Port Aggregation Protocol - Cisco Catalyst 2960 series Configuration Manual

Information About EtherChannels
The channel-group command binds the physical port and the port-channel interface together. Each
EtherChannel has a port-channel logical interface numbered from 1 to 24. This port-channel interface number
corresponds to the one specified with the channel-group interface configuration command.
Figure 36: Relationship of Physical Ports, Channel Group and Port-Channel Interface
• With Layer 2 ports, use the channel-group interface configuration command to dynamically create the
port-channel interface.
You also can use the interface port-channel port-channel-number global configuration command to
manually create the port-channel interface, but then you must use the channel-group
channel-group-number command to bind the logical interface to a physical port. The
channel-group-number can be the same as the port-channel-number, or you can use a new number. If
you use a new number, the channel-group command dynamically creates a new port channel.
Related Topics
Creating Port-Channel Logical Interfaces
EtherChannel Configuration Guidelines, on page 338
Default EtherChannel Configuration, on page 337
Layer 2 EtherChannel Configuration Guidelines, on page 340
Configuring the Physical Interfaces
EtherChannel Configuration Guidelines, on page 338
Default EtherChannel Configuration, on page 337
Layer 2 EtherChannel Configuration Guidelines, on page 340

Port Aggregation Protocol

The Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP) is a Cisco-proprietary protocol that can be run only on Cisco switches
and on those switches licensed by vendors to support PAgP. PAgP facilitates the automatic creation of
EtherChannels by exchanging PAgP packets between Ethernet ports.
Consolidated Platform Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)E (Catalyst 2960-X Switches)
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