Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
7-38 Port Configuration
Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
Usingmultiplelinkssimultaneouslytoincreasebandwidthisadesirableswitchfeature,which
canbeaccomplishedifbothsidesagreeonasetofportsthatarebeingusedasaLinkAggregation
Group(LAG).OnceaLAGisformedfromselectedports,problemswithloopingcanbeavoided
sincethe
SpanningTreecantreatthisLAGasasingleport.
Enabledbydefault,theLinkAggregationControlProtocol(LACP)logicallygroupsinterfaces
togethertocreateagreaterbandwidthuplink,orlinkaggregation,accordingtotheIEEE802.3ad
standard.ThisstandardallowstheswitchtodeterminewhichportsareinLAGsand
configure
themdynamically.SincetheprotocolisbasedontheIEEE802.3adspecification,anyswitchfrom
anyvendorthatsupportsthisstandardcanaggregatelinksautomatically.
802.3adLACPaggregationscanalsoberuntoend‐users(thatis,aserver)ortoarouter.
LACP Operation
Foreachaggregatableportinthedevice,LACP:
• Maintainsconfigurationinformation(reflectingtheinherentpropertiesoftheindividuallinks
aswellasthoseestablishedbymanagement)tocontrolaggregation.
•ExchangesconfigurationinformationwithotherdevicestoallocatethelinktoaLink
AggregationGroup(LAG).
• Attachestheporttotheaggregatorused
bytheLAG,anddetachestheportfromthe
aggregatorwhenitisnolongerusedbytheLAG.
•Usesinformationfromthepartnerdevice’slinkaggregationcontrolentitytodecidewhether
toaggregateports.
TheoperationofLACPinvolvesthefollowingactivities:
•Checkingtha tcandidate linkscanactuallybeaggregated.
• Controllingthe
additionofalinktoaLAG,andthecreationofthegroupifnecessary.
• Monitoringthestatusofaggregatedlinkstoensurethattheaggregationisstillvalid.
•RemovingalinkfromaLAGifitsmembershipisnolongervalid,andremovingthegroupifit
nolongerhas
anymemberlinks.
InordertoallowLACPtodeterminewhetherasetoflinksconnecttothesamedevice,andto
determinewhetherthoselinksarecompatiblefromthepointofviewofaggregation,itis
necessarytobeabletoestablish
•Agloballyuniqueidentifierforeachdevicethatparticipates
inlinkaggregation.
Caution: Link aggregation configuration should only be performed by personnel who are
knowledgeable about Spanning Tree and Link Aggregation, and fully understand the ramifications
of modifications beyond device defaults. Otherwise, the proper operation of the network could be
at risk.
Note: Earlier (proprietary) implementations of port aggregation referred to groups of aggregated
ports as “trunks”.
Note: A given link is allocated to, at most, one Link Aggregation Group (LAG) at a time. The
allocation mechanism attempts to maximize aggregation, subject to management controls.