Teaming/Bonding LACP

[lopess1971]

Is it possible to add the ability to create an aggregated group of connections - Teaming/bonding - in the graphical interface, as it is done, for example, in MacOS?

[Anduin2017]

Lopess1971,

Thank you for this excellent feature request for AnduinOS. You are correct that LACP (802.3ad) bonding is a powerful feature for users who need increased bandwidth and network redundancy.

You've highlighted a key area for improvement in our graphical interface. Currently, while AnduinOS (which is based on NetworkManager) fully supports the functionality of network bonding, this advanced configuration is not yet exposed in our graphical settings panel.

Right now you can configure LACP bonding on your system using the nmcli (NetworkManager Command-Line Interface) tool. The process is very reliable, but it requires careful attention to detail.

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⚠️ CRITICAL WARNINGS: PLEASE READ FIRST

1. Risk of Disconnection: You will be modifying your core network stack. If you are connected to the machine via SSH, you will be disconnected during this process and may be permanently locked out if you make a mistake.
2. Physical Access Required: It is strongly recommended to perform these steps with physical access to the machine (a direct keyboard and monitor).
3. Switch Configuration is Mandatory: LACP (mode 802.3ad) is a protocol that requires cooperation from your network switch. You must configure the corresponding ports on your physical switch to be in an LACP "Link Aggregation Group" (LAG) before you activate this bond. If the switch is not configured for LACP, the link will fail.
4. Interface Names: This guide uses enp1s0 and enp2s0 as example interface names. Yours will likely be different.

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How to Configure LACP Bonding (802.3ad) via Command Line (nmcli)

Here is a cautious, step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Identify Your Network Interfaces

First, find the names of the physical Ethernet devices you want to bond.

nmcli device status

Look for the devices with type: ethernet. For this guide, we will assume they are enp1s0 and enp2s0.

Step 2: Ensure the bonding Kernel Module is Loaded

While NetworkManager often handles this, it's safest to do it manually.

# Load the module for the current session
sudo modprobe bonding

# Ensure the module loads automatically on every boot
echo "bonding" | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/bonding.conf

Step 3: Remove Old Profiles from Physical Interfaces

To prevent conflicts, we should ensure the physical interfaces are not being managed by their own automatic profiles.

# See a list of all connections
nmcli connection show

# If you see connections named "Wired connection 1" that use enp1s0 or enp2s0,
# it is safest to delete them.
# sudo nmcli connection delete "Name of old connection 1"
# sudo nmcli connection delete "Name of old connection 2"

Step 4: Create the Bond Master Interface

This command creates the new virtual interface (bond0) that will manage the physical ones.

sudo nmcli connection add \
  type bond \
  con-name bond0 \
  ifname bond0 \
  bond.options "mode=802.3ad,mii-monitor-interval=100,lacp-rate=fast"

• type bond: Creates a bonding connection.
• con-name bond0: This is the profile's name in NetworkManager.
• ifname bond0: This is the name of the new network interface.
• bond.options:
  • mode=802.3ad: This specifies LACP.
  • mii-monitor-interval=100: How often (in ms) to check if the link is up.
  • lacp-rate=fast: Asks the switch for LACP updates every 1 second (fast) instead of 30 (slow). This is recommended.

Step 5: Add the Slave Interfaces

Now, we "attach" your physical Ethernet ports to the bond0 master interface.

# Add the first physical interface (enp1s0)
sudo nmcli connection add \
  type bond-slave \
  con-name bond0-slave-1 \
  ifname enp1s0 \
  master bond0

# Add the second physical interface (enp2s0)
sudo nmcli connection add \
  type bond-slave \
  con-name bond0-slave-2 \
  ifname enp2s0 \
  master bond0

• type bond-slave: Defines this connection as a "slave" to a bond.
• ifname enp1s0: Specifies the physical device.
• master bond0: Attaches this slave to the bond0 interface we created in Step 4.

Step 6: Configure IP Address for the Bond

You now configure the IP settings on the bond0 interface, not the physical slaves.

For DHCP (Recommended):

# Set the bond0 interface to get its IP from DHCP
sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv4.method auto
sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv6.method auto

For Static IP (Example):

sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv4.method manual
sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv4.addresses 192.168.1.10/24
sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv4.gateway 192.168.1.1
sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv4.dns "8.8.8.8,1.1.1.1"
# Disable IPv6 if you don't use it
sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv6.method disabled

Step 7: Activate the Bond

This is the final step. It will attempt to bring up the bond and its slaves. (This is where you might lose SSH!)

sudo nmcli connection up bond0

NetworkManager will automatically try to bring up the slave connections (bond0-slave-1, bond0-slave-2) when you activate the master.

Step 8: Verify the Bond Status

After a few seconds, you must check if the bond was formed successfully.

# 1. Check if the bond0 interface has an IP address
ip a show bond0

# 2. Check the LACP bond status (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMAND)
cat /proc/net/bonding/bond0

In the output of the cat command, you are looking for:

• Bonding Mode: IEEE 802.3ad
• MII Status: Up (for both slave interfaces)
• Link Failure Count: 0 (for both slave interfaces)

If the MII Status is Down or the slaves do not appear, the most likely cause is a misconfiguration on your network switch.

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How to Revert (If It Fails)

If you lose connectivity or the bond fails, you can run these commands to undo the changes:

# Bring down the bond
sudo nmcli connection down bond0

# Delete the profiles you created
sudo nmcli connection delete bond0
sudo nmcli connection delete bond0-slave-1
sudo nmcli connection delete bond0-slave-2

You may then need to re-add your original Ethernet connections or reboot for them to be detected again.