Redundant Mikrotik switch bonding modes

Question

All the posts I can find about redundant switches only address the servers connected to the switches. I need to confirm my configuration on both the servers and the router handling the traffic.

We're using Mikrotik routers and switches and I'm planning the following configuration.

                         +----------+
            +------------+ CCR 1072 +-------------+
            |       sfp1 +----------+ sfp2        |
            |         bond (balance-xor)          |
      +-----+----+                          +-----+----+
      |          |                          |          |
      | switch A +                          + switch B |
      |  CRS 317 |                          |  CRS 317 |
      +-----+----+                          +-----++---+
            |                                     |  
            |             +-------+               |
            +-------------+ host1 +---------------+
                     eth0 +-------+ eth1
                     bond (active/backup)

There's no link or stacking of the switches. I don't need to load balance I'm just looking for redundancy at this stage. I had considered active/backup on the router side too but if sfp1 fails on the router and eth0 on the host can still reach the switch I wondered if that would stay up and traffic would stop.

Am I on the right track here?

Is there anything I need to consider like STP for example?

Should I use 802.3ad instead?

Looking at the diagram again .. should I run balance-xor on the hosts as well? — John.M, Jul 12 '20 at 02:31

John.M · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-16T00:32:15.373

After some trial and error .. and some packet loss .. I've added a cross connect between the switches and settled for active/backup on all devices and set the primary so that all traffic is running across Switch A in normal operation and in a failed condition traffic will move across to Switch B

It doesn't give me any performance boost but it does give me the redundancy I'm looking for.

This is the end result.

                         +----------+
            +------------+ CCR 1072 +-------------+
            |       sfp1 +----------+ sfp2        |
            |         bond (active/backup)        |
            |           primary=sfp1              |
      +-----+----+                          +-----+----+
      |          |                          |          |
      | switch A +------ cross connect -----+ switch B |
      |  CRS 317 |                          |  CRS 317 |
      +-----+----+                          +-----++---+
            |                                     |  
            |             +-------+               |
            +-------------+ host1 +---------------+
                     eth0 +-------+ eth1
                     bond (active/backup)
                        primary=eth0

Redundant Mikrotik switch bonding modes

1 Answers1