Configuring Link Aggregation - Cisco SF 300-08 Administration Manual

Port Management

Configuring Link Aggregation

STEP 6
Configuring Link Aggregation
Cisco Small Business 300 Series Managed Switch Administration Guide
- Port protection is not subject to VLAN membership. Devices connected
to protected ports are not allowed to communicate with each other, even
if they are members of the same VLAN.
- Both ports and LAGs can be defined as protected or unprotected.
• Member in LAG—Displays the LAG, if the port is a member of a LAG.
Click Apply. The Port Settings are modified, and the switch is updated.
Configuring another port by selecting the desired port from the Port field at the
top of the Edit Port Setting Page.
Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) is part of an IEEE specification (802.3ad)
that allows you to bundle several physical ports together to form a single logical
channel. Link aggregation optimizes port usage by linking multiple ports together
to form a Link Aggregation Group (LAG). LAGs multiply the bandwidth, increase
port flexibility, and provide link redundancy between two devices.
Two types of LAGs are supported:
• Static—A LAG is static if the LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) is
disabled. You configure a static LAG with a group of ports that are always
active members of the LAG.
• Dynamic—A LAG is dynamic if it is LACP-enabled. You define a group of
ports as candidate ports of a dynamic LAG. The LACP determines which
candidate ports from the LAG are active member ports. The non-active
member ports are standby ports ready to replace any failing active
member ports.
Load Balancing
Traffic forwarded to a LAG is load-balanced across the active member ports, thus
achieving an effective bandwidth close to the aggregate bandwidth of all the
active member ports of the LAG.
Traffic load balancing over the active member ports of a LAG is managed by a
hash-based distribution function that distributes Unicast traffic based on Layer 2
or Layer 3 packet header information. Multicast packets behave in the same way
as Unicast packets.
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