Bonds and Bridges

Bonds

Network bonds allow combining two or more network interfaces together into a single logical "bonded" interface for load balancing, redundancy or improved performance depending on the bond mode used.

Definitions of the bond details as in the Bond Form Definitions table later in this topic.

Note:  Whether creating a new bond or editing an existing bond the page is very similar.

Create A New Bond

To create a new bond:

  1. Navigate to the Configure > Network Connections > Network Interfaces page on the WebUI.
  2. Click on the New Bond button that is located at the top-right of the window.
  3. Select which interface will serve as the primary interface for the new bond.

    Note:  When the primary interface is selected, its MAC address is displayed in the MAC address field. This MAC address is inherited by the new bond interface.

  4. Complete the new bond details form as in the Bond Form Definitions table.
  5. Click the Create button to finalize the creation of the new bond. Network connections from non-primary interfaces will be deleted when the new bond is created.

Edit an Existing Bond

To edit an existing bond:

  1. Navigate to the Configure > Network Connections > Network Interfaces page on the WebUI.
  2. Click on the bond that you would like to edit, the bond details are expanded.

  3. Click on the bond Edit button that is located next to the Enable / Disable toggle buttons.

  4. Change the bond details as required in accordance with the Edit Bond Form Definitions table below.
  5. Click the Update button to finalize the edit process. Updating the bond will temporarily interrupt network activity on this interface.

Note:  Editing the primary interface will not update its connections.

Edit Bond - Form Definitions

New Bond Field Definition
Description The editable Description field allows you to add a description of the interface. If the description field is not completed the field will default to a computed value to describe the interface.
Mode
The mode determines the way in which traffic sent out via the bonded interface is dispersed over the real interfaces. Available modes are:

Round Robin Balancing - Packets are sequentially transmitted/received through each interface, one by one.
Active Backup - If the active secondary interface is changed during a failover, the bond interface’s MAC address is then changed to match the new active secondary’s MAC address.
XOR Balancing - Balances traffic by splitting up outgoing packets between the Ethernet interfaces, using the same one for each specific destination when possible.
Broadcast - All network transmissions are sent on all secondary interfaces. This mode provides fault tolerance.
802.3ad (Dynamic Link Aggregation) - Aggregated NICs act as one NIC, but also provides failover in the case that a NIC fails. Dynamic Link Aggregation requires a switch that supports IEEE 802.3ad.
Transmit Load Balancing - Outgoing traffic is distributed depending on the current load on each secondary interface. Incoming traffic is received by the current secondary interface. If the receiving secondary fails, another secondary takes over the MAC address of the failed secondary.
Adaptive Load Balancing - Includes transmit load balancing (tlb) and receive load balancing (rlb) for IPv4 traffic and does not require any special switch support.
Poll Interval The poll interval specifies the MII link monitoring frequency in milliseconds. This determines how often the link state of each secondary is inspected for link failures. A value of zero will disable MII link monitoring.
Network Interface Selection

Click the checkbox of each network interface you want to include in the bridge.

Available interfaces include Ethernet and VLAN interfaces that are not part of another bond or bridge.
Primary Interface Select the interface that is to be used for selecting the MAC address of the aggregate. The new bond inherits the MAC address of the primary interface. On creation, any Network Connections which exist on the Primary Interface will be attached to the Bond/Bridge after it is initially created. When a Bond/Bridge is deleted, any Network Connections which exist on the aggregate interface are handed over to the Primary Interface.
Active
Connections		 When the Primary Interface is created, the connections inherited by the new bond are listed here. When edited, Active Connections on the aggregate will not be updated if the primary interface is changed.
Click to edit the details of an existing interface. Updating a bridge will temporarily interrupt network activity on the interface when you click the Update button.

Bridges

Network bridges allow connecting of multiple network segments together so that they may communicate as a single network.

Operations Manager models with an integrated switch (OM1204-4E, OM1208-8E and OM2224-24E) have a bridge configured by default that includes all switch ports, which can be edited or deleted as required.

Definitions of the bridge details as in the Bridge Form Definitions table later in this topic.

Note:  Whether creating a new bridge or editing an existing bridge the page is very similar.

Create A New Bridge

To create a new bridge:

  1. Navigate to the Configure > Network Connections > Network Interfaces page on the WebUI.
  2. Click on the New Bridge button that is located at the top-right of the window.
  3. Select which interface will serve as the primary interface for the new bridge.

    Note:  When the primary interface is selected, its MAC address is displayed in the MAC address field. This MAC address is inherited by the new bridge interface.

  4. Complete the new bridge details form as in the Bridge Form Definitions table.
  5. Click the Create button to finalize the creation of the new bridge.

Edit an Existing Bridge

To edit an existing bridge:

  1. Navigate to the Configure > Network Connections > Network Interfaces page on the WebUI.
  2. Click on the bridge that you would like to edit, the bridge details are expanded.

  3. Click on the bridge Edit button that is located next to the Enable / Disable toggle buttons.

  4. Select which interface will serve as the primary interface for the new bridge.
  5. Change the bridge details as required in accordance with the Bridge Form Definitions table.
  6. Click the Update button to finalize the edit process. Updating the bridge will temporarily interrupt network activity on this interface.

Note:  Editing the primary interface will not update its connections.

Edit Bridge - Form Definitions

New Bridge Field Definition
Description The editable Description field allows you to add a description of the interface. If the description field is not completed the field will default to a computed value to describe the interface.
Enable Spanning Tree Protocol

Enable or disable Spanning Tree Protocol.

See Spanning Tree Protocol.
Network Interface Selection

Click the checkbox of each network interface you want to include in the bridge.

Available interfaces include Ethernet and VLAN interfaces that are not part of another bond or bridge.

Bond interfaces can be included in a bridge by using the ogcli tool. See Support for Bonds in Bridges in the Knowledge Base.
Primary Interface Select the interface that is to be used for selecting the MAC address of the aggregate. The new bond inherits the MAC address of the primary interface. On creation, any Network Connections which exist on the Primary Interface will be attached to the Bond/Bridge after it is initially created. When a Bond/Bridge is deleted, any Network Connections which exist on the aggregate interface are handed over to the Primary Interface.
Inherited
Connections		 When the Primary Interface is selected, the connections inherited by the new bridge are listed here.
Click to edit the details of an existing interface.