CHAPTE R
37-1
Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3130 for Dell Software Configuration Guide
OL-13270-01
37
Configuring EtherChannels and Link-State Tracking
This chapter describes how to configure EtherChannels on Layer 2 and Layer 3 ports on the switch.
EtherChannel provides fault-tolerant high-speed links between switches, routers, an d servers. You can
use it to increase the bandwidth between the wiring cl osets and the da ta cent er, and you can d ep loy it
anywhere in the network where bottlenecks are likely to occur. EtherChannel provides automatic
recovery for the loss of a link by redistributing the load across the remaining links. If a link fails,
EtherChannel redirects traffic from the failed link to the remaining links in the channel without
intervention. This chapter also describes how to configure link-state tracking. Unless otherwise noted,
the term switch refers to a standalone switch and to a switch stack.
Note For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this chapter, see the command
reference for this release.
This chapter consists of these sections:
Understanding EtherChannels, page 37-1
Configuring EtherChannels, page 37-10
Displaying EtherChannel, PAgP, and LACP Status, page 37 -22
Understanding Link-State Tracking, page 37-22
Configuring Link-State Tracking, page 37-24

Understanding EtherChannels

These sections describe how EtherChannels work:
EtherChannel Overview, page 37-2
Port-Channel Interfaces, page 37-4
Port Aggregation Protocol, page 37-5
Link Aggregation Control Protocol, page 37-6
EtherChannel On Mode, page 37-7
Load-Balancing and Forwarding Methods, page 37-7
EtherChannel and Switch Stacks, page 37-9