Configure BOND, VLAN and BRIDGES

The following example set the xCAT properties for compute node cn1 to achieve the following network configuration using the confignetwork postscript:

  • Compute node cn1 has two physical NICs: eth2 and eth3

  • Bond eth2 and eth3 as bond0

  • From bond0, create 2 VLANs: bond0.1 and bond0.2

  • Make bridge br1 using bond0.1 with IP (10.0.0.1)

  • Make bridge br2 using bond0.2 with IP (20.0.0.1)

Define the additional networks to xCAT

If this is a new network being created on the compute nodes, an entry needs to be created into the xCAT database.

The nicnetworks attribute only defines the nic that uses the IP address. Other information about the network should be defined in the networks table.

Add/modify the networks in the networks table

chdef -t network net10 net=10.0.0.0 mask=255.0.0.0
chdef -t network net20 net=20.0.0.0 mask=255.0.0.0

Define attributes in the nics table

  1. Compute node cn1 has two physical NICs: eth2 and eth3

    chdef cn1 nictypes.eth2=ethernet nictypes.eth3=ethernet

  2. Define bond0 and bond eth2 and eth3 as bond0

    chdef cn1 nictypes.bond0=bond \
          nicdevices.bond0="eth2|eth3"

  3. From bond0, create 2 VLANs: bond0.1 and bond0.2

    chdef cn1 nictypes.bond0.1=vlan \
          nictypes.bond0.2=vlan \
          nicdevices.bond0.1=bond0 \
          nicdevices.bond0.2=bond0

  4. Create bridge br1 using bond0.1 with IP (10.0.0.1)

    chdef cn1 nictypes.br1=bridge \
          nicdevices.br1=bond0.1 \
          nicips.br1=10.0.0.1 \
          nicnetworks.br1="net10"

  5. Create bridge br2 using bond0.2 with IP (20.0.0.1)

    chdef cn1 nictypes.br2=bridge \
          nicdevices.br2=bond0.2 \
          nicips.br2=20.0.0.1 \
          nicnetworks.br2="net20"

Add confignetwork into the node’s postscripts list

  1. Use the following command to add confignetwork into postscript list to execute on reboot:

    chdef cn1 -p postscripts=confignetwork

  2. If the compute node is already running, use updatenode command to run confignetwork postscript without rebooting the node:

    updatenode cn1 -P confignetwork

Check result

Use ip command on cn1 to check all NICs

xdsh cn1 "ip addr"

Check all network configuration files under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/.