Bonded Network Connections
Network interface bonding allows several network devices to form a single logical group. There are different types of network bonds you can choose. We are most interested in 802.3ad link aggregation which allows us to use multiple ethernet interfaces in one network bond that provides us the bandwidth of multiple ports.
Creating a 802.3ad bonded network connection requires configuration of a switch with this feature. This is the hardest part! We have Dell PowerConnect 6248 and HP ProCurves.
Configuring HP Procurve J9147A 2910al-48G to Allow Bonded Networks
The first step in the creation of bonded networks is to create an LACP trunk on the switch that your machine is connected to.
1) View the trunks currently in use so you know what trunk number to create. Below, we can see that there are three trunks that have been created: Trk1, Trk2, and Trk4. In this example, I will choose to create Trk5.
switch-3-1# show trunks Load Balancing Port | Name Type | Group Type ---- + -------------------------------- --------- + ----- -------- 6 | LACP to nfshead2.bkslab.org 100/1000T | Trk4 LACP 41 | static trunk to QB3 PI Zone 100/1000T | Trk2 Trunk 42 | static trunk to QB3 PI Zone 100/1000T | Trk2 Trunk 43 | static trunk to QB3 PI Zone 100/1000T | Trk2 Trunk 44 | static trunk to QB3 PI Zone 100/1000T | Trk2 Trunk 45 | LACP trunk to switch-1-1 100/1000T | Trk1 LACP 46 | LACP trunk to switch-1-1 100/1000T | Trk1 LACP 47 | LACP trunk to switch-1-1 100/1000T | Trk1 LACP 48 | LACP trunk to switch-1-1 100/1000T | Trk1 LACP
2) In this example, I will combine port 17 and port 25 to form an LACP Trk5. Make sure you are in config mode to run this command.
switch-3-1(config)# trunk ethernet 17,25 trk5 lacp
3) Make the newly created trunk a member of the VLANs you need. In this example, we need trk5 to be a member of the public network, VLAN 100, and the cluster 2 private network, VLAN 200. Check the trunk's VLAN memberships after you run the commands to make sure they work.
switch-3-1(config)# vlan 100 tagged trk5 switch-3-1(config)# vlan 200 tagged trk5 switch-3-1(config)# show vlan ports trk5 Status and Counters - VLAN Information - for ports Trk5 VLAN ID Name | Status Voice Jumbo ------- -------------------- + ---------- ----- ----- 100 26 subnet | Port-based No No 200 BKS cluster2 | Port-based No No
4) Name the ports to provide an accurate description for the ports and what they do.
switch-3-1(config)# interface ethernet 17 name "LACP to futuregadget2" switch-3-1(config)# interface ethernet 25 name "LACP to futuregadget2"
5) Run 'show trunks' again to see the new trunk, trk5, with the descriptions and the ethernet ports that are assigned to the LACP trunk.
switch-3-1# show trunks Load Balancing Port | Name Type | Group Type ---- + -------------------------------- --------- + ----- -------- 6 | LACP to nfshead2.bkslab.org 100/1000T | Trk4 LACP 17 | LACP to futuregadget2 100/1000T | Trk5 LACP 25 | LACP to futuregadget2 100/1000T | Trk5 LACP 41 | static trunk to QB3 PI Zone 100/1000T | Trk2 Trunk 42 | static trunk to QB3 PI Zone 100/1000T | Trk2 Trunk 43 | static trunk to QB3 PI Zone 100/1000T | Trk2 Trunk 44 | static trunk to QB3 PI Zone 100/1000T | Trk2 Trunk 45 | LACP trunk to switch-1-1 100/1000T | Trk1 LACP 46 | LACP trunk to switch-1-1 100/1000T | Trk1 LACP 47 | LACP trunk to switch-1-1 100/1000T | Trk1 LACP 48 | LACP trunk to switch-1-1 100/1000T | Trk1 LACP
6) Once these steps are done, you should be done with the configuration on the switch. The second half is configuring the host connected to the switch to utilize the LACP trunk. See below regarding configuring CentOS with the switch.
Configuring Dell PowerConnect Switch to Allow Bonded Networks
In the following example, I use ports 13 and 15 on our Dell PowerConnect 6248 switch to form an LACP trunk to my machine, futuregadget, which will have a bonded network connection. The trunk name on my switch is called port-channel 7/channel-group 7. Ports 13 & 15 are assigned to port-channel 7 along with several other small config changes.
Explanation of below configuration lines: port 15 on this switch is configured to be a part of channel-group 7. spanning-tree is activated on this port. It is configured to communicate on VLANs 100 and 200 which correspond to the Public network VLANs and the cluster 2 private network.
interface port-channel 7 description 'LAG for futuregadget for bonded connection' spanning-tree portfast switchport mode trunk switchport trunk allowed vlan add 100,200 switchport trunk allowed vlan remove switch-2-1#show running-config interface ethernet 1/g15 channel-group 7 mode auto spanning-tree portfast switchport mode general switchport general acceptable-frame-type tagged-only switchport general allowed vlan add 100,200 switch-2-1#show running-config interface ethernet 1/g15 channel-group 7 mode auto spanning-tree portfast switchport mode general switchport general acceptable-frame-type tagged-only switchport general allowed vlan add 100,200 switch-2-1#show interfaces port-channel 7 Channel Ports Hash Algorithm Type ------- ----------------------------- ------------------- ch7 Active: 1/g15 3
Configuration on CentOS 6/7 Server
Below are the configuration files listed under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts.
ifcfg-bond0
DEVICE=bond0 NAME=bond0 TYPE=Bond BONDING_MASTER=yes ONBOOT=yes BOOTPROTO=NONE BONDING_OPTS="mode=4 miimon=100"
ifcfg-bond0.100 - this creates a vlan 100 under network bond0. VLAN 100 corresponds to the VLAN generated on the network switch which is the public network.
VLAN=yes DEVICE=bond0.100 BOOTPROTO=static ONBOOT=yes IPADDR=169.230.26.84 NETMASK=255.255.255.0 GATEWAY=169.230.26.1 TYPE=Ethernet NM_CONTROLLED="no"
ifcfg-bond0.200 - this creates a vlan 200 under network bond0. VLAN 200 corresponds to the VLAN generated on the network switch which is the cluster 2 private network.
DEVICE=bond0.200 VLAN=yes ONBOOT=yes BOOTPROTO=static IPADDR=10.20.8.19 PREFIX=16 DNS1=10.20.1.1 NM_CONTROLLED=no TYPE=Ethernet UUID=e77811ae-8d46-698e-82f3-21a4616413c0
ifcfg-enp3s0 - configuration file for ethernet device connected to port 15 on switch.
TYPE=Ethernet BOOTPROTO=none NAME=enp3s0 UUID=d46b75ef-eb93-41b8-96c1-97b2f8f6cc48 DEVICE=enp3s0 ONBOOT=yes NM_CONTROLLED=no MASTER=bond0 SLAVE=yes