Configuring A Static Channel - Dell PowerEdge 1655MC System Configuration Manual

In Figure 1-5, a four-port channel is set up on the external ports of the network switch
modules. A channel is a group of multiple physical lines where a control protocol logically
makes the links aggregate into a single virtual link. The channel provides high bandwidth
and link failover availability. You can select the number of uplink ports to aggregate (2 to 4)
depending on your bandwidth needs. The more uplink ports that are aggregated, the more
bandwidth you have into and out of the system. A channel can be created either statically or
dynamically, depending on the capabilities of the external network switch. The static
channel is compatible with Cisco EtherChannel. The dynamic channel uses IEEE 802.3ad
link aggregation control protocol (LACP).
NOTE: Do not connect multiple uplink ports to an external network switch without
using a link aggregation protocol. The spanning tree protocol blocks three of the
network connections to resolve the loops.
A channel can be configured using the network switch module browser-based GUI (using
the Link Aggregation tab) or through the command-line interface using the serial port. The
ports on the external switch must have EtherChannel- or LACP- compatible channels
configured.

Configuring a Static Channel

To configure a static channel on the network switch module from the system management
module serial port, perform the following steps:
Type connect switch-x, where x is the switch number.
1
At the # prompt, type:
2
#Config
(config)#interface port-channel 1
(config-if)#exit
(config)#interface ethernet 1/7
(config-if)#channel-group 1
(config)#exit
where # indicates the privileged mode, (config) represents the global configuration
mode, and (config-if) represents the interface configuration mode.
Repeat the commands in step 2 on ports 8, 9, and 10.
3
A static trunk of the four uplink ports is created.
Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the second network switch module.
4
To save your configuration, type #copy running-config startup-config.
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System Configuration Guide