> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL. > For a complete documentation index, see https://mediakind.ferndocs.com/beam/system-admin/network/bonded-interfaces/llms.txt. > For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://mediakind.ferndocs.com/_mcp/server. # Configure Bonded Network Interfaces You can configure bonded network interfaces for redundancy from the command line. The following instructions show how to create an active-backup bond, which keeps one interface active and the other as a passive backup. If the active interface fails, the backup interface takes over automatically. The example commands use the two 1G onboard NICs available on the E50 and E60 servers (`eno8303` and `eno8403`), and assume that the `eno8303` interface is already configured and working as the management interface. Run these commands using SSH or directly on the terminal. ### Create the bond interface In this example, `bond0` is the name of the bond interface being created. * Terminal window ```shell sudo nmcli connection add type bond con-name bond0 ifname bond0 bond.options "mode=active-backup" ``` ### Add the slave interfaces ```shell sudo nmcli connection add type ethernet slave-type bond con-name bond0-eno8303 ifname eno8303 master bond0 sudo nmcli connection add type ethernet slave-type bond con-name bond0-eno8403 ifname eno8403 master bond0 ``` ### Configure the IP address of the bond interface To use DHCP: ```shell sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv4.method auto ``` * To assign a static IP address, use the values currently assigned to `eno8303`. For example: ```shell sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 ipv4.addresses 192.168.1.42/24 ipv4.gateway 192.168.1.1 ipv4.dns "192.168.1.99,192.168.1.98" ipv4.method manual ``` ### Activate the bond interface ```shell sudo nmcli connection down eno8403 && sudo nmcli connection down eno8303 && sudo nmcli connection up bond0 ``` ### Disable the non-slave connections Disabling non-slave connections prevents them from conflicting with the bond at reboot or after an upgrade. ```shell sudo nmcli connection modify eno8403 ipv4.method "disabled" ipv6.method "disabled" connection.autoconnect no sudo nmcli connection modify eno8303 ipv4.method "disabled" ipv6.method "disabled" connection.autoconnect no ``` ### Configure the firewall Firewall zone for bonded interfaces can be set on the UI in Beam 1.9 and later. See [Configure network interfaces](/beam/system-admin/network/configure-nics). * For bonded management ports, set the firewall zone to `control`: ```shell sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 connection.zone control && sudo nmcli connection up bond0 ``` * For bonded data ports, set the firewall zone to `data`: ```shell sudo nmcli connection modify bond0 connection.zone data && sudo nmcli connection up bond0 ``` The bonded network interface configuration persists on reboot and upgrade when you follow the instructions above. Rebooting after configuration is recommended to confirm that networking continues to function after a reboot or power failure.