Linux bonding on Redhat Enterprise linux 5.0 !!!!!

Introduction

Linux allows binding multiple network interfaces into a single channel/NIC using special kernel module called bonding. According to official bonding documentation, "The Linux bonding driver provides a method for aggregating multiple network interfaces into a single logical "bonded" interface. The behavior of the bonded interfaces depends upon the mode; generally speaking, modes provide either hot standby or load balancing services. Additionally, link integrity monitoring may be performed."

Setup of Linux bonding

Step #1:Create a bond0 configuration file

Red Hat Linux stores network configuration in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory. First, you need to create bond0 config file:

# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-bond0

Append following lines to it:

DEVICE=bond0
IPADDR=192.168.1.20
NETWORK=192.168.1.0
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
USERCTL=no
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes

Replace above IP address with your actual IP address. Save file and exit to shell prompt.

Step #2:Modify eth0 and eth1 config files:

Open both configuration using vim text editor and make sure file read as follows for eth0 interface

# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

Modify/append directive as follows:DEVICE=eth0

USERCTL=no
ONBOOT=yes
MASTER=bond0
SLAVE=yes
BOOTPROTO=none

Open eth1 configuration file using vim text editor:

# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1

Make sure file read as follows for eth1 interface:DEVICE=eth1

USERCTL=no
ONBOOT=yes
MASTER=bond0
SLAVE=yes
BOOTPROTO=none

Save file and exit to shell prompt.

Step # 3:Load bond driver/module

Make sure bonding module is loaded when the channel-bonding interface (bond0) is brought up. You need to modify kernel modules configuration file:

# vi /etc/modprobe.conf

Append following two lines:

alias bond0 bonding
options bond0 mode=balance-alb miimon=100

Save file and exit to shell prompt.

Step # 4:Test configuration

First, load the bonding module:


# modprobe bonding

Restart networking service in order to bring up bond0 interface:

# service network restart

Verify everything is working:


# less /proc/net/bonding/bond0

Output:

Bonding Mode: load balancing (round-robin)
MII Status: up
MII Polling Interval (ms): 0
Up Delay (ms): 0
Down Delay (ms): 0

Slave Interface: eth0
MII Status: up
Link Failure Count: 0
Permanent HW addr: 00:0c:29:c6:be:59

Slave Interface: eth1
MII Status: up
Link Failure Count: 0
Permanent HW addr: 00:0c:29:c6:be:63

List all interfaces:


# ifconfig

Output:

bond0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0C:29:C6:BE:59
inet addr:192.168.1.20  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::200:ff:fe00:0/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MASTER MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
RX packets:2804 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1879 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:250825 (244.9 KiB)  TX bytes:244683 (238.9 KiB)

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0C:29:C6:BE:59
inet addr:192.168.1.20  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20c:29ff:fec6:be59/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING SLAVE MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
RX packets:2809 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1390 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:251161 (245.2 KiB)  TX bytes:180289 (176.0 KiB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x1400

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0C:29:C6:BE:59
inet addr:192.168.1.20  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20c:29ff:fec6:be59/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING SLAVE MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
RX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:502 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:258 (258.0 b)  TX bytes:66516 (64.9 KiB)
Interrupt:10 Base address:0x1480

Now you have bond multiple network interfaces into a single channel (NIC)