How To Nic Bonding In Linux

Network Interface Card (NIC) bonding, also known as network bonding, is a technique used in Linux to combine multiple network interfaces into a single interface. This not only provides redundancy, but also load balancing and failover capabilities, resulting in higher network efficiency and resilience. In this blog post, we will guide you through the process of setting up NIC bonding on a Linux system.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure that you have at least two network interface cards and root or super user access to your Linux system.

Step 1: Install the IFENSALVE package

The first step is to install the ifenslave package. The ifenslave is a Linux tool that allows a network administrator to bind multiple network interfaces into a single channel. Install it using the following command:

Step 2: Load the Bonding Kernel Module

The next step is to load the bonding module into the Linux kernel. Use the modprobe command to do this:

Step 3: Configure Bonding

All the network-related configurations in Linux are stored in the /etc/network/interfaces file. To configure bonding, open this file:

After opening the file, append the following lines to create a bond and add your network interfaces to it:

Step 4: Restart Networking Services

Finally, after all the configuration is done, save your changes and restart the networking service for the changes to take effect:

Conclusion

And that’s it! You have successfully configured NIC bonding on your Linux system. Now, your system will use multiple interfaces as if they were a single interface, providing increased bandwidth and redundancy. Happy networking!