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Catalyst 2960 and 2960-S Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-8603-09
Chapter 37 Configuring EtherChannels and Link-State Tracking
Understanding EtherChannels
Figure 37-3 Cross-Stack EtherChannel
Port-Channel Interfaces
When you create a Layer 2 EtherChannel, a port-channel logical interface is involved. You can create
the EtherChannel in these ways:
Use the channel-group interface configuration command. This command automatically creates the
port-channel logical interface when the channel group g ets its first physical port. The
channel-group command binds the physical (10/100/1000 ports) and the logical ports together as
shown in Figure 37-4.
Use the interface port-channel port-channel-number global configuration command to manually
create the port-channel logical interface. Then use the channel-group channel-group-number
interface configuration command to bind the logical interface to a physical port. The
channel-group-number can be the same as the port-channel-number, or you can use a new number.
If you use a new number, the channel-group command dynamically creates a new port channel.
Each EtherChannel has a port-channel logical interface numbered from 1 to 6. This port-channel
interface number corresponds to the one specified with the channel-group interface configuration
command.
Switch 1
1/0/4
2/0/15
Switch 2
Network
analyzer
Switch 3
Catalyst 2960-S switch stack
277954
Stack
port
connections
Port 4 on switch 1 in the stack
mirrored on port 15 on switch 2
Port 4 on switch 1 in the stack
mirrored on port 15 on switch 2
Port 4 on switch 1 in the stack
mirrored on port 15 on switch 2