EX200 Deploy, configure, and maintain systems Practice Question
Which two statements are true regarding network teaming (teamd) compared to bonding?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume bonding is deprecated or lacks features like active-backup, but Red Hat still supports bonding in RHEL 8, and the key differentiator is the userspace control and modularity of teaming, not a complete replacement.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Teaming supports more advanced features like load balancing and link monitoring
Teaming (teamd) provides advanced features such as IEEE 802.3ad load balancing, active-backup, and LACP support, along with more sophisticated link monitoring (e.g., ARP ping, NSNA) compared to the older bonding driver. Teaming uses the libteam library to offer a modular and extensible architecture, which is why option E is also correct.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Teaming must be configured manually with configuration files only
Why it's wrong here
Teaming can be configured interactively using NetworkManager's nmcli commands or by running teamd directly, so hand-editing legacy configuration files under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts is not required. While manual ifcfg files are one possible approach, the standard RHEL 8 workflow is to use nmcli to create and manage a team connection and teamdctl to inspect it at runtime. Therefore, the statement that teaming must be configured manually with configuration files only is false.
- ✓
Teaming supports more advanced features like load balancing and link monitoring
Why this is correct
Unlike the kernel-only bonding driver, teaming implements its logic in user space, which enables sophisticated features such as IEEE 802.3ad LACP dynamic load balancing, fallback policies, and custom link-watchdog techniques. The teamd daemon can combine multiple load-balancing methods on a single team interface and supports link monitoring via ethtool, ARP ping, or VLAN-based methods that are more extensible than bonding's fixed modes. This is why the statement that teaming supports more advanced load balancing and link monitoring is correct.
- ✗
Bonding is deprecated in RHEL 8
Why it's wrong here
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, the deprecated technology is network teaming, not bonding; bonding remains a supported and commonly used method for aggregating multiple NICs. RHEL 9 continued to ship the bonding driver while removing teaming entirely, so the claim that bonding is deprecated in RHEL 8 is historically and practically false. Administrators are actually warned to migrate any existing teaming setups to bonding if they plan to upgrade.
- ✗
Bonding does not support active-backup mode
Why it's wrong here
The Linux bonding driver defines several modes, including balance-rr, active-backup, balance-xor, and 802.3ad, with active-backup as the standard failover mode in which only one slave carries traffic while the others remain idle until the active link fails. This mode is configured using mode=1 or 'active-backup' in the bonding configuration, so the assertion that bonding does not support active-backup mode is plainly wrong. Teaming also offers an active-backup runner, but that does not mean bonding lacks it.
- ✓
Teaming uses the libteam library
Why this is correct
Teaming's architecture is built around the libteam userspace library, which communicates with a small kernel module and provides the API that teamd uses to create, configure, and monitor team interfaces. By leveraging libteam, features can be developed and updated in userspace without a full kernel build, which is the key design distinction from the older in-kernel bonding driver. This directly confirms that teaming uses the libteam library, not merely a set of configuration files.
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