Chapter 6 port channel configuration, 1 introduction to port channel, Ntroduction to – QTECH QSW-8300 Инструкция по настройке User Manual

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Chapter 6 Port Channel Configuration

6.1 Introduction to Port Channel

To understand Port Channel, Port Group should be introduced first. Port Group is a group of

physical ports in the configuration level; only physical ports in the Port Group can take part in

link aggregation and become a member port of a Port Channel. Logically, Port Group is not a

port but a port sequence. Under certain conditions, physical ports in a Port Group perform port

aggregation to form a Port Channel that has all the properties of a logical port, therefore it

becomes an independent logical port. Port aggregation is a process of logical abstraction to

abstract a set of ports (port sequence) with the same properties to a logical port. Port Channel

is a collection of physical ports and used logically as one physical port. Port Channel can be
used as a normal port by the user, and can not only add network’s bandwidth, but also provide

link backup. Port aggregation is usually used when the switch is connected to routers, PCs or

other switches.

Port aggregation

As shown in the above, S1 is aggregated to a Port Channel, the bandwidth of this Port

Channel is the total of all the four ports. If traffic from S1 needs to be transferred to S2 through

the Port Channel, traffic allocation calculation will be performed based on the source MAC

address and the lowest bit of target MAC address. The calculation result will decide which port

to convey the traffic. If a port in Port Channel fails, the other ports will undertake traffic of that

port through a traffic allocation algorithm. This algorithm is carried out by the hardware.

Switch offers two methods for configuring port aggregation: manual Port Channel creation and

LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) dynamic Port Channel creation. Port aggregation

can only be performed on ports in full-duplex mode.

For Port Channel to work properly, member ports of the Port Channel must have the same

properties as follows:

All ports are in full-duplex mode.

S1

S2

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