Bonded Ethernet on Mac Pro Curiosity

[Nugget]

I've got ethernet bonding set up on both of my Mac Pros and I just noticed something for the first time. Both systems are running 10.9.3.

On my old Mac Pro (3,1) in System Preferences the aggregated interface lists as "Bonded Ethernet" but on my new Mac Pro (6,1) the interface shows as "Linked Ethernet." Otherwise they seem the same, although I had weird DHCP-related problems on the oMP (bonded) and had to go to a manual IP address assignment to resolve it. Otherwise they behave similarly.

Does anyone know what causes one to be "Linked" and one to be "Bonded?" I assume it has to do with the capabilities of the underlying ethernet chipset in each respective machine. I'm also curious what the actual operational difference is between the two.

On both machines the aggregated link is "bond0" in ifconfig. Sadly, there's no "bond" manpage in OS X. Only obvious differences is that "TSO4" capability. It's obviously not really impacting anything that I can tell, I was just curious if anyone knew what was going on underneath the covers. Switch is a Cisco SG300 and both machines are configured identically on the switch side.

nMP:

bond0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
	options=b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING>
	ether 00:3e:e1:be:0e:e7 
	inet6 fe80::23e:e1ff:febe:ee7%bond0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xd 
	inet 192.168.1.89 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
	nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
	media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control,energy-efficient-ethernet>)
	status: active
	bond interfaces: en1 en0

oMP:

bond0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
	options=2b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,TSO4>
	ether 00:1d:4f:49:67:d4 
	inet6 fe80::21d:4fff:fe49:67d4%bond0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x7 
	inet 192.168.1.63 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
	nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
	media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control>)
	status: active
	bond interfaces: en0 en1

 

[mikeboss]

during setup of an aggregated link, the virtual interface is named "Untitled Bond" and I can type in any name I want. so I guess it was you, naming your aggregated links..?

EDIT: also, Apple's how-to says under step 4: give the aggregate service a name...
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14045

regards,
michael

 

[Nugget]

No, it's not just the name of the link. It's as I described in the post. Here's adding on the two different machines... One machine allows me to add a "Bonded Ethernet" and the other "Linked Ethernet."

 

[antonis]

No, it's not just the name of the link. It's as I described in the post. Here's adding on the two different machines... One machine allows me to add a "Bonded Ethernet" and the other "Linked Ethernet."

mikeboss is right. The screenshots you attached are from a later step where you are creating a service for the bonded interface you have created earlier.

The name of the interface itself is decided by user a step before your screenshots. That's the name displayed then in your screenshots.

Just click on the gear icon and select Manage Virtual Interfaces. This is the window where you decide what name your virtual interface will get.

 

[mikeboss]

now you're trying to "Duplicate Service..." right? if you're actually deleting the bond an afterwards recreate it, you should see the naming dialog. unfortunately I don't own a MacPro6,1 to test it. but I checked it with my MacPro4,1 and 5,1.

 

[Nugget]

mikeboss is right. The screenshots you attached are from a later step where you are creating a service for the bonded interface you have created earlier.

The name of the interface itself is decided by user a step before your screenshots. That's the name displayed then in your screenshots.

That does not explain why the option names themselves are different, as you can see in the second screenshot. That is from "add" not "duplicate." There's definitely something different between the two systems.

 

[Nugget]

Oh, wait, I see what you guys are saying now. I think I get it. Thanks.