bondcli

Linux Bonding Configuration Tool

A command-line tool written in Rust for configuring network interface bonding on RHEL-based Linux systems.

Features

• Interactive and parameter modes
• Support for all 7 bonding modes (0-6)
• Dynamic member management (add/remove/replace slaves)
• VLAN configuration support
• CIDR and separate IP format support
• Automatic backup before configuration changes
• Automatic language detection (Chinese/English)
• Single static binary - no runtime dependencies

Supported Operating Systems

• RHEL / CentOS 7, 8, 9
• Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux 8, 9
• Kylin V10 SP3+

Supported Architectures

• x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
• aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

Installation

Pre-built Tarball (Recommended)

# Download and install (auto-detect architecture)
curl -sL "https://api.github.com/repos/fangeus/bondcli/releases/latest" \
  | grep '"tag_name"' | head -1 | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/' \
  | while read TAG; do
      VER="${TAG#v}"
      ARCH=$(uname -m)
      case "$ARCH" in
        x86_64)   ARCH_SHORT="x86_64" ;;
        aarch64|arm64) ARCH_SHORT="aarch64" ;;
        *) echo "Unsupported arch: $ARCH"; exit 1 ;;
      esac
      TAR="bondcli-${VER}-linux-${ARCH_SHORT}.tar.gz"
      curl -sLO "https://github.com/fangeus/bondcli/releases/latest/download/${TAR}"
      tar xzf "$TAR"
      cd "bondcli-${VER}-linux-${ARCH_SHORT}"
      sudo sh install.sh
    done
source /etc/profile
bondcli <TAB>     # tab-completion available

Or use the Makefile shortcut:

sudo make install-prebuilt

Build from Source

Requirements:

• Rust 1.70+ (install via rustup)
• Cargo

git clone https://github.com/fangeus/bondcli.git
cd bondcli
make release
sudo make install

Shell Completion

Shell completions are automatically registered by install.sh. To manually generate:

# Bash
bondcli completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/bondcli

# Zsh
bondcli completion zsh > /usr/share/zsh/site-functions/_bondcli

# Fish
bondcli completion fish > /usr/share/fish/vendor_completions.d/bondcli.fish

# PowerShell
bondcli completion powershell > ~/Documents/PowerShell/bondcli.ps1

Quick Start

Interactive Mode

sudo bondcli --interactive
# or
sudo bondcli -i

Parameter Mode

# Create a bond with DHCP
sudo bondcli create --name bond0 --slaves eth0 eth1 --mode 1 --dhcp

# Create a bond with static IP
sudo bondcli create --name bond0 --slaves eth0 eth1 --mode 1 --ip 192.168.1.100/24 --gateway 192.168.1.1

# Create a bond with VLAN
sudo bondcli create --name bond0 --slaves eth0 eth1 --mode 1 --dhcp --vlan-id 100

Command Reference

Create Bond

bondcli create [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -n, --name <NAME>        Bond interface name [default: bond0]
  -m, --mode <MODE>        Bond mode (0-6) [default: 1]
  -s, --slaves <SLAVES>    Slave interfaces (1-4, required)
  --dhcp                   Use DHCP for IP configuration
  --ip <IP/CIDR>           Static IP in CIDR format
  --gateway <IP>          Gateway IP address
  --vlan-id <ID>           VLAN ID (1-4094)
  --miimon <MS>            MII monitoring interval [default: 100]
  --primary <IFACE>       Primary slave (mode 1 only)
  --dry-run               Show what would be done
  --no-restart            Do not activate interfaces (skip ifup/ifdown)

Add Slave

bondcli add <BOND> <SLAVE> [--dry-run] [--no-restart]

Remove Slave

bondcli remove <BOND> <SLAVE> [--dry-run] [--no-restart]

Replace Slave

bondcli replace <BOND> <OLD> <NEW> [--dry-run] [--no-restart]

Delete Bond

bondcli delete <BOND> [--dry-run] [--no-restart] [--no-restore]

Option	Description
--no-restore	Do not restore slave configs from backup (skip ifup); by default, configs are restored and interfaces are brought up

List Bonds

bondcli list

Show Status

# Show all bonds with detailed info
bondcli status

# Show a specific bond
bondcli status bond0

Example output:

=== bond0 ===
模式      : 1. active-backup
Miimon    : 100ms
状态      : up
CIDR      : 192.168.1.100/24
网关      : 192.168.1.1
主网卡    : eth0

成员:
  - eth0 (UP: true) (活动)
  - eth1 (DOWN: false) (备份)

当前活动  : eth0

Bond Modes

Mode	Name	Description
0	Round-Robin	Sequential transmission on all slaves
1	Active-Backup	Only one slave active at a time
2	Balance-XOR	Transmit based on source/dest MAC XOR
3	Broadcast	Transmit on all slaves
4	802.3ad (LACP)	IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation
5	Balance-TLB	Transmit Load Balancing
6	Balance-ALB	Adaptive Load Balancing

Interactive Mode Flow

The interactive mode guides you through 7 steps to create a bonded interface. Below is a walkthrough of a real session — creating an Active-Backup bond with two physical NICs (eth0, eth1) using a static IP.

