;
  }
 }
}

...then rewrite DSCP bits on egress based on the forwarding-class, or
do it all within the firewall filter (depending on platform).

(I know I don't strictly need the 'accept;' command in the DEFAULT
term, but for the sake of clarity, I think it's a good option)

Cheers,
Dale