Overview

Setting up network bonding on CentOS 7 enhances redundancy and increases bandwidth by combining multiple network interfaces into a single logicall interface. This guide walks through the steps to configure a bonded interface using two physical NICs in mode 0 (balance-rr).

1. Verify System Support

Check if the system supports bonding by running:

modinfo bonding

If module information is displayed, the system is compatible with bonding.

2. Enstall Required Packages

Ensure that the bonding module and ifenslave utility are installed:

sudo yum install -y bonding ifenslave

3. Load Bonding Module

Create a configuration file at /etc/modprobe.d/bonding.conf and add:

alias bond0 bonding
options bonding mode=0 miimon=100

This sets the bonding mode to round-robin with a link monitoring interval of 100 milliseconds.

4. Configure Bond Interface

Create a configuration file for the bonded interface at /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-bond0:

DEVICE=bond0
TYPE=Bond
NAME=bond0
BONDING_MASTER=yes
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
BONDING_OPTS="mode=0 miimon=100"

5. Update Physical Interfaces

Edit the configuration files for each physical NIC (e.g., /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1):

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
MASTER=bond0
SLAVE=yes

Repeat the same for eth1 or adjust the name accordingly.

6. Restart Networking Service

Apply the changes by restarting the network service:

sudo systemctl restart network

7. Verify Configuration

Check the status of the bond using:

cat /proc/net/bonding/bond0

Ensure both interfaces are listed as active and the mode matches the configuration.