Bond operating modes
Bonds combine two or more physical network interfaces into one virtual network interface. The use of bonds can improve the network’s fault tolerance and increase its throughput capacity.
Bonds operate in one of the following modes:
| Mode | Name | Work logic | Purpose | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| balance-rr | Round-robin policy | Packets are sent from each interface in turn, starting with the first. If one of the interfaces fails, no packets are sent from it. | Load balancing Fault tolerance | May require additional configuration on the switch — static port trunking. |
| active-backup | Active-standby policy | One interface works in the active mode, the others – in the standby mode. If the active interface fails, control is transferred to one of the standby interfaces. | Fault tolerance | Does not require mode support on the switch. |
| balance-xor | XOR policy | Packet transmission is distributed between interfaces according to a special formula. The interface through which the packet will be transmitted is calculated through the logical XOR function for the source and destination MAC addresses. In this way, each interface transmits packets to specific recipients. | Load balancing Fault tolerance | May require additional configuration on the switch — static port trunking. |
| broadcast | Broadcast policy | The packet is transmitted through all interfaces at once. | Fault tolerance | May require additional configuration on the switch — static port trunking. |
| 802.3ad | IEEE 802.3ad channel aggregation. | Aggregated groups of interfaces with the same speed and duplex are created. By default, the interface for transmitting a packet is defined as in balance-xor mode. | Increase of throughput capacity | Requires ethtool support in the interface driver. Requires additional configuration and support for IEEE 802.3ad on the switch. |
| balance-tlb | Adaptive transmission load balancing policy | Incoming traffic is received only by the active interface, outgoing traffic is distributed depending on the current load of each interface. If an active interface fails, its MAC address is transferred to another interface. | Fault tolerance Load balancing of outgoing traffic | Requires ethtool support in the interface driver. Does not require mode support on the switch. |
| balance-alb | Adaptive load balancing policy | Incoming traffic is distributed between interfaces as in balance-rr mode. Outgoing traffic is distributed depending on the current load of each interface. | Load balancing | Requires ethtool support in the interface driver. Does not require mode support on the switch. Requires the ability to change device MAC addresses. |
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