[opensuse] Is the a list of Switches that support link bonding?
All, I considering setting up link bonding for the first time. The server would have 2 NICs. Possibly a couple of the clients would have the same, but most of the clients only one NIC. I've checked a couple switches and I'm confused. I found one old comment that there was a 8-port Netgear 1Gbit switch that supported it for $100 which sounds great. But I need about 24 ports, and from my initial looks I haven't found one yet that does. My method is to drill down into spec sheets, but I'm hoping someone has already done that and built a nice list? Thanks Greg -- Greg Freemyer Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Greg Freemyer wrote:
I considering setting up link bonding for the first time. The server would have 2 NICs. Possibly a couple of the clients would have the same, but most of the clients only one NIC.
I've checked a couple switches and I'm confused. I found one old comment that there was a 8-port Netgear 1Gbit switch that supported it for $100 which sounds great.
But I need about 24 ports, and from my initial looks I haven't found one yet that does.
My method is to drill down into spec sheets, but I'm hoping someone has already done that and built a nice list?
Hi Greg To my knowledge, the ethernet switch doesn't specifically need to support bonding. /Per -- /Per Jessen, Zürich -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Per Jessen wrote:
Greg Freemyer wrote:
I considering setting up link bonding for the first time. The server would have 2 NICs. Possibly a couple of the clients would have the same, but most of the clients only one NIC.
To my knowledge, the ethernet switch doesn't specifically need to support bonding.
Are you sure about that, Per? I recall having to configure my switch when I set up bonding. But it was years ago and perhaps things have changed. FWIW my switches are 12-port AT-9410GB and they work fine. Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Dave Howorth wrote:
Per Jessen wrote:
Greg Freemyer wrote:
I considering setting up link bonding for the first time. The server would have 2 NICs. Possibly a couple of the clients would have the same, but most of the clients only one NIC.
To my knowledge, the ethernet switch doesn't specifically need to support bonding.
Are you sure about that, Per? I recall having to configure my switch when I set up bonding. But it was years ago and perhaps things have changed. FWIW my switches are 12-port AT-9410GB and they work fine.
IIRC, the device that needs the bonding is the one that's configured for it. For example, if you wanted to connect a switch to use a broadband connection that supports more bandwidth than a single switch port supports, you'd use bonding. You'd do the same at the far end, but not any device in between. Don't forget, bonded or not, it's just packets that are passed by intermediate switches. -- Use OpenOffice.org http://www.openoffice.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
James Knott wrote:
IIRC, the device that needs the bonding is the one that's configured for it. For example, if you wanted to connect a switch to use a broadband connection that supports more bandwidth than a single switch port supports, you'd use bonding. You'd do the same at the far end, but not any device in between. Don't forget, bonded or not, it's just packets that are passed by intermediate switches.
Well what I'm talking about is a link-level issue that most certainly does NOT pass through devices. It needs to be resolved at each switch in order to maintain packet ordering and suchlike. Perhaps there's more than one facility that can be described as 'bonding'. Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Friday 31 October 2008 04:39, Dave Howorth wrote:
Per Jessen wrote:
Greg Freemyer wrote:
I considering setting up link bonding for the first time. The server would have 2 NICs. Possibly a couple of the clients would have the same, but most of the clients only one NIC.
To my knowledge, the ethernet switch doesn't specifically need to support bonding.
Are you sure about that, Per? I recall having to configure my switch when I set up bonding. But it was years ago and perhaps things have changed. FWIW my switches are 12-port AT-9410GB and they work fine.
Don't so-called switches operate at the network layer while "hubs" are strictly link-level? If that's so, then presumably the switch does need to participate or it will misdirect some packets, possibly thwarting the intention of link bonding in the first place (added capacity / better throughput)? This article, http://www.linux.com/feature/133849, states: "The switch must support the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)."
Cheers, Dave
Randall Schulz -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Randall R Schulz wrote:
This article, http://www.linux.com/feature/133849, states:
"The switch must support the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)."
That's a very useful article! Thanks Randall. If you look just before that quote it says "no additional configuration is required on the switch". If you look at the following paragraph, it says "requires the switch itself to be configured". So the answer is that there is more than one way of doing this and the OP does need to read the fine print in the manuals and/or find somebody who has set it up with some recent switches. Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Friday 31 October 2008 06:24, Dave Howorth wrote:
Randall R Schulz wrote:
This article, http://www.linux.com/feature/133849, states:
"The switch must support the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)."
That's a very useful article! Thanks Randall.
If you look just before that quote it says "no additional configuration is required on the switch". If you look at the following paragraph, it says "requires the switch itself to be configured".
So the answer is that there is more than one way of doing this and the OP does need to read the fine print in the manuals and/or find somebody who has set it up with some recent switches.
