FreeBSD 13 – lagg interface flaps and drops connectivity – Fix & Prevention

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Traffic intermittently drops when lagg members leave and rejoin, impacting uptime and throughput.

Environment & Reproduction

Common with LACP policy mismatch or unstable physical links.

ifconfig lagg0
netstat -i
service netif restart

Root Cause Analysis

Switch and host aggregation settings diverge, or one member has duplex or MTU inconsistency.

Quick Triage

Check member health, errors, and negotiated settings.

ifconfig em0
ifconfig em1
netstat -I lagg0 -w 1

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Compare host LACP state and switch channel diagnostics.

ifconfig lagg0 -v
dmesg | grep -i -E 'link|lagg'
tcpdump -ni em0 ether proto 0x8809

Solution – Primary Fix

Align LACP mode, MTU, and hashing policy on host and switch.

sysrc ifconfig_lagg0='laggproto lacp laggport em0 laggport em1 up'
sysrc cloned_interfaces='lagg0'
service netif restart

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use failover mode for stability-first designs or isolate noisy member interfaces.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

No further lagg flaps observed and packet loss remains within acceptable thresholds.

ifconfig lagg0
netstat -I lagg0 -w 1
ping -c 50 gateway

Rollback Plan

Revert to single active interface if aggregation remains unstable.

ifconfig lagg0 down
ifconfig em0 up
route add default 192.168.1.1

Prevention & Hardening

Template network settings and validate switch profiles before host rollout.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Often overlaps with DHCP renewal failures and intermittent DNS timeouts.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for freebsd-13.

View all freebsd-13 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

lagg(4), ifconfig(8), and operational LACP design guidance.