Port Aggregation & Load Balancing By: Joe B., Nabeel O. Miguel & Mufaddal J.

Objectives Switch Configuration Port Aggregatioon Port Channels Fast Etherchannels Load Balancing

Etherchannels The EtherChannel provides full-duplex bandwidth up to 800 Mbps (Fast EtherChannel) or 2 Gbps (Gigabit EtherChannel) between your switch and another switch or host. Each EtherChannel can consist of up to eight compatibly configured Ethernet interfaces. All interfaces in each EtherChannel must be the same speed, and all must be configured as Layer 2 interfaces.

Port Channels EtherChannel consists of individual Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet links bundled into a single logical link

EtherChannel Modes Auto Places an interface into a passive negotiating state, in which the interface responds to PAgP packets it receives but does not initiate PAgP packet negotiation. This setting minimizes the transmission of PAgP packets. Desirable Places an interface into an active negotiating state, in which the interface initiates negotiations with other interfaces by sending PAgP packets. On Forces the interface to channel without PAgP. With the on mode, a usable EtherChannel exists only when an interface group in the on mode is connected to another interface group in the on mode.

Switch Configuration Switch#config t Switch(config)#int fa 0/7 Switch(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode desirable Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 1 Switch(config-if)#exit Switch(config)#int fa 0/8 Switch(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode desirable Switch(config-if)#exit Switch(config)#int fa 0/9 Switch(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode desirable Switch(config-if)#exit

Switch Configuration Switch#sh run Building configuration... Current configuration : 1531 bytes ! version 12.1 no service single-slot-reload-enable no service pad service timestamps debug uptime service timestamps log uptime no service password-encryption ! hostname Switch !! ip subnet-zero ! spanning-tree extend system-id !! interface Port-channel1 no ip address no ip address! interface FastEthernet0/2 no ip address………… no ip address…………! interface FastEthernet0/7 no ip address no ip address channel-group 1 mode desirable channel-group 1 mode desirable! interface FastEthernet0/8 no ip address no ip address channel-group 1 mode desirable channel-group 1 mode desirable! interface FastEthernet0/9 no ip address no ip address channel-group 1 mode desirable channel-group 1 mode desirable! interface FastEthernet0/10 no ip address no ip address! ! interface FastEthernet0/24 no ip address no ip address!

Switch Config. (Cont.) interface Vlan1 no ip address no ip address no ip route-cache no ip route-cache shutdown shutdown! ip http server !! line con 0 line vty 5 15 !End Switch#config t Switch(config)#port-channel load-balance dst-mac Switch(config)#end Switch#show etherchannel l Destination MAC address

Channel-Group Each EtherChannel has a logical port-channel interface numbered from 1 to 6.

Load Distribution and Forwarding Methods Load Distribution and Forwarding Methods

Default EtherChannel Configuration Channel groups None assigned. PAgP mode No default. PAgP learn method Aggregate-port learning on all interfaces. PAgP priority 128 on all interfaces. (Changing this value on Catalyst 2950 switches has no effect.) Load balancing Load distribution on the switch is based on the source-MAC address of the incoming packet.

Configuring EtherChannels Configure Layer 2 EtherChannels by configuring the Ethernet interfaces with the channel-group interface configuration command, which creates the port-channel logical interface. Note: Layer 2 interfaces must be connected and functioning for IOS to create port-channel interfaces Note: Layer 2 interfaces must be connected and functioning for IOS to create port-channel interfaces

Configuring EtherChannels Step 1: configure terminal Step 2 interface interface-id 1) Enter global configuration mode 2) Enter interface configuration mode, and specify a physical interface to configure. Valid interfaces include physical interfaces. Up to eight interfaces of the same type and speed can be configured for the same group.

Configuring EtherChannels Step 3: channel-group channel-group-number mode {auto [non-silent] | desirable [non-silent] | on} Step 4: end 3) Assign the interface to a channel group, and specify the PAgP mode. The default mode is auto silent. For channel-group- number, the range is 1 to 6. Each EtherChannel can have up to eight compatibly configured Ethernet interfaces. 4) Return to privileged EXEC mode

Configuring EtherChannels Step 5: show running- config Step 6: copy running- config startup-config To remove an interface from the EtherChannel group, use the no channel-group interface configuration command 5) Verify your entries. 6) (Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.

Configuring EtherChannel Load Balancing This section describes how to configure EtherChannel load balancing by using source-based or destination-based forwarding methods Beginning in privileged EXEC mode to configure EtherChannel load balancing

Configuring EtherChannel Load Balancing Step 1: configure terminal Step 2: port-channel load- balance {dst-mac | -mac} Step 3: end Step 4: show etherchannel load-balance Step 5: copy running-config startup-config To return EtherChannel load balancing to the default configuration, use the no port- channel load-balance global configuration command. 1) Enter global configuration mode. 2) Configure an EtherChannel load-balancing method. The default is -mac. 3) Return to privileged EXEC mode 4) Verify your entries 5) (Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.

Commands for Displaying EtherChannel and PAgP Status show etherchannel [channel-group-number] {brief | detail | load- balance | port | port- channel | summary} show pagp {channel- group-number} {counters | internal | neighbor} Displays EtherChannel information in a brief, detailed, and one-line summary form. Also displays the load-balance or frame-distribution scheme, port, and port- channel information. Displays PAgP information such as traffic information, the internal PAgP configuration, and neighbor information

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