Configuring Link Bundling; Interface And Hardware Component Configuration Guide For Cisco Ncs 5500 Series Routers, Ios Xr Release - Cisco NCS 5500 Series Configuration Manual

Configuring Link Bundling

The Link Bundling feature allows you to group multiple point-to-point links together into one logical link
and provide higher bidirectional bandwidth, redundancy, and load balancing between two routers. A virtual
interface is assigned to the bundled link. The component links can be dynamically added and deleted from
the virtual interface.
The virtual interface is treated as a single interface on which one can configure an IP address and other
software features used by the link bundle. Packets sent to the link bundle are forwarded to one of the links
in the bundle.
A link bundle is simply a group of ports that are bundled together and act as a single link. The advantages
of link bundles are as follows:
• Multiple links can span several line cards to form a single interface. Thus, the failure of a single link
does not cause a loss of connectivity.
• Bundled interfaces increase bandwidth availability, because traffic is forwarded over all available
members of the bundle. Therefore, traffic can flow on the available links if one of the links within a
bundle fails. Bandwidth can be added without interrupting packet flow.
All the individual links within a single bundle must be of the same type and the same speed.
Cisco IOS XR software supports the following method of forming bundles of Ethernet interfaces:
• IEEE 802.3ad-Standard technology that employs a Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) to
ensure that all the member links in a bundle are compatible. Links that are incompatible or have failed
are automatically removed from a bundle.
• Features and Compatible Characteristics of Ethernet Link Bundles, page 92
• Configuring Ethernet Link Bundles, page 93
• Configuring LACP Fallback, page 97
• Configuring EFP Load Balancing on an Ethernet Link Bundle, page 98
• VLANs on an Ethernet Link Bundle, page 100
• Configuring VLAN over Bundles, page 101
• LACP Short Period Time Intervals, page 105
• Configuring the Default LACP Short Period Time Interval, page 106
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