diff --git a/src/nm-system.c b/src/nm-system.c
index ed75b3f7f6..7368dc35b4 100644
--- a/src/nm-system.c
+++ b/src/nm-system.c
@@ -1226,70 +1226,126 @@ nm_system_device_set_priority (int ifindex,
 	}
 }
 
-static gboolean
-set_bond_attr (const char *iface, const char *attr, const char *value)
+static const struct {
+	const char *option;
+	const char *default_value;
+} bonding_defaults[] = {
+	{ "mode", "balance-rr" },
+	{ "arp_interval", "0" },
+	{ "miimon", "0" },
+
+	{ "ad_select", "stable" },
+	{ "arp_validate", "none" },
+	{ "downdelay", "0" },
+	{ "fail_over_mac", "none" },
+	{ "lacp_rate", "slow" },
+	{ "min_links", "0" },
+	{ "num_grat_arp", "1" },
+	{ "num_unsol_na", "1" },
+	{ "primary", "" },
+	{ "primary_reselect", "always" },
+	{ "resend_igmp", "1" },
+	{ "updelay", "0" },
+	{ "use_carrier", "1" },
+	{ "xmit_hash_policy", "layer2" },
+	{ NULL, NULL }
+};
+
+static void
+remove_bonding_entries (const char *iface, const char *path)
 {
-	char file[FILENAME_MAX];
+	char cmd[20];
+	char *value, **entries;
 	gboolean ret;
+	int i;
 
-	snprintf (file, sizeof (file), "/sys/class/net/%s/bonding/%s", iface, attr);
-	ret = nm_utils_do_sysctl (file, value);
-	if (!ret) {
-		nm_log_warn (LOGD_HW, "(%s): failed to set bonding attribute "
-		             "'%s' to '%s'", iface, attr, value);
+	if (!g_file_get_contents (path, &value, NULL, NULL))
+		return;
+
+	entries = g_strsplit (value, " ", -1);
+	for (i = 0; entries[i]; i++) {
+		snprintf (cmd, sizeof (cmd), "-%s", g_strstrip (entries[i]));
+		ret = nm_utils_do_sysctl (path, cmd);
+		if (!ret) {
+			nm_log_warn (LOGD_HW, "(%s): failed to remove entry '%s' from '%s'",
+			             iface, entries[i], path);
+		}
 	}
+	g_strfreev (entries);
+}
 
-	return ret;
+static gboolean
+option_valid_for_nm_setting (const char *option, const char **valid_opts)
+{
+	while (*valid_opts) {
+		if (strcmp (option, *valid_opts) == 0)
+			return TRUE;
+		valid_opts++;
+	}
+	return FALSE;
 }
 
 gboolean
 nm_system_apply_bonding_config (const char *iface, NMSettingBond *s_bond)
 {
-	const char **opts, **iter;
+	const char **valid_opts;
+	const char *option, *value;
+	char path[FILENAME_MAX];
+	char *current, *space;
+	gboolean ret;
+	int i;
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail (iface != NULL, FALSE);
 
-	/*
-	 * FIXME:
-	 *
-	 * ifup-eth contains code to append targets if the value is prefixed
-	 * with '+':
-	 *
-	 *  if [ "${key}" = "arp_ip_target" -a "${value:0:1}" != "+" ]; then
-	 *  OLDIFS=$IFS;
-	 *  IFS=',';
-	 *  for arp_ip in $value; do
-	 *      if ! grep -q $arp_ip /sys/class/net/${DEVICE}/bonding/$key; then
-	 *          echo +$arp_ip > /sys/class/net/${DEVICE}/bonding/$key
-	 *      fi
-	 *  done
-	 *
-	 * Not sure if this is actually being used and it seems dangerous as
-	 * the result is pretty much unforeseeable.
-	 */
+	/* Remove old slaves and arp_ip_targets */
+	snprintf (path, sizeof (path), "/sys/class/net/%s/bonding/arp_ip_target", iface);
+	remove_bonding_entries (iface, path);
+	snprintf (path, sizeof (path), "/sys/class/net/%s/bonding/slaves", iface);
+	remove_bonding_entries (iface, path);
 
-	/* Set bonding options; if the setting didn't specify a value for the
-	 * option then use the default value to ensure there's no leakage of
-	 * options from any previous connections to this one.
-	 */
-	opts = nm_setting_bond_get_valid_options (s_bond);
-	for (iter = opts; iter && *iter; iter++) {
-		const char *value;
-		gboolean is_default = FALSE;
+	/* Apply config/defaults */
+	valid_opts = nm_setting_bond_get_valid_options (s_bond);
+	for (i = 0; bonding_defaults[i].option; i++) {
+		option = bonding_defaults[i].option;
+		if (option_valid_for_nm_setting (option, valid_opts))
+			value = nm_setting_bond_get_option_by_name (s_bond, option);
+		else
+			value = NULL;
+		if (!value)
+			value = bonding_defaults[i].default_value;
 
-		value = nm_setting_bond_get_option_by_name (s_bond, *iter);
-		if (!value) {
-			value = nm_setting_bond_get_option_default (s_bond, *iter);  /* use the default value */
-			is_default = TRUE;
+		snprintf (path, sizeof (path), "/sys/class/net/%s/bonding/%s", iface, option);
+		if (g_file_get_contents (path, &current, NULL, NULL)) {
+			g_strstrip (current);
+			space = strchr (current, ' ');
+			if (space)
+				*space = '\0';
+			if (strcmp (current, value) != 0) {
+				ret = nm_utils_do_sysctl (path, value);
+				if (!ret) {
+					nm_log_warn (LOGD_HW, "(%s): failed to set bonding attribute "
+					             "'%s' to '%s'", iface, option, value);
+				}
+			}
 		}
+	}
 
-		nm_log_dbg (LOGD_DEVICE, "(%s): setting bond option '%s' to %s'%s'",
-			        iface,
-			        *iter,
-			        is_default ? "default " : "",
-			        value);
+	/* Handle arp_ip_target */
+	value = nm_setting_bond_get_option_by_name (s_bond, "arp_ip_target");
+	if (value) {
+		char **addresses, cmd[20];
 
-		set_bond_attr (iface, *iter, value);
+		snprintf (path, sizeof (path), "/sys/class/net/%s/bonding/arp_ip_target", iface);
+		addresses = g_strsplit (value, ",", -1);
+		for (i = 0; addresses[i]; i++) {
+			snprintf (cmd, sizeof (cmd), "+%s", g_strstrip (addresses[i]));
+			ret = nm_utils_do_sysctl (path, cmd);
+			if (!ret) {
+				nm_log_warn (LOGD_HW, "(%s): failed to add arp_ip_target '%s'",
+				             iface, addresses[i]);
+			}
+		}
+		g_strfreev (addresses);
 	}
 
 	return TRUE;