Team multiple network interface into single interface

Linux allows binding multiple network interfaces into a single channel/NIC using special kernel module called bonding.


After trying few hours i became successful in implementing bonding on RHEL 5.2. The steps that implemented bonding is given below.

Step #1: Create a bond0 configuration file

First, create bond0 config file in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/

# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-bond0Append 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

Step #2: Modify eth0 and eth1 config files:

Open both configuration using vi 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

And do same for /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1

Step # 3: Load bond driver/module

Make sure bonding module is loaded when the channel-bonding interface (bond0) is brought up. One 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/bond0Output:

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