Re: libteam Independent mode in LACP

[Anisha Halwai]

Hi libteam,

Following up on my email from last week about LACP independent mode.

I’m a software engineer at Nexthop working on SONiC, which uses libteam’s
LACP runner. From reading teamd_runner_lacp.c and IEEE 802.1AX, it looks
like libteam currently implements only the coupled mode mux behaviour
(Collecting and Distributing enabled together once the partner is
synchronized) and does not support the independent mode (coupled_control =
FALSE) where Collecting is enabled first and Distributing is only enabled
after confirming the partner is collecting.

This is important to us since in SONiC, having independent mode available
in libteam would help avoid brief packet loss when bringing LAG members up
one by one. I’ve opened a GitHub issue for the same -
https://github.com/jpirko/libteam/issues/83

Could you let me know if there is any existing support or roadmap for
independent mode in libteam, and whether you would be open to reviewing
patches in this area? Our preference is to implement this in libteam and
contribute it upstream rather than carrying a long-term downstream patch in
SONiC.

Thanks,
Anisha Halwai
Nexthop.ai

On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 11:19 AM Anisha Halwai  wrote:
> Hi libteam,
>
> I am writing to inquire about the current development roadmap for your
> LACP implementation.
>
> Could you please let me know if there are plans to implement an
> independent mode in LACP? I would appreciate any information you can
> provide regarding whether this feature is currently being worked on or if
> it is scheduled for a future release.
>
> Thank you,
> Anisha Halwai

libteam Independent mode in LACP

[Jiri Pirko]

Wed, Apr 29, 2026 at 07:52:39PM +0200, [e-mail] wrote:
> Hi libteam,
>
> Following up on my email from last week about LACP independent mode.
>
> I’m a software engineer at Nexthop working on SONiC, which uses libteam’s
> LACP runner. From reading teamd_runner_lacp.c and IEEE 802.1AX, it looks
> like libteam currently implements only the coupled mode mux behaviour
> (Collecting and Distributing enabled together once the partner is
> synchronized) and does not support the independent mode (coupled_control =
> FALSE) where Collecting is enabled first and Distributing is only enabled
> after confirming the partner is collecting.
>
> This is important to us since in SONiC, having independent mode available
> in libteam would help avoid brief packet loss when bringing LAG members up
> one by one. I’ve opened a GitHub issue for the same -
> https://github.com/jpirko/libteam/issues/83
>
> Could you let me know if there is any existing support or roadmap for
> independent mode in libteam, and whether you would be open to reviewing
> patches in this area? Our preference is to implement this in libteam and
> contribute it upstream rather than carrying a long-term downstream patch in
> SONiC.

Hi.

There is no plan to implement it. If you do it, that would be great.
Send the patches here.

Thanks!
> Thanks,
> Anisha Halwai
> Nexthop.ai
>
> On Thu, Apr 23, 2026 at 11:19 AM Anisha Halwai  wrote:
> > Hi libteam,
> >
> > I am writing to inquire about the current development roadmap for your
> > LACP implementation.
> >
> > Could you please let me know if there are plans to implement an
> > independent mode in LACP? I would appreciate any information you can
> > provide regarding whether this feature is currently being worked on or if
> > it is scheduled for a future release.
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Anisha Halwai