Yeah, Linux Is…

Four Port Link Aggregation on Solaris:

dladm create-aggr -d e1000g0 -d e1000g1 -d e1000g2 -d e1000g3 1
ifconfig aggr1 plumb 10.103.0.13 up
dladm modify-aggr -L active -T short 1

Four Port Link Aggregation on Linux:

modprobe bonding mode=* miimon=100
ifconfig bond0 hw ether randommacaddress
ifconfig bond0 10.103.0.13 up
ifenslave bond0 eth0
ifenslave bond0 eth1
ifenslave bond0 eth2
ifenslave bond0 eth3

I won’t even get into the simplicity of Solaris’ persistent configuration vs. Linux’s persistent configuration – which will change between distributions, even.

The more I play with Solaris and OpenSolaris, the more I’m forced to admit that Linux is a mere toy compared to either.

Three commands and link aggregation just works. No hassle. No debugging. No conflicting instructions on how various bits should be configured. No trying to figure out what mode to use, or why your selected mode isn’t working despite the fact that it should.

It’s unfortunate Solaris requires a logical method of thinking. More people should be using it. The learning curve is supposedly steep – I dare say it is, when you’re used to the nonsensical environments of Linux, Windows or even OS X. Do yourself a favor and try to get past that.

Once you start discovering why things are so obviously set up the way they are, you’ll pause, perhaps scratch your chin, and say, “Damn – why the hell isn’t that other operating system like this?”