Dell Force10 MXL Blade MXL 10/40GbE Switch IO Module Configuration Guide - Page 233

Port Channel Interfaces Port channel interfaces support link aggregation, as described in IEEE Standard 802.3ad. This section covers the following topics: • Port Channel Definition and Standards • Port Channel Benefits • Port Channel Implementation • Configuration Task List for Port Channel Interfaces Port Channel Definition and Standards Link aggregation is defined by IEEE 802.3ad as a method of grouping multiple physical interfaces into a single logical interface-a link aggregation group (LAG) or port channel. A LAG is "a group of links that appear to a MAC client as if they were a single link" according to IEEE 802.3ad. In FTOS, a LAG is referred to as a port channel interface. A port channel provides redundancy by aggregating physical interfaces into one logical interface. If one physical interface goes down in the port channel, another physical interface carries the traffic. Port Channel Benefits A port channel interface provides many benefits, including easy management, link redundancy, and sharing. Port channels are transparent to network configurations and can be modified and managed as one interface. For example, you configure one IP address for the group and that IP address is used for all routed traffic on the port channel. With this feature, you can create larger-capacity interfaces by utilizing a group of lower-speed links. For example, you can build a 40-Gigabit interface by aggregating four 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces together. If one of the four interfaces fails, traffic is redistributed across the three remaining interfaces. Port Channel Implementation FTOS supports two types of port channels: • Static-port channels that are statically configured • Dynamic-port channels that are dynamically configured using the link aggregation control protocol (LACP). For more information, refer to Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). Interfaces | 231