Enterasys Networks 9034313-07 manual Lacp Terminology, SecureStack C3 Usage Considerations

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)

•A means of identifying the set of capabilities associated with each port and with each aggregator, as understood by a given device.

•A means of identifying a LAG and its associated aggregator.

Note: The path cost of a LAG port will be displayed as zero when it is not an active link.

LACP Terminology

Table 7‐6 defines key terminology used in LACP configuration.

Table 7-6 LACP Terms and Definitions

TermDefinition

Aggregator	Virtual port that controls link aggregation for underlying physical ports. Each
	SecureStack C3 module provides 6 aggregator ports, which are designated in
	the CLI as lag.0.1 through lag.0.6.
LAG	Link Aggregation Group. Once underlying physical ports (for example, fe.x.x)
	are associated with an aggregator port, the resulting aggregation will be
	represented as one LAG with a lag.x.x port designation.
	SecureStack C3 LAGs can have up to 8 associated physical ports.
LACPDU	Link Aggregation Control Protocol Data Unit. The protocol exchanges
	aggregation state/mode information by way of a port’s actor and partner
	operational states. LACPDUs sent by the first party (the actor) convey to the
	second party (the actor’s protocol partner) what the actor knows, both about
	its own state and that of its partner.
Actor and Partner	An actor is the local device sending LACPDUs. Its protocol partner is the
	device on the other end of the link aggregation. Each maintains current status
	of the other via LACPDUs containing information about their ports’ LACP
	status and operational state.
Admin Key	Value assigned to aggregator ports and physical ports that are candidates for
	joining a LAG. The LACP implementation on SecureStack C3 devices will use
	this value to form an oper key and will determine which underlying physical
	ports are capable of aggregating by comparing oper keys. Aggregator ports
	allow only underlying ports with oper keys matching theirs to join their LAG.
	On SecureStack C3 devices, the default admin key value is 32768.
System Priority	Value used to build a LAG ID, which determines aggregation precedence. If
	there are two partner devices competing for the same aggregator, LACP
	compares the LAG IDs for each grouping of ports. The LAG with the lower
	LAG ID is given precedence and will be allowed to use the aggregator.
		Note: Only one LACP system priority can be set on a
		SecureStack C3 device, using either the set lacp asyspri
		command (page 7-47), or the set port lacp command
		(page 7-52).

SecureStack C3 Usage Considerations

In normal usage (and typical implementations) there is no need to modify any of the default LACP parameters on the switch. The default values will result in the maximum number of aggregations possible. If the switch is placed in a configuration with its peers not running the protocol, no dynamic link aggregations will be formed and the switch will function normally (that

SecureStack C3 Configuration Guide 7-43