Link Aggregation - FibroLAN Falcon Gen-3 M-Class User Manual

Falcon M-Class | User Guide
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Link Aggregation

LACP is an IEEE 802.3ad standard protocol. The Link Aggregation Control Protocol, allows bundling
several physical ports together to form a single logical port.
Link aggregation bundles multiple ports (member ports) together into a single logical link. It is
primarily used to increase available bandwidth without introducing loops in the network and to
improve resiliency against faults. A link aggregation group (LAG) can be established with individual
links being added or removed. This enables bandwidth to be incrementally scaled based on
changing requirements. A link aggregation group can be quickly reconfigured if faults are identified.
Link aggregation (or IEEE 802.3ad) uses multiple Ethernet network links/ports in parallel to increase
the link speed beyond the limits of any one single port, and to increase the redundancy for higher
availability.
Two switches directly connected over several links can negotiate as to which ports should be
selected as active members of an aggregation group.
A group of ports is selected to belong to a specific group ID (trunk) in order to generate an
aggregated link.
Typically, the ports used in an aggregated link should be of the same type.
Link aggregation configuration is performed in two variants.
•
Static – This mode is used to manually select the ports of the group.
•
Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) – In this mode two switches which are directly
connected over several physical links, can negotiate which ports should be selected as
active members of a group.
LACP works by sending frames (LACPDUs) down all links which have the protocol enabled.
If it finds a device on the other end of the link which has also the LACP enabled, it will also
independently send frames along the same links enabling the two devices to detect multiple links
between themselves and the combine them into a single logical link.
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