Bonding causing network connectivity problems on Windows VM

This document (7001052) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Support Pack 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Support Pack 1

Situation

After configuring Bonding on Dom0, Windows Virtual Machines (XP, 2003 and 2008) start having network connectivity problems.
Paravirtualized VMs don't have this issue. It happens only with fullvirtualized VMs.

Resolution

There are two ways to fix this issue:

1- Installing the Virtual Machine Driver Package

2- You need to use bridge=bond0 in the VM configuration file under /etc/xen/vm/

The VIF line needs to be like the following:
vif=[ 'mac=00:16:11:22:33:44,bridge=bond0,model=rtl8139,type=ioemu', ]

NOTE: make sure to keep the mac address information you have. You need to insert ONLY bridge=bond0 option in your VM configuration file.

You can use that option as many times as you want based on the number of VMs you have installed. That will not make it dedicated to one VM only.

Disclaimer

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