Assertion failed errors seen when bonding device is in balance-alb mode or during failover

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10

Situation

Dmesg and /var/log/messages show repeated call traces when a bonding device is brought up in balance-alb mode or during failover. Regardless of the call trace messages, the bond functions correctly.

Call traces:

bonding: bond0: setting mode to balance-alb (6).bonding: 
bond0: Setting MII monitoring interval to 100.ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): 
bond0: link is not readybonding: bond0: enslaving eth0 as an active interface with a down link.bonding: 
bond0: enslaving eth1 as an active interface with a down link.tg3: eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, 
full duplex.tg3: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.bonding: 
bond0: link status definitely up for interface eth0.bonding: 
bond0: making interface eth0 the new active one.RTNL: assertion failed at net/ipv4/devinet.c (986)

Call Trace: 
<ffffffff802cb562>{inetdev_event+87}<ffffffff802a3683>{rt_run_flush+127}
<ffffffff802e93d1>{notifier_call_chain+28}<ffffffff80288601>{dev_set_mac_address+88}
<ffffffff883700f2>{:bonding:alb_set_slave_mac_addr+65}<ffffffff8837051f>
{:bonding:alb_swap_mac_addr+157}<ffffffff8836b155>
{:bonding:bond_change_active_slave+502}<ffffffff8836bd3c>
{:bonding:bond_select_active_slave+197}<ffffffff8836ce7d>
{:bonding:bond_mii_monitor+981}<ffffffff8836caa8>{:bonding:bond_mii_monitor+0}
<ffffffff80143322>{run_workqueue+139}<ffffffff80143a30>{worker_thread+0}
<ffffffff80146ab8>{keventd_create_kthread+0}<ffffffff80143b24>{worker_thread+244}
<ffffffff8012b614>{default_wake_function+0}<ffffffff80146d80>{kthread+236}
<ffffffff8010bed2>{child_rip+8}<ffffffff80146ab8>{keventd_create_kthread+0}
<ffffffff80146c94>{kthread+0} <ffffffff8010beca>{child_rip+0}

Resolution

These messages are only warnings that the RTNL lock has not been locked and can be ignored. The bond is functioning normally.

Additional Information

Steps to reproduce:
1. Install SLES 10 SP2.
2. Configure the bond with mode=balance-alb and miimon=100 as parameters to the bonding driver.
3. Restart the network with /etc/init.d/network restart.
4. Observe the above mentioned traces in dmesg and /var/log/messages.

Disclaimer

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