Bonded Interfaces and IP allocation

[penfold]

I need some help with a problem I'm facing. I have a new server I am trying to install tenable and have an ISO loaded which I need to use to configure an IP address for the network cards on the box. From there, it should reboot and then I can continue with the GUI to finish the installation. I have a problem which I think is a chicken and the egg situation and I need some support. The ports used have bene configured by the network team and I am being told that I need to setup bonding and LACP to get a connection. The thing is, from what I see in the documentation bonding needs to be done at the GUI stage which is done after a network connection. The only option I see is to set the IP, netmask and gateway. I have entered the details but I am not getting a connection

 

Am I right in thinking that because the ports are bonded I will not get a connection until I configure the NICs to be bonded? Could this be why I am not getting a connection?

 

From how I understand it should work from the application side, the process should be to connect to the network>Go to the GUI>Add configuration for Bonded NICs. In order to be able to do this, do I need a standard connection on the switch Port first and then change it to a bonded interface post install?

 

As networking is not really my strong point, can someone explain to me where I should be looking to get this resolved?

[Davit2005]

I've seen issues before where that if lACP was not setup fully the switch would block ports to prevent a loop, to get around this disabled one of the ports in the LACP group on the network switch in the removing the loop till both sides were configured.

[penfold]

@Davit2005 - So just for my understanding - if the port is configured to prevent a loop in the case that the NIC were configured to be a bond then it would prevent network connectivity on the client side?

 

So if I need a network connection to be able to configure a bond, I need it to be disabled on the switch first and have it configured as a standard port first? Then I can get to the configuration screen, configure the bond>apply the config on the switch and all should work?

Edited February 8, 2022 by penfold

[penfold]

I can now see that the NIC are online - If I log into the ILO I can see the status is OK, but there is no IP Address. From what information I have the switch is configured to the correct VLAN, NIC is showing connected. If I try and set the IP address in the installer config on the NIC I still see no connection in the network status.

 

Is there any place in the ILO I can configure an IP address for the NIC so I can check to see if I can get a network connection? At this point I need to identify where the problem is so I can get the correct support. I know Vendor is saying that I need network connection but the network guys are saying I need to speak to the vendor as everything is OK. Meanwhile I'm stuck in the middle unsure what else I can try

[Davit2005]

If you can get to iLO you won't be able to set any IP address but the iLO. Is the iLO setup as a dedicated port or is it shared with one of the NIC used for the operating system.

 

Normally servers (physical not virtual) will have untagged traffic unless the NIC driver supports vlans i.e. some Intel X520-DA2 etc. I'm assuming the port is set correctly on the switch. If using a lagg (link aggregation protocol) on the switch ports the lagg is normally untagged or tagged as required but your network team will know that :-) .

[penfold]

quick update on this just for closure. It looks like I missed a config option out and this allowed to to set the NIC IP which then got me connected. The odd thing was that although it allowed me to start the install, during the installation I had to then set the IP address again. Even after setting the IP details I've checked on the ILO screen and the IP is blank so I guess this does not reflect the IP address assigned.

 

I still see some issues with NIC not connected when the network team say it should be, but at least I can move forward and troubleshoot that at a later date. For now I can get what I need to installed.

 

Thanks for the help

Edited February 10, 2022 by penfold