December 2005 © Foundry Networks, Inc. 10 - 1
Chapter 10
Configuring Trunk Groups
and Dynamic Link Aggregation
This chapter describes how to configure trunk groups and 802.3ad link aggregation.
• Trunk groups are manually-configured aggregate links containing multiple ports.
• 802.3ad link aggregation is a protocol that dynamically creates and manages trunk groups.
NOTE: You can use both types of trunking on the same device. However, you can use only one type of trunking
for a given port. For example, you can configure port 1/1 as a member of a static trunk group or you can enable
802.3ad link aggregation on the port, but you cannot do both.
This chapter contains the following information:
Trunk Group Overview
The Trunk Group feature allows you to manually configure multiple high-speed load-sharing links between two
Foundry Layer 2 Switches or Layer 3 Switches or between a Foundry Layer 2 Switch and Layer 3 Switch and a
server. You can configure up to 4 ports as a trunk group, supporting transfer rates of up to 8 Gbps of bi-directional
traffic.
In addition to enabling load sharing of traffic, trunk groups provide redundant, alternate paths for traffic if any of the
segments fail.
Table 10.1: Chapter Contents
Description See Page
Trunk group overview 10-1
Configuring a Trunk Group 10-7
Displaying Trunk Group Configuration Information 10-11
Configuring dynamic link aggregation 10-13
Determining the status of aggregate links 10-22
Clearing the negotiated aggregate links table 10-26