Re: Trunking (was: Gigabit Linux Server Bottlenecks)

[Rui Prior]

> In v2.2.15pre5, (and newer), there's a device called 'Ethernet
> Bonding'.  It does the above, and allows one to bond together mulitple
> (up to 4) devices into one virtual device.
> 
> The only problem with this, is most switches still limit your
> performance through this bonded device.  It can however, give you a
> 'fatter' pipe, not a 'faster' pipe.

Where is this option? I couldn't find it on 2.3.xx kernels...

There is another means of having something similar to trunking with no need from any support from the ethernet switch (it needs an ethernet switch, though).
On newer kernels (at least 2.3.xx series) there is support for QoS. One of the queuing disciplines is sch_teql (true equalizer). If you have more than one ethernet interface, you may use this queuing discipline to do load-balancing between the cards.

Rui Prior