
aggregation group may not cross an
The configuration of the lowest numbered port in the group becomes the configuration for all of the ports in the aggregation group. This port is called the Master Port of the group, and all configuration options – including the VLAN configuration – that can be applied to the Master Port are applied to the entire link aggregation group.
Load balancing is automatically applied to the ports in the aggregated group, and a link failure within the group causes the network traffic to be directed to the remaining links in the group.
The Spanning Tree Protocol will treat a link aggregation group as a single link, on the switch level. On the port level, the STP will use the port parameters of the Master Port in the calculation of port cost and in determining the state of the link aggregation group. If two redundant link aggregation groups are configured on the switch, STP will block one entire group – in the same way STP will block a single port that has a redundant link.
The following fields can be set:
| Parameter | Description | |
| Master Port <1> | The Master port of link aggregation | |
|
| group. | |
| Number | of Allows the entry of the number of | |
| Members <2> | contiguous ports that will make up | |
|
| the link aggregation group. These | |
|
| ports will be in sequential order from | |
|
| the Master Port. | |
| State <Disabled> | This field can be toggled between | |
|
| Enabled and Disabled. This is used | |
|
| to turn a link aggregation group on | |
|
| or off. This is useful for diagnostics, | |
|
| to quickly isolate a bandwidth | |
|
| intensive network device or to have | |
|
| an absolute backup link aggregation | |
|
| group that is not under automatic | |
|
| control. | |
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Utilities
Layer 2 Switch Utilities
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) services allow the switch firmware to be upgraded by transferring a new firmware file from a TFTP server to the switch. A configuration file can also be loaded into the switch from a TFTP server, switch settings can be saved to the TFTP server, and a history log can be uploaded from the switch to the TFTP server.