About Portchannels - HP Cisco MDS 9216 - Fabric Switch Configuration Manual

S e n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n c o m m e n t s t o m d s f e e d b a c k - d o c @ c i s c o . c o m
Configuring PortChannels
PortChannels refer to the aggregation of multiple physical interfaces into one logical interface to provide
higher aggregated bandwidth, load balancing, and link redundancy. PortChannels can connect to interfaces
across switching modules, so a failure of a switching module cannot bring down the PortChannel link.
This chapter discusses the PortChannel feature provided in the switch and includes the following
sections:
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About PortChannels

A PortChannel has the following functionality:
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OL-16184-01, Cisco MDS SAN-OS Release 3.x
About PortChannels, page 23-1
PortChannel Configuration, page 23-6
Interfaces in a PortChannel, page 23-13
PortChannel Protocol, page 23-16
PortChannel Configuration Verification, page 23-20
Default Settings, page 23-20
Provides a point-to-point connection over ISL (E ports) or EISL (TE ports). Multiple links can be
combined into a PortChannel.
Increases the aggregate bandwidth on an ISL by distributing traffic among all functional links in the
channel.
Load balances across multiple links and maintains optimum bandwidth utilization. Load balancing
is based on the source ID, destination ID, and exchange ID (OX ID).
Provides high availability on an ISL. If one link fails, traffic previously carried on this link is switched
to the remaining links. If a link goes down in a PortChannel, the upper protocol is not aware of it. To
the upper protocol, the link is still there, although the bandwidth is diminished. The routing tables
are not affected by link failure. PortChannels may contain up to 16 physical links and may span
multiple modules for added high availability.
See the "Fail-Over Scenarios for PortChannels and FSPF Links" section on page 32-3
Note
fail-over scenarios.
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C H A P T E R
Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI Configuration Guide
for
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