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Ether Channels

Several physical connections between switches can be combined into a single logical connection using etherchannel technology. EtherChannel makes it possible to load balance traffic across links while preventing spanning tree from blocking link aggregation. Traffic load is balanced according to factors like MAC or IP addresses. The global configuration mode is used to set the EtherChannel load balancing mechanism. A logical Port Channel interface is established along with the ability to configure both logical and physical interfaces within the EtherChannel. Various configuration considerations and modes like PAgP, LACP, On mode are involved in properly configuring EtherChannels.

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Jumput Purnomo
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61 views

Ether Channels

Several physical connections between switches can be combined into a single logical connection using etherchannel technology. EtherChannel makes it possible to load balance traffic across links while preventing spanning tree from blocking link aggregation. Traffic load is balanced according to factors like MAC or IP addresses. The global configuration mode is used to set the EtherChannel load balancing mechanism. A logical Port Channel interface is established along with the ability to configure both logical and physical interfaces within the EtherChannel. Various configuration considerations and modes like PAgP, LACP, On mode are involved in properly configuring EtherChannels.

Uploaded by

Jumput Purnomo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

Introduction to

Ether-Channels

Several physical connections between switches can


be combined into a single logical connection using
etherchannel technology.
Spanning Tree often prevents load balancing across
duplicate lines, however EtherChannel makes it
possible.
According to factors like source or destination MAC
addresses or IP addresses, load is balanced.

The global configuration mode is set up for the


Etherchannel load-balancing mechanism.

(config)#port-channel load-balance type


The Port Channel interface is established as a logical
interface.
Both the logical and physical interfaces can be
configured inside a EtherChannel.

Few things to remember while working with


Etherchannels:

There is no requirement that the interfaces in a


channel be physically adjacent to one another or
located on the same module.
The speed and duplex must be same on all ports.
All ports in the bundle should be enabled.
Make each port inside bundle a trunk or add
them all to the same VLAN. If they are trunks,
they must all carry the same VLANs and have the
same trunking mode.
All the ports inside EtherChannel is affected by any
configuration changes you make to the Port
Channel interface. On the other hand, when you
configure a physical interface, just that interface is
impacted.
Assign an IP address to the logical Port Channel
interface, not the physical ones.

Configuring an EtherChannel
A Layer 2 EtherChannel is built by simply providing
interfaces to a channel group, and the logical interface
is generated automatically.

There are different modes which can be utilized to


configure EtherChannels. Let's learn a little about them.

On—The port channels without using any dynamic


negotiation. The port on the other side must also be
set to On.
The Cisco proprietary Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP)
dynamically negotiates the formation of a channel.
PAgP modes:

Auto – Reacts to PAgP messages but does not


initiate them. The other end must be set to
Desirable to observe port channeling.

Desirable—Port actively connects to the interface at


the other end of the link to negotiate the
channelling status. If the other side is Auto or
Desirable, port channels.

A non-proprietary protocol with the same function is


called the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP),
IEEE 802.3ad.
LACP offers two modes:
Active: The port participates in active channelling
negotiations with the port at the other end of the
link. If the other side is Active or Passive, a channel
forms.
Passive— Reacts to LACP messages but does not
transmit them out on its own.

Layer 3 EtherChannel
Basically, you should configure the logical interface for
a Layer 3 EtherChannel before adding the physical
interfaces to the channel group:

(config)#interface port-channel number


(config-if)#no switchport
(config-if)#ip address address mask

Then, at each port that is part of the EtherChannel, use


the following:
(config)#interface {number | range interface –
interface}
(config-if)#channel-group number mode {auto |
desirable | on}

A Layer 3 EtherChannel is made when the IP address is


provided on the Port Channel interface.

Verifying an EtherChannel
Some typical commands for verifying include:

#show running-config interface number


#show interfaces number etherchannel
#show etherchannel number port-channel
#show etherchannel summary

I hope you have found this information on


etherchannels to be useful. Please feel free to ask any
questions in the comments section.

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