3Com 3 Aggregated Links

22 CHAPTER 2: OPTIMIZING BANDWIDTH
Aggregated Links Aggregated links are connections that allow devices to communicate
using up to two links in parallel. Aggregated links are supporte d on the
10/100/1000BASE-T ports only. These parallel links provide two benefits:
■They can potentially double the bandw idth of a connection.
■They can provide redundancy — if one link is broken, the other link
can share the traffic for that link.
Figure 1 shows two Switches connected using an aggregated link
containing two member links. If the ports on both Switch units are
configured as 1000BASE-T and they are oper ating in full duplex, the
potential maximum bandwidth of the connection is 2 Gbps.
Figure1 Switch units connected using an aggregated link
.
Aggregated Links and
Your Swi tch
Each Switch supports up to two aggregated li nks. Each aggregated link
can support up to two member links.
When setting up an aggregated link, note that:
■The ports at both ends of a member link must be configured as
members of an aggregated link.
■A member link port can only belong to one aggregated link.
■The member link ports can have different port con figurations within
the same aggregated link, that is, auto-negotiation, port speed, and
duplex mode. However, please note the following:
■To be an active participant in an aggregated link the member link
ports must operate in full duplex mode. (I f a member link port does
not operate in full duplex mode it can still be a member of an
aggregated link but it will never be activated.)
Switch
Switch
AggregatedLink