• EtherChannel or POS Channel—Cisco proprietary technology that allows the user to configure links to
join a bundle, but has no mechanisms to check whether the links in a bundle are compatible.(EtherChannel
applies to Ethernet interfaces, and POS Channel applies to POS interfaces.)
Features and Compatible Characteristics of Link Bundles
Link bundles support these features:
• ACL
• Basic IP
• Basic MPLS
• MPLS VPN
• Sampled Netflow
• BGP Policy Accounting
• HSRP/VRRP
• VLAN Bundling (Ethernet only)
• Inter-AS
• WRED/MDRR per member interface.
The following list describes the properties and limitations of link bundles:
• A bundle contains links, each of which has LACP enabled or disabled. If a bundle contains links, some
that have LACP enabled and some that have LACP disabled, the links with LACP disabled are not
aggregated in the bundle.
• Bundle membership can span across several modular services cards that are installed in a single router
and across SPAS in the same service card.
• Physical layer and link layer configuration are performed on individual member links of a bundle.
• Configuration of network layer protocols and higher layer applications is performed on the bundle itself.
• IPv4 and IPv6 addressing is supported on Ethernet link bundles.
• For Ethernet link bundling, links within a single bundle should have the same speed.
• For POS link bundling, the links within a single bundle can have varying speeds. The fastest link can be
set to a maximum speed that is four times greater than the slowest link.
• Mixed bandwidth bundle member configuration is only supported when 1:1 redundancy is configured
(this means that a 1 GigabitEthernet member can only be configured as the backup of the 10
GigabitEthernet interface).
• Mixed link bundle mode is supported only when active standby operation is configured (usually with
the lower speed link in standby mode).
• A bundle can be administratively enabled or disabled.
• Each individual link within a bundle can be administratively enabled or disabled.
• If a MAC address is not set on the bundle, the bundle MAC address is obtained from a pool of pre-assigned
MAC addresses stored in EEPROM of the chassis midplane.
• Each link within a bundle can be configured to allow different keepalive periods on different members.
• Load balancing (the distribution of data between member links) is done by flow instead of by packet.
Interface and Hardware Component Configuration Guide for Cisco NCS 6000 Series Routers, IOS XR Release 6.4.x
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Configuring Link Bundling
Features and Compatible Characteristics of Link Bundles