ZyXEL Communications MES-2110 manual Dynamic Link Aggregation, 117

16

Link Aggregation

16.1 Overview

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.

The MES-2110 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 MES-2110.

See Section 16.3 on page 118 for a static port trunking example.

16.2 Dynamic Link Aggregation

The MES-2110 adheres to the IEEE 802.3ad standard for static and dynamic (LACP) port trunking.

The MES-2110 supports the link aggregation IEEE802.3ad standard. This standard describes the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), which is a protocol that dynamically creates and manages trunk groups.

When you enable LACP link aggregation on a port, the port can automatically negotiate with the ports at the remote end of a link to establish trunk groups. LACP also allows port redundancy, that is, if an operational port fails, then one of the “standby” ports become operational without user intervention. Please note that:

MES-2110 User’s Guide

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