To create a network team, a JSON format configuration file is required for the virtual interface that will serve as the interface to the team of ports or links. A quick way is to copy the example configuration files and then edit them using an editor running with root privileges. To list the available example configurations, enter the following command:

~]$ ls /usr/share/doc/teamd-*/example_configs/
activebackup_arp_ping_1.conf  activebackup_multi_lw_1.conf   loadbalance_2.conf
activebackup_arp_ping_2.conf  activebackup_nsna_ping_1.conf  loadbalance_3.conf
activebackup_ethtool_1.conf   broadcast.conf                 random.conf
activebackup_ethtool_2.conf   lacp_1.conf                    roundrobin_2.conf
activebackup_ethtool_3.conf   loadbalance_1.conf             roundrobin.conf

To view one of the included files, such as activebackup_ethtool_1.conf, enter the following command:

~]$ cat /usr/share/doc/teamd-*/example_configs/activebackup_ethtool_1.conf
{
	"device":	"team0",
	"runner":	{"name": "activebackup"},
	"link_watch":	{"name": "ethtool"},
	"ports":	{
		"eth1": {
			"prio": -10,
			"sticky": true
		},
		"eth2": {
			"prio": 100
		}
	}
}

Create a working configurations directory to store teamd configuration files. For example, as normal user, enter a command with the following format:

~]$ mkdir ~/teamd_working_configs

Copy the file you have chosen to your working directory and edit it as necessary. As an example, you could use a command with the following format:

~]$ cp /usr/share/doc/teamd-*/example_configs/activebackup_ethtool_1.conf \ ~/teamd_working_configs/activebackup_ethtool_1.conf

To edit the file to suit your environment, for example to change the interfaces to be used as ports for the network team, open the file for editing as follows:

~]$ vi ~/teamd_working_configs/activebackup_ethtool_1.conf

Make any necessary changes and save the file. See the vi(1) man page for help on using the vi editor or use your preferred editor.

Note that it is essential that the interfaces to be used as ports within the team must not be active, that is to say, they must be “down”, when adding them into a team device. To check their status, issue the following command:

~]$ ip link show
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: em1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DEFAULT qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:d5:f7:d4 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: em2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DEFAULT qlen 1000
  link/ether 52:54:00:d8:04:70 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

In this example we see that both the interfaces we plan to use are “UP”.

To take down an interface, issue a command as root in the following format:

~]# ip link set down em1

Repeat for each interface as necessary.

To create a team interface based on the configuration file, as root user, change to the working configurations directory (teamd_working_configs in this example):

~]# cd /home/userteamd_working_configs

Then issue a command in the following format:

~]# teamd -g -f activebackup_ethtool_1.conf -d
Using team device "team0".
Using PID file "/var/run/teamd/team0.pid"
Using config file "/home/user/teamd_working_configs/activebackup_ethtool_1.conf"

The -g option is for debug messages, -f option is to specify the configuration file to load, and the -d option is to make the process run as a daemon after startup. See the teamd(8) man page for other options.

To check the status of the team, issue the following command as root:

~]# teamdctl team0 state
setup:
  runner: activebackup
ports:
  em1
    link watches:
      link summary: up
      instance[link_watch_0]:
        name: ethtool
        link: up
  em2
    link watches:
      link summary: up
      instance[link_watch_0]:
        name: ethtool
        link: up
runner:
  active port: em1

To apply an address to the network team interface, team0, issue a command as root in the following format:

~]# ip addr add 192.168.23.2/24 dev team0

To check the IP address of a team interface, issue a command as follows:

~]$ ip addr show team0
4: team0:  <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP 
    link/ether 16:38:57:60:20:6f brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.23.2/24 scope global team0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 2620:52:0:221d:1438:57ff:fe60:206f/64 scope global dynamic 
       valid_lft 2591880sec preferred_lft 604680sec
    inet6 fe80::1438:57ff:fe60:206f/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

To activate the team interface, or to bring it “up”, issue a command as root in the following format:

~]# ip link set dev team0 up

To temporarily deactivate the team interface, or to take it “down”, issue a command as root in the following format:

~]# ip link set dev team0 down

To terminate, or kill, an instance of the team daemon, as root user, issue a command in the following format:

~]# teamd -t team0 -k

The -k option is to specify that the instance of the daemon associated with the device team0 is to be killed. See the teamd(8) man page for other options.

For help on command-line options for teamd, issue the following command:

~]$ teamd -h

In addition, see the teamd(8) man page.