Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 3 Reference Manual page 306

288
and, possibly,
options
Modules in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administration Guide for more information.
For additional information about using more than one Ethernet card, refer to the Linux Ethernet-
HOWTO online at http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO.html.
A.3.2. The Channel Bonding Module
Red Hat Enterprise Linux allows administrators to bind NICs together into a single channel using the
kernel module and a special network interface called a channel bonding interface. Channel
bonding
bonding enables two or more network interfaces to act as one, simultaneously increasing the band-
width and providing redundancy.
To channel bond multiple network interfaces, the administrator must perform the following steps:
1. Add the following line to
alias bond N
Replace
N
face, there must be a corresponding entry in
2. Configure a channel bonding interface as outlined in Section 8.2.3 Channel Bonding Interfaces.
3. To enhance performance, adjust available module options to ascertain what combination works
best. Pay particular attention to the
rameters. Refer to Section A.3.2.1
4. After testing, place preferred module options in
A.3.2.1. Module Directives
bonding
Before finalizing the settings for the
best. To do this, open a shell prompt as root and type:
tail -f /var/log/messages
Open another shell prompt and use the
different parameters while observing the kernel messages for errors.
The
/sbin/insmod
/sbin/insmod bond N
Replace with the number for the bonding interface. Replace
N
space separated list of desired parameters for the interface.
Once satisfied that there are no errors and after verifying the performance of the bonding interface,
add the appropriate
bonding
The following is a list of available parameters for the
— Specifies one of four policies allowed for the
• mode=
this parameter are:
— Sets a round-robin policy for fault tolerance and load balancing. Transmissions are received
0
•
and sent out sequentially on each bonded slave interface beginning with the first one available.
— Sets an active-backup policy for fault tolerance. Transmissions are received and sent out
1
•
via the first available bonded slave interface. Another bonded slave interface is only used if the
active bonded slave interface fails.
lines for each card in
/etc/modules.conf
bonding
with the interface number, such as
bonding
bonding
/sbin/insmod
command is issued in the following format:
parameter=value
module parameters to
Appendix A. General Parameters and Modules
/etc/modules.conf
:
. For each configured channel bonding inter-
0
/etc/modules.conf
or
miimon arp_interval
Module Directives for a listing of available options.
/etc/modules.conf
module, it is a good idea to test which settings work
command to load the
/etc/modules.conf
bonding
bonding
. Refer to the chapter titled Kernel
.
and the
arp_ip_target
.
bonding
parameter=value
.
module:
module. Acceptable values for
pa-
module with
with a