2.6 Ether Channel

LACP (802.3ad)

Link Aggregation Control Protocol


Step 1. Specify the interfaces that compose the EtherChannel group using the interface range interface global configuration mode command. The range keyword allows you to select several interfaces and configure them all together.

Step 2. Create the port channel interface with the channel-group identifier mode active command in interface range configuration mode. The identifier specifies a channel group number. The mode active keywords identify this as an LACP EtherChannel configuration.

Step 3. To change Layer 2 settings on the port channel interface, enter port channel interface configuration mode using the interface port-channel command, followed by the interface identifier. In the example, S1 is configured with an LACP EtherChannel. The port channel is configured as a trunk interface with the allowed VLANs specified.

Configure LACP on a range of interfaces using ‘active’ mode

LACP on a interfaces range using ‘Active’ mode

S1(config)# interface range FastEthernet 0/1 - 2
S1(config-if-range)# shutdown
S1(config-if-range)# channel-group 2 mode active
S1(config-if-range)# no shutdown
S1(config-if-range)# exit

Configure the logical interface to become a trunk

Configuring the logical interface to become a ‘Trunk’

S1(config)# interface port-channel 2
S1(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
S1(config-if)# exit

Configure the allowed VLANS on the Trunk

Allowing VLANS on the Trunk

S1(config)# interface port-channel 2
S1(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,2,20
S1(config-if)# exit

Configure Primary Root on Spanning Tree

At times, a Channel may not be operative because Spanning Tree Protocol placed some ports into blocking mode. It can be the case where such ports are the Gigabit ports and you want to restore them as the primary ports.

Configuring a Switch as the Primary Root in a Spanning Tree

S1(config)# spanning-tree vlan 1 root primary
S1(config)# spanning-tree vlan 1 priority 24576
S1(config)# exit

LACP Complete Configuration example

S1(config)# interface range FastEthernet 0/1 - 2
S1(config-if-range)# shutdown
S1(config-if-range)# channel-group 2 mode active
Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 2 
S1(config-if-range)# exit 
S1(config)# interface port-channel 2
S1(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
S1(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,2,20
S1(config-if)# exit