How to configure Network Bonding on RHEL 7

Step by Step method to configure the network bonding on RHEL 7:

 

➤ Please log on to linux server and run the "ip a" command to check the available interfaces.

    [root@localhost]# ip a
    lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN qlen 1
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

    eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:bd:c7:f9 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.2 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

➤ Load the bonding driver called “bonding” in the kernel with the modprobe command if it is not already loaded, and verify with the modinfo command:

[root@localhost]# modprobe bonding
[root@localhost]# modinfo bonding
 

➤ In this step you need to generate UUIDs for interfaces using the below command.

[root@localhost]# uuidgen <interface-name>
 

➤ Now create a file called ifcfg-bond0 in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory for bond0 with the following settings. Please use vi editor to edit this file.

[root@localhost]# cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
[root@localhost]# vi ifcfg-bond0

DEVICE=bond0
Name=bond0
TYPE=bond0
BONDING_MASTER=yes
BONDING_OPTS="mode=balance-rr"
ONBOOT=yes
IPADDR=192.168.1.23
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
 

➤ Now create ifcfg-eth2 and ifcfg-eth3 files in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory for eth2 and eth3 interfaces with the following settings. Set the MASTER directive to bond0. Both interfaces will act as slaves with no IP addresses assigned to them.

[root@localhost]# vi ifcfg-eth1

DEVICE=eth1
TYPE=Ethernet
NAME=eth1
UUID=23a32d65-343d-48a2-8rf7-d2jh2388f666
ONBOOT=yes
MASTER=bond0
SLAVE=yes

[root@localhost]# vi ifcfg-eth2

DEVICE=eth2
TYPE=Ethernet
NAME=eth2
UUID=22a32d65-443d-48d2-8rf7-d2jh222f666
ONBOOT=yes
MASTER=bond0
SLAVE=yes
 

➤ Now deactivate and reactivate bond0 with the ifdown and ifup commands:

[root@localhost]# ifdown bond0; ifup bond0
 

➤ Check the status of bond0 and the slaves with the ip command. It should also show the assigned IP.

[root@localhost]# ip addr
 

➤ Restart the system to ensure the configuration survives system reboots
[root@localhost]# reboot