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Catalyst 2940 Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter25 Configuring EtherChannels
Understanding EtherChannels
Figure25-1 Typical EtherChannel Configuration
Each EtherChannel can consist of up to eight compatibly configur ed Ethe rn et i nte rface s. A ll in te rface s
in each EtherChannel must be the same speed, and all mu st b e c onfigured a s L aye r 2 interfaces.
Note The network device to which your switch is connected can im pose i ts own limit s on t he nu mbe r of
interfaces in the EtherChannel. For Catalyst 2940 switches, the number of EtherChannels is limited to
six, with eight ports per EtherChannel.
If a link within an EtherChannel fails, traffic previously carried over that failed link changes to the
remaining links within the EtherChannel. A trap is sent for a failure, identifying the switch, the
EtherChannel, and the failed link. Inbound broadcast and multicast packets on one link in an
EtherChannel are blocked from returning on any other link of the E the rChann el.
Understanding Port-Channel Interfaces
When you create an EtherChannel for Layer 2 interfaces, a logical interface is dynamically created, as
shown in Figure 25-2. You then manually assign an interface to the EtherChannel by using the
channel-group interface configuration command.
Each EtherChannel has a logical port-channel interface numbered from 1 to 6.
Catalyst 8500, 6000,
5500, or 4000
series switch
Catalyst 3550-12T
switch
Gigabit EtherChannel
Catalyst 2950T-24
switch
Workstations
10/100
Switched
links
87840
Catalyst 2940
switch
Workstations
10/100
Switched
links
1000BASE-X 1000BASE-X