Interface Teaming/NIC Bonding & Virtualhost IP Binding

[Alex Dean]

On May 6, 2010, at 5:12 PM, Lisa Kachold wrote:

> It's my understanding that NIC bonding under 2.6 kernels using  
> modern modules is limited to a single IP address using multiple  
> interfaces (without any IP address configuration).

The bonding driver can create a single virtual interface comprised of  
multiple physical interfaces.  You end up with bond0, bond1, etc  
alongside eth0, eth1, etc.  How many IP addresses you configure on top  
of that bonded interface is up to you.

>
> Does anyone know of a way to bond say eth0:1 (configured with an IP  
> address that allows additonal virtualhosts binding for Apache2/ 
> TomCat or 3 Tier J2EE servers?

I don't think I understand the question.  You want to have multiple IP  
addresses for your bonded interface?  No problem.  When you configure  
your IP address, just set it up as bond0:1, bond0:2, etc.  I'm not  
sure if there's any upper limit on the # of IPs you can configure.  If  
you want multiple Apache virtual hosts, that can be done on a single  
IP address (for name-based hosting) or on many IP addresses.  Maybe  
you could describe in a little more detail what you're trying to  
achieve?

>
> Reference:  http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-bond-or-team-multiple-network-interfaces-nic-into-single-interface.html
>

Just make sure you stress-test your configuration.  I've seen a lot of  
dropped packets with some NICs in round-robin bonding mode.  I think  
you might need to do some switch configuration to make that work  
reliably under load.  The main bonding mode I've worked with is active/ 
passive, which doesn't get you any extra throughput.  You've just got  
an instant backup if your primary NIC dies somehow.  The bonding  
driver supports 6 different modes you can research to find the one  
which works best for you.

http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/networking/bonding