autotest: allow wsl2 networking bridge to be ignored

[andyp1per]

On Windows 11 there is a new networking option - mirrored - that allows direct access to the NIC which requires that we don't try and connect to the bridge when running simulations
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#main-wsl-settings

[timtuxworth]

Great find - thanks @andyp1per !

[Hwurzburg]

Under what situations would you use this option?

[andyp1per]

Under what situations would you use this option?

It makes the networking behave like WSL1, so much easier from a user perspective. It also considerably improves network performance so recommended by microsoft.

[Hwurzburg]

that is what it does, not when to use it....always when you SITL under a WSL2 environment? if so, we change these startup command here: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/sitl-on-windows-wsl.html for all SITL startups
otherwise, needs details on when to use it

[andyp1per]

@Hwurzburg you use it if you have configured WSL2 networking to mirrored.

[Hwurzburg]

Sorry but I don't have the foggiest idea what that means

[andyp1per]

Not asking you to. I think it would be sufficient to document that you need this option if you have configured WSL2 in this way.

[Hwurzburg]

Like this? ArduPilot/ardupilot_wiki#6566

[timtuxworth]

I think I would agree with @Hwurzburg that we could be more helpful explaining this to people who just want it to work.

Clearly you are saying @andyp1per that it's a good idea to configure WSL2 to use mirrored networkingMode, so the wiki should say that - it's our recommendation. I think it might be helpful to say that somewhere.

I've just tried it and it seems to make running SITL in WSL2 (especially with RealFlight) easier and faster. I'm getting 300ish frames per second in RF now which is a massive improvement on my hardware.

[andyp1per]

I think I would agree with @Hwurzburg that we could be more helpful explaining this to people who just want it to work.

Clearly you are saying @andyp1per that it's a good idea to configure WSL2 to use mirrored networkingMode, so the wiki should say that - it's our recommendation. I think it might be helpful to say that somewhere.

I've just tried it and it seems to make running SITL in WSL2 (especially with RealFlight) easier and faster. I'm getting 300ish frames per second in RF now which is a massive improvement on my hardware.

I would say its too early to tell that it should be the recommended option, but your experience is a good datapoint. If we can get a few more devs giving it the thumbs up then I agree

[timtuxworth]

As an aside - this seems to have fixed a "Time moved backwards", problem I was having running SITL in WSL2, now gone after setting networkingMode=mirrored.