+arp_validate
+
+ Specifies whether or not ARP probes and replies should be
+ validated in the active-backup mode. This causes the ARP
+ monitor to examine the incoming ARP requests and replies, and
+ only consider a slave to be up if it is receiving the
+ appropriate ARP traffic.
+
+ Possible values are:
+
+ none or 0
+
+ No validation is performed. This is the default.
+
+ active or 1
+
+ Validation is performed only for the active slave.
+
+ backup or 2
+
+ Validation is performed only for backup slaves.
+
+ all or 3
+
+ Validation is performed for all slaves.
+
+ For the active slave, the validation checks ARP replies to
+ confirm that they were generated by an arp_ip_target. Since
+ backup slaves do not typically receive these replies, the
+ validation performed for backup slaves is on the ARP request
+ sent out via the active slave. It is possible that some
+ switch or network configurations may result in situations
+ wherein the backup slaves do not receive the ARP requests; in
+ such a situation, validation of backup slaves must be
+ disabled.
+
+ This option is useful in network configurations in which
+ multiple bonding hosts are concurrently issuing ARPs to one or
+ more targets beyond a common switch. Should the link between
+ the switch and target fail (but not the switch itself), the
+ probe traffic generated by the multiple bonding instances will
+ fool the standard ARP monitor into considering the links as
+ still up. Use of the arp_validate option can resolve this, as
+ the ARP monitor will only consider ARP requests and replies
+ associated with its own instance of bonding.
+
+ This option was added in bonding version 3.1.0.
+