I probably should have quoted more, since I see now that there are multiple methods, some that require 802.3ad and some that don't (but still requires some form of aggregation support in the switch). And so on. Definitely read the article if you're going to set up link bonding. By the way, I found it via the Google search "Link Bonding Ethernet Switch Support"
Cheers, Dave
Randall Schulz -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 9:54 AM, Randall R Schulz
On Friday 31 October 2008 06:24, Dave Howorth wrote:
Randall R Schulz wrote:
This article, http://www.linux.com/feature/133849, states:
"The switch must support the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)."
That's a very useful article! Thanks Randall.
If you look just before that quote it says "no additional configuration is required on the switch". If you look at the following paragraph, it says "requires the switch itself to be configured".
So the answer is that there is more than one way of doing this and the OP does need to read the fine print in the manuals and/or find somebody who has set it up with some recent switches.
I probably should have quoted more, since I see now that there are multiple methods, some that require 802.3ad and some that don't (but still requires some form of aggregation support in the switch). And so on.
Definitely read the article if you're going to set up link bonding.
By the way, I found it via the Google search "Link Bonding Ethernet Switch Support"
I'll give it a read. As an FYI: I checked the D-Link and NetGear switches. For both on the high-end fully managed switches they explicitly show 802.3ad support. For both, on their lowest functionality switches, they _don't_ show it. NetGear has a "smart" series, which does and the pricing is very reasonable. ($300 for a 24 port 1 Gbit). The smart series have a HTML interface (like your $50 router) and the support is shown as "manual", where as the high-end ones I assume handle it automatically. I did not find a similarly priced D-Link with support. Greg -- Greg Freemyer Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Dave Howorth wrote:
Per Jessen wrote:
Greg Freemyer wrote:
I considering setting up link bonding for the first time. The server would have 2 NICs. Possibly a couple of the clients would have the same, but most of the clients only one NIC.
To my knowledge, the ethernet switch doesn't specifically need to support bonding.
Are you sure about that, Per? I recall having to configure my switch when I set up bonding. But it was years ago and perhaps things have changed. FWIW my switches are 12-port AT-9410GB and they work fine.
Not 100% sure, no. It's been a long time since I dabbled with NIC bonding - in the days of kernel 2.0 or 2.2. I googled a bit and found: kernel/Documentation/networking/bonding.txt: 5. Switch Configuration [snip] The active-backup, balance-tlb and balance-alb modes do not require any specific configuration of the switch. /Per -- /Per Jessen, Zürich -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Greg Freemyer wrote:
All,
I considering setting up link bonding for the first time. The server would have 2 NICs. Possibly a couple of the clients would have the same, but most of the clients only one NIC.
I've checked a couple switches and I'm confused. I found one old comment that there was a 8-port Netgear 1Gbit switch that supported it for $100 which sounds great.
But I need about 24 ports, and from my initial looks I haven't found one yet that does.
My method is to drill down into spec sheets, but I'm hoping someone has already done that and built a nice list? We successfully use bonding on our HP DL380 servers (SLES). They're hooked to HP ProCurve switches (typically the 5406zl model).
But I'm not aware of any support for bonding being needed on the switch side. As far as I know, everything happens on the server side. I may be wrong and just lucky to use a compatible switch, of course. HTH Ph. A. -- *Philippe Andersson* Unix System Administrator IBA Particle Therapy | Tel: +32-10-475.983 Fax: +32-10-487.707 eMail: pan@iba-group.com http://www.iba-worldwide.com The contents of this e-mail message and any attachments are intended solely for the recipient (s) named above. This communication is intended to be and to remain confidential and may be protected by intellectual property rights. Any use of the information contained herein (including but not limited to, total or partial reproduction, communication or distribution of any form) by persons other than the designated recipient(s) is prohibited. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. Ion Beam Applications does not accept liability for any such errors. Thank you for your cooperation.
On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 5:41 AM, Philippe Andersson
Greg Freemyer wrote:
All,
I considering setting up link bonding for the first time. The server would have 2 NICs. Possibly a couple of the clients would have the same, but most of the clients only one NIC.
I've checked a couple switches and I'm confused. I found one old comment that there was a 8-port Netgear 1Gbit switch that supported it for $100 which sounds great.
But I need about 24 ports, and from my initial looks I haven't found one yet that does.
My method is to drill down into spec sheets, but I'm hoping someone has already done that and built a nice list? We successfully use bonding on our HP DL380 servers (SLES). They're hooked to HP ProCurve switches (typically the 5406zl model).
But I'm not aware of any support for bonding being needed on the switch side. As far as I know, everything happens on the server side. I may be wrong and just lucky to use a compatible switch, of course.
I know less about this now then when I started looking into it. ==>Per another reply: There is a protocol in nic bonding that provides for automatic switch detection of bonded lines... The short answer is yes, you will need to manually setup which ports are the bonded ports on the switch. However, there are bonding protocols that don't require a special switch mode. Modes 5 and 6 don't require a switch with 802.3ad. == So, I have not yet read through the link bonding HowTo, but I assume the above modes are Linux Bonding modes. Greg -- Greg Freemyer Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (6)
-
Dave Howorth -
Greg Freemyer -
James Knott -
Per Jessen -
Philippe Andersson -
Randall R Schulz