This section details how to create a bonding interface along with the available configuration options.

Create Bonding Interface Form #

Name. Enter a name for the new bonding interface. The name must be less than 16 characters.
Mode. Select from the following supported modes.

• Round-robin policy. Sequentially transmits packets from the first available slave to the last, providing both load balancing and fault tolerance.
• Active-backup policy. Only one slave is active at a time; another slave becomes active if the active one fails. The MAC address is visible externally on only one port to avoid confusion.
• XOR policy. Transmits based on the XOR of source and destination MAC addresses, ensuring the same slave for each destination MAC address.
• Broadcast policy. Transmits everything on all slave interfaces, ensuring fault tolerance.
• IEEE 802.3ad LACP. Aggregates groups sharing the same speed and duplex settings, requiring network interface and switch support. Pre-requisites:
  • Network interface support in the base drivers for retrieving the speed and duplex of each slave.
  • A switch that supports IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic link aggregation. Most switches will need some type of configuration to enable 802.3ad mode.
• Adaptive transmit load balancing. Distributes outgoing traffic relative to current load and assigns incoming traffic to the current slave, ensuring no special switch support is needed. Pre-requisite: Base driver support for retrieving the speed of each slave.

Slaves. Select unused NIC interfaces to include in the new bonding interface. These NICs must be down and without configuration.

After making all necessary changes, click the Apply button to create the new bonding interface.

Notes #

Restoring MAC addresses: Deleting the bonding interface restores member interface MAC addresses to their original states.
Bonding MAC address: Taken from the first member device.
Member interface exclusivity: Each member interface can be part of only one bonding interface.
Interface locking: An interface in a bonding interface is locked.
Mode change limitation: Bonding mode cannot be changed after creating the bonding interface, but member interfaces can be added or removed as needed.