I'm using AoE (ATA Over Ethernet) on a Linux NAS with bonded gigabit nics. I'm curious as to which bonding mode is most appropriate for use with AoE? (balance-rr, balance-xor, 802.3, etc)
I'm using good procurve switches, I have tweaked sysctl so that kernel rx/tx buffers are appropriate for jumbo frames, I just want to be sure to select the appropriate bonding type. I am looking for optimal performance and failover (or, well, why you'd bond in the first place).
This information might be helpful.
http://support.coraid.com/support/sr/ANSR001.pdf
It is often requested that the SR be used in a configuration that permits simultaneous use of the network interfaces for aggregated throughput and redundancy. The standard solution for this is 802.3ad link aggregation, commonly known as bonding. Since AoE is its own Ethernet type and does not use IP, it has proved to be incompatible with some vendor implementations of 802.3ad bonding. To overcome this limitation, the Linux AoE driver implements a feature called multipathing to provide for round robin load balancing of multiple AoE targets on multiple client interfaces. This feature is available in 2.6 kernel Linux drivers starting with aoe6-33. Linux is currently the only system with an AoE driver implementing the multipathing feature.
To understand your options and how they work see http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Net:Bonding
Particularly the sections "Configuring Bonding for High Availability" and "Configuring Bonding for Maximum Throughput."