$ sudo bondcli --interactive

── Step 1: Bond Name ──
Enter bond name [bond0]:
                           ← press Enter to accept default

── Step 2: Bond Mode ──
Available modes:
  0. Round-Robin
* 1. Active-Backup
  2. Balance-XOR
  3. Broadcast
  4. 802.3ad (LACP)
  5. Balance-TLB
  6. Balance-ALB
Select bond mode [1]:
                           ← press Enter to accept default (mode 1)

── Step 3: Select Slave Interfaces (1-4) ──

Available interfaces:
  1. eth0 (MAC: 00:1a:2b:3c:4d:01, IP: -, state: UP)
  2. eth1 (MAC: 00:1a:2b:3c:4d:02, IP: -, state: UP)
  3. eth2 (MAC: 00:1a:2b:3c:4d:03, IP: 10.0.0.50, state: UP)
      ⚠ This interface eth2 has IP config, it will be lost after bonding

Select 1-4 interface(s) (enter index, space-separated for multiple):
> 1 2                     ← select eth0 and eth1

   Selected: eth0, eth1

── Step 4: IP Configuration ──

Select IP configuration:
  1. Static IP (CIDR format)
  2. Static IP (separate)
  3. DHCP
> 1                        ← choose CIDR format (or press Enter for default)
Enter IP/CIDR (e.g., 192.168.1.100/24): 192.168.1.100/24
Enter gateway (optional, press Enter to skip): 192.168.1.1

── Step 5: VLAN ──

Configure VLAN? [no]:
                           ← press Enter to skip

── Step 6: MII Monitoring ──

Enter MII monitoring interval (ms) [100]:
                           ← press Enter to accept default 100ms

── Step 7: Confirm ──

Configuration Summary:
  Name:    bond0
  Mode:    1. Active-Backup
  Slaves:  eth0, eth1
  Miimon:  100ms
  IP:      192.168.1.100/24, Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Confirm creation? (y/N): y

[SUCCESS] Bond created successfully

Interactive Mode Notes

Step	Prompt	What to enter
1	Bond name	bond0 — bondN format, or press Enter for default
2	Bond mode	0–6, or press Enter for default (mode 1)
3	Slave interfaces	Index numbers (e.g. 1 2) — 1-4 required. Only UP and available NICs are shown. NICs with existing IP config show a warning
4	IP config	1 = CIDR, 2 = IP + Netmask separately, 3 = DHCP. Enter to default to CIDR
5	VLAN	y/yes to configure, Enter or n to skip
6	MII monitor	Interval in ms, Enter for default 100ms
7	Confirm	y/yes to proceed, anything else cancels

Note: The bonding tool enforces a minimum of 1 and maximum of 4 slave interfaces in both interactive and command modes.

You can also see all steps at once by using bondcli create -h for the parameter mode.

Common Scenarios

Create Active-Backup Bond with DHCP

sudo bondcli create -n bond0 -s eth0 eth1 -m 1 --dhcp

Create 802.3ad Bond with Static IP

sudo bondcli create -n bond0 -s eth0 eth1 -m 4 --ip 10.0.0.100/24 --gateway 10.0.0.1

Add New Slave to Existing Bond

sudo bondcli add bond0 eth2

Replace Failed Slave

sudo bondcli replace bond0 eth0 eth3

Delete Bond

sudo bondcli delete bond0

NetworkManager

Warning: This tool will permanently disable NetworkManager.

If NetworkManager is already stopped and disabled, the tool will detect this and skip the disable step automatically.

If you need to restore NetworkManager later:

sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager

VLAN Configuration

VLAN ID and IP address are independent. The VLAN ID is used only to create a VLAN sub-interface.

Example: --vlan-id 100 creates interface bond0.100

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	General error
2	Interface not found or already in use
3	Configuration file write error
4	Network service restart failed
5	Operation prohibited
6	User cancelled

Troubleshooting

"Permission denied"

Run with sudo: bondcli requires root privileges.

"Network service restart failed"

Check network service status:

systemctl status network
journalctl -u network -n 50

"Interface not found"

Verify interface exists:

ip link show
ls /sys/class/net/

Development

# Build
make build

# Run tests
make test

# Lint
make lint

# Build release
make release

# Clean
make clean

License

Licensed under the MIT License.
See LICENSE for details.