17

Link Aggregation

17.1 Overview

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

Link aggregation (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.

The beginning port of each trunk group must be physically connected to form a trunk group.

17.1.1What You Can Do

•Use the Link Aggregation Status screen (Section 17.2 on page 159) to view ports you have configured to be in the trunk group, ports that are currently transmitting data as one logical link in the trunk group and so on.

•Use the Link Aggregation Setting screen (Section 17.3 on page 161) to configure to enable static link aggregation.

•Use the Link Aggregation Control Protocol screen (Section 17.4 on page 163) to enable Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP).

17.1.2What You Need to Know

The Switch supports both static and dynamic link aggregation.

Note: In a properly planned network, it is recommended to implement static link aggregation only. This ensures increased network stability and control over the trunk groups on your Switch.

See Section 17.5.1 on page 164 for a static port trunking example.

 

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GS2200-24 User’s Guide