Server Configuration

There are various options to configure a bond on the servers but not all bond modes are applicable. The supported bonding modes are as follows:

  • balance-rr: mode 0

  • balance-xor: mode 2

  • 802.3ad (LACP): mode 4 (starting from 3.4.0000 MLNX-OS release)

Modes 1,3,5,6 were designed to work without LAG configured on the switch side, which limits support for all other modes. Configuring LAG on the switch side will break the solution.

For bonding modes which require LAG on the switch, MLAG must be configured when using redundant switches.

For the bonding modes which don’t use LAG on the switch, two independent switches or non MLAG ports on MLAG switches are enough.

Linux Bonding Mode

Mode Number

LAG on switch requirement

Availability on MLAG interface

balance-rr

0

Yes

Yes

active-backup

1

No

No

balance-xor

2

Yes

Yes

broadcast

3

No

No

802.3ad

4

Yes (with LACP)

Yes

balance-tlb

5

No

No

balance-alb

6

No

No

Please refer to the below links for detailed examples:

In older Windows versions it is configured via the NIC driver configuration.

Last updated on Sep 8, 2023.