EtherChannel

Cisco Switch EtherChannel Configuration – LACP – PAgP

In this article we will describe how to configure both LACP and PAgP EtherChannels on Cisco switches.

An EtherChannel is a Link Aggregation technology whereby two switches are connected together with
multiple interfaces which are bundled together to form a single logical interface (“Port-Channel”)
therefore increasing bandwidth between the switches.

EtherChannel Use-Case

The diagram below shows a possible scenario for using EtherChannel’s:

Assume we have a Data Room switch providing access to servers. This switch is connected to a
Distribution switch which aggregates traffic from several user access switches.

If we connect the two switches together with a single 1Gbps interface, then it could potentially be a
bottleneck to traffic from users to servers (especially for high-volume applications).

With Etherchannel, we can bundle together up to 8 interfaces to form a single logical link (Port-Channel)
and traffic is load-balanced between all interfaces.

In our example above, 4x1Gbps interfaces were bundled together thus forming a 4Gbps pipe from users
to servers. This increases bandwidth but also enhances redundancy between the switches.

NOTE: If you connect the interfaces as shown above without configuring EtherChannel, then a Spanning-
tree loop will be detected and 3 out of 4 links will be blocked by Spanning-Tree Protocol. By configuring
Etherchannel, the bundle is considered as a single logical interface and there are no spanning tree loops.

EtherChannel Protocols :There are two Etherchannel protocols. These protocols manage the
channel establishment between the switches:

1) Link Aggregation Control Protocol – LACP (IEEE standard protocol)

2) Port Aggregation Protocol – PAgP (Cisco Proprietary)

The first one (LACP) is preferred as it’s supported by many vendors and it’s a better protocol.

EtherChannel Modes

Each protocol listed above has three modes of operation which dictate if the switch will actively seek to
form an Etherchannel link or will wait for the other end to form the link.

LACP Modes: ON, ACTIVE, PASSIVE

PAgP Modes: ON, DESIRABLE, AUTO

Let’s see a useful table below showing whether an Etherchannel will establish or not depending on each
switch mode:
 EtherChannel Modes

Mode Protocol Description

Auto PAgP Sets the interface to respond to PAgP negotiation packets, but
the interface will start negotiations on its own.

Desirable PAgP Sets the interface to actively attempt to negotiate a PAgP

connection.

On EtherChannel Forces the connection to bring all links up without using a

protocol to negotiate connections. This mode can only connect to
another device that is also set to on. When using this mode, the
switch does not negotiate the link using either PAgP or LACP.

Active LACP Sets the interface to actively attempt to negotiate connections

with other LACP devices.

Passive LACP Sets the interface to respond to LACP data if it receives

negotiation requests from other systems.

LACP Protocol

Switch 1 Mode Switch 2 Mode Channel Established?

ON ON YES

ACTIVE ACTIVE/PASSIVE YES

ON/ACTIVE/PASSIVE Not configured (off) NO

ON ACTIVE NO

PASSIVE/ON PASSIVE NO

PAgP Protocol
Switch 1 Mode Switch 2 Mode Channel Established?

ON ON YES

DESIRABLE DESIRABLE/AUTO YES

ON/DESIRABLE/AUTO Not configured (off) NO

ON DESIRABLE NO

AUTO / ON AUTO NO

EtherChannel Configuration

Assume physical interfaces Gi0/0 up to Gi0/3 will be used to form an Etherchannel. Moreover, it’s better
to configure the resulting Port-Channel logical interface as Trunk in order to allow VLANs to pass
between the switches.

LACP Configuration

The first switch SW1 will be Active Mode and SW2 will be in Passive Mode.

SW1(config)# interface range Gi0/0 -3 <– Select the 4 interfaces

SW1(config-if-range)# channel-protocol lacp <– Set protocol to LACP
SW1(config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode active <– Set mode to active
SW1(config-if-range)# exit

SW1(config)# interface port-channel 1 <– Configure the logical port as trunk

SW1(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
SW1(config-if)#switchport mode trunk

SW2(config)# interface range Gi0/0 – 3 <– Select the 4 interfaces

SW2(config-if-range)# channel-protocol lacp <– Set protocol to LACP
SW2(config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode passive <– Set mode to passive
SW2(config-if-range)# exit

SW2(config)# interface port-channel 1 <– Configure the logical port as trunk

SW2(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
SW2(config-if)#switchport mode trunk

PAgP Configuration
The first switch SW1 will be in Desirable Mode and SW2 will be in Auto Mode.

SW1(config)# interface range Gi0/0 -3 <– Select the 4 interfaces

SW1(config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode desirable <– Set mode to desirable
SW1(config-if-range)# exit

SW1(config)# interface port-channel 1 <– Configure the logical port as trunk

SW1(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
SW1(config-if)#switchport mode trunk

SW2(config)# interface range Gi0/0 – 3 <– Select the 4 interfaces

SW2(config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode auto <– Set mode to auto
SW2(config-if-range)# exit

SW2(config)# interface port-channel 1 <– Configure the logical port as trunk

SW2(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
SW2(config-if)#switchport mode trunk

Useful Show Commands

Here are some useful commands to verify correct operation and for troubleshooting purposes:

 show etherchannel summary

 show etherchannel 1 port-channel
 show interfaces etherchannel

Layer 3 Etherchannel on Cisco IOS Switch :In a previous tutorial I explained how Etherchannels work
and how to configure them, but I didn’t write about layer 3 Etherchannels before. In this tutorial, I’ll
show you how to configure them.
A layer 3 etherchannel is similar to an interface on a router. The switch won’t “switch” traffic on this
interface but route it. Because it’s a layer 3 interface, we configure an IP address on it.
I’ll be using two switches for this:

Before we configure the port channel settings you need to make sure that all interfaces have the exact
same configuration. Once you use the channel-group command, the port-channel interface will
automatically inherit all settings from your physical interface. If you forget to run the no
switchport command on an interface, your etherchannel will be layer 2 instead of layer 3!

Having said that, let’s configure our switches:

SW1(config)#interface range fastEthernet 0/1 - 2
SW1(config-if-range)#no switchport
SW1(config-if-range)#channel-group 12 mode on
Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 12
SW2(config)#interface range fa0/1 - 2
SW2(config-if-range)#no switchport
SW2(config-if-range)#channel-group 12 mode on
Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 12

This creates our Etherchannel, we can verify our work like this:

SW1#show etherchannel 12 summary

Flags: D - down P - bundled in port-channel
I - stand-alone s - suspended
H - Hot-standby (LACP only)
R - Layer3 S - Layer2
U - in use f - failed to allocate aggregator

M - not in use, minimum links not met

u - unsuitable for bundling
w - waiting to be aggregated
d - default port

Number of channel-groups in use: 1

Number of aggregators: 1

Group Port-channel Protocol Ports

------+-------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------
12 Po12(RU) - Fa0/1(P) Fa0/2(P)

Above you can see that our port-channel 12 interface is layer 3 and it’s operational. Just like any other
layer 3 interface we can configure an IP address on this port-channel interface:

SW1(config)#interface port-channel 12
SW1(config-if)#ip address 192.168.12.1 255.255.255.0
SW2(config)#interface port-channel 12
SW2(config-if)#ip address 192.168.12.2 255.255.255.0