9

Trunking

This chapter shows you how to logically aggregate physical links to form one logical, higher- bandwidth link.

9.1 Trunking Overview

Trunking is the grouping of physical ports into one logical higher-capacity link. You may want to trunk ports if for example, it is cheaper to use multiple lower-speed links than to under- utilize a high-speed, but more costly, single-port link.

However, the more ports you aggregate then the fewer available ports you have. A trunk group is one logical link containing multiple ports.

9.1.1 Distribution Criterion

The switch uses a traffic distribution algorithm to balance traffic between trunk members. The switch allows you to specify what criteria it should use to calculate the most efficient distribution of traffic. The choices are Source MAC Address (SA), Destination MAC Address (DA) or both (SA + DA). The best choice of distribution criteria depends on your specific network environment.

9.2 Trunk Setting Screen

Use this screen to aggregate groups of physical ports into one higher capacity link. Click Trunk Groups in the navigation panel to display the Trunk Setting screen.

 

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ES-1528 User’s Guide