Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series, Configuration Manual

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Information About EtherChannels
EtherChannel Overview
EtherChannel provides fault-tolerant high-speed links between switches, routers, and servers. You can use
the EtherChannel to increase the bandwidth between the wiring closets and the data center, and you can deploy
it anywhere in the network where bottlenecks are likely to occur. EtherChannel provides automatic recovery
for the loss of a link by redistributing the load across the remaining links. If a link fails, EtherChannel redirects
traffic from the failed link to the remaining links in the channel without intervention.
An EtherChannel consists of individual Ethernet links bundled into a single logical link.
Figure 33: Typical EtherChannel Configuration
The EtherChannel provides full-duplex bandwidth up to 8 Gb/s (Gigabit EtherChannel) or 80 Gb/s (10-Gigabit
EtherChannel) between your switch and another switch or host.
Each EtherChannel can consist of up to eight compatibly configured Ethernet ports.
The LAN Lite feature set supports up to six EtherChannels. The LAN Base feature set supports up to 24
EtherChannels.
Related Topics
Configuring Layer 2 EtherChannels , on page 342
EtherChannel Configuration Guidelines, on page 338
Default EtherChannel Configuration, on page 337
Layer 2 EtherChannel Configuration Guidelines, on page 340
Consolidated Platform Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)E (Catalyst 2960-X Switches)
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Information About EtherChannels