I have to correct myself... I have recalled my memories for Linux bonding and 'active-backup' is possible (I haven't used it myself)...when you set mode parameter when defining bonding drivers here are the possibilities: mode 0 = active-active (round-robin rule when transmitting packets) mode 1 = active-passive mode 2 = indicates either of them can be used On Dec 12, 2007 10:28 AM, goran bogdanovic <goran00@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi Dan, > > I am not sure if 'active-passive' bonding under Linux is possible but why > would you use 'active-passive' configuration? With 'active-active' you get > load-balancing plus failover capability. > > >It's questionable how Oracle would view that from a support perspective > (if they care at all). > As long as bonding driver does not taint the kernel, Oracle will support > it. > > cheers, > goran > > > > On Dec 12, 2007 6:22 AM, Dan Norris <dannorris@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > I'm building a cluster using Oracle Clusterware and have configured > > redundant pairs of NICs on the Linux servers using the Linux bonding module > > (active-passive). I know how to configure the Linux end of things and that's > > working fine. However, the switches used by this customer (they're Dell > > branded--not sure who really makes the guts) have been getting "confused" by > > bonding and our simple ping tests lose about 50% of the packets when we plug > > the redundant pairs into the two separate (trunked) switches. > > > > This is only peripherally related to Oracle--it's really a networking > > and server config issue, but I'm hoping that someone with more networking > > background than I have can explain what switch configuration will enable > > this to work properly. The customer has stated that this will never work > > (though I have done it before at other sites and it worked fine). The > > customer has stated that the Linux configuration must be two active NICs > > with a virtual IP and virtual MAC. I imagine that will work, but I'm > > not familiar with that configuration and I don't think Linux has native > > support for it, so it'd probably be a Broadcom or Intel software package. > > It's questionable how Oracle would view that from a support perspective (if > > they care at all). > > > > So, the question: Is there some "magical" switch setting that would > > possibly be missing in a fairly "default" configuration that might enable > > this to work properly? I figure it's a long shot asking a networking > > question on the Oracle list, but thanks for any pointers. > > > > Dan > > > >