Load Sharing; Configuring Load Sharing - Extreme Networks BlackDiamond 6800 User Manual

Table 3-1: Port Commands (continued)
Command
show slot <slot>
L
OAD
Load sharing with BlackDiamond systems allows you to increase bandwidth and
resilience by using a group of ports to carry traffic in parallel between switches. The
sharing algorithm allows the BlackDiamond to use multiple ports as a single logical
port. For example, VLANs see the load-sharing group as a single logical port. The
algorithm also guarantees packet sequencing between clients.
If a port in a load-sharing group fails, traffic is redistributed to the remaining ports in
the load-sharing group. If the failed port becomes active again, traffic is redistributed to
include that port.
Load sharing is most useful in cases where the traffic transmitted from the
BlackDiamond to the load-sharing group is sourced from an equal or greater number of
ports on the system. For example, traffic transmitted to a 2-port load-sharing group
should originate from a minimum of two other ports on the same system.
This feature is supported between BlackDiamond systems and Summit switches only,
but may be compatible with third-party "trunking" or link-aggregation algorithms.
Check with an Extreme Networks technical representative for more information.
C
ONFIGURING
To set up the BlackDiamond to load share among ports, you must create a load-sharing
group of ports. Load-sharing groups are defined according to the following rules:
• Ports on the I/O module are divided into groups of two or four.
• Port in a load-sharing group must be part of the same I/O module.
• Ports in a load-sharing group must be contiguous.
B D U G
LACK IAMOND SER UIDE
S
HARING
L S
OAD HARING
Description
Displays slot-specific information, including the
following:
Card type, serial number, part number
Current state
Port information
L S
OAD HARING
3-7