CCNP Switch Lab 2-2, Configuring

EtherChannel
Objective

 Configure EtherChannel.

Background
Four switches have just been installed. The distribution layer switches are Catalyst 3560
switches, and the access layer switches are Catalyst 2960 switches. There are
redundant uplinks between the access layer and distribution layer. Usually, only one of
these links could be used; otherwise, a bridging loop might occur. However, using only
one link utilizes only half of the available bandwidth. EtherChannel allows up to eight
redundant links to be bundled together into one logical link. In this lab, you configure
Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP), a Cisco EtherChannel protocol, and Link
Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), an IEEE 802.3ad open standard version of
EtherChannel.

Note: This lab uses Cisco WS-C2960-24TT-L switches with the Cisco IOS image
c2960-lanbasek9-mz.122- 46.SE.bin, and Catalyst 3560-24PS with the Cisco IOS
image c3560-advipservicesk9-mz.122-46.SE.bin. You can use other switches (such as
a 2950 or 3550) and Cisco IOS Software versions if they have comparable capabilities
and features. Depending on the switch model and Cisco IOS Software version, the
commands available and output produced might vary from what is shown in this lab.

Required Resources

 2 switches (Cisco 2960 with the Cisco IOS Release 12.2(46)SE C2960-
LANBASEK9-M image or comparable)
 2 switches (Cisco 3560 with the Cisco IOS Release 12.2(46)SE C3560-
ADVIPSERVICESK9-M image or comparable)
 Ethernet and console cables

Step 1: Prepare the switches for the lab.

Delete vlan.dat, erase the startup configuration, and reload all your switches. Refer to
Lab 1 -1, “Clearing a Switch,” and Lab 1 -2, “Clearing a Switch Connected to a Larger
Network.”
Step 2: Configure basic switch parameters.
a. Assign each switch a hostname according to the topology diagram.
b. Configure ports Fa0/7 through Fa0/12 as trunks. On the 3560 switches, you must first
set the trunk
encapsulation to 802.1Q. On the 2960s, only dot1q is supported, therefore
the switchport trunk
encapsulation command is unavailable, but the mode still needs to be changed to
trunk.

Note: If the ports are configured with dynamic auto mode and you do not set the mode
of the ports to trunk, the links do not form trunks and remain access ports. The default
mode on a 3560 or 2960 switch is dynamic auto. The default mode on a 3550 or 2950
switch is dynamic desirable.
DLS1 example:

1 DLS1# <b>configure terminal</b>

2 Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

3 DLS1(config)# <b>interface range fastEthernet 0/7 - 12</b>

4 DLS1(config-if-range)# <b>switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q</b>

5 DLS1(config-if-range)# <b>switchport mode trunk</b>

6 <b></b>
Step 3: Configure an EtherChannel with Cisco PAgP.

Note: When configuring EtherChannels, it is a recommended best practice to shutdown

the physical ports being grouped on both devices before configuring them into channel
groups. Otherwise, the EtherChannel Misconfig Guard may place these ports into err-
disabled state. The ports and port channel can be re-enabled after the EtherChannel is
configured.

a. The first EtherChannel created for this lab aggregates ports Fa0/11 and Fa0/12
between ALS1 and ALS2. Make sure that you have a trunk link active for those two links
with the show interfaces trunk command.
b. On both switches, add ports Fa0/11 and Fa0/12 to port channel 1 with the channel-
group 1 mode desirable command. The mode desirable option indicates that you
want the switch to actively negotiate to form a PAgP link.

1 ALS1(config)# <b>interface range fastEthernet 0/11 - 12</b>

2 ALS1(config-if-range)# <b>channel-group 1 mode desirable</b>

3 Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 1

c. Configure the logical interface to become a trunk by first entering the interface port-
channel number command and then the switchport mode trunk command. Add this
configuration to both switches.

ALS1(config)# interface port-channel 1
ALS1(config-if)# switchport mode trunk

d. Verify that EtherChannel is working by issuing the show etherchannel

summary command on both switches. This command displays the type of
EtherChannel, the ports utilized, and port states.
e. If the EtherChannel does not come up, you might want to try “flapping” the physical
interfaces on both ends of the EtherChannel. This involves using the shut command on
those interfaces, followed by a no shut command a few seconds later.

The show interfaces trunk and show spanning-tree commands also show the port

channel as one logical link.
Step 4: Configure an 802.3ad LACP EtherChannel.

a. In 2000, the IEEE passed 802.3ad, which is an open standard version of

EtherChannel. Using the previous commands, configure the link between DLS1 and
ALS1 on ports Fa0/7 and Fa0/8 as an LACP EtherChannel. You must use a different
port channel number on ALS1 than 1, because you already used that in the previous
step. To configure a port channel as LACP, use the interface-level command
channel-group number mode active. Active mode indicates that the switch actively
tries to negotiate
that link as LACP, as opposed to PAgP.

1 ALS1(config)# <b>interface range fastEthernet 0/7 - 8</b>

2 ALS1(config-if-range)# <b>channel-group 2 mode active</b>

3 Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 2

4 ALS1(config-if-range)# <b>interface port-channel 2</b>

5 ALS1(config-if)# <b>switchport mode trunk</b>

b. Apply a similar configuration on DLS1. Verify the configuration with the show
etherchannel summary
command.

2 ALS1# <b>show etherchannel summary</b>

3 Flags: D - down P - in port-channel

4 I - stand-alone s - suspended

5 H - Hot-standby (LACP only)

6 R - Layer3 S - Layer2

7 U - in use f - failed to allocate aggregator

8 u - unsuitable for bundling

9 w - waiting to be aggregated

1 d - default port

0 Number of channel-groups in use: 2

1 Number of aggregators: 2

1
1 Group Port-channel Protocol Ports

2 ------+-------------+-----------+----------------------------------------

3 

4 1 Po1(SU) PAgP Fa0/11(P) Fa0/12(P)

5 2 Po2(SU) LACP Fa0/7(P) Fa0/8(P)

6 <b></b>
Step 5: Configure a Layer 3 EtherChannel.

In the previous steps, you configured EtherChannels as Layer 2 trunk connections

between switches. You can also configure EtherChannels as Layer 3 (routed)
connections on switches that support routed ports. Because DLS1 and DLS2 are both
multilayer switches, they can support routed ports.

a. Use the no switchport command on Fa0/11 and Fa0/12 to make them Layer 3 ports,
and then add them to the channel group with the channel-group number mode
desirable command. On the logical interface, issue the no switchport command to
make it a Layer 3 port. Add the IP address 10.0.0.1 for

1 DLS1 and 10.0.0.2 for DLS2. Configure both with a /24 subnet mask.

2 DLS1(config)# <b>interface range fastEthernet 0/11 - 12</b>

3 DLS1(config-if-range)# <b>no switchport</b>

4 DLS1(config-if-range)# <b>channel-group 3 mode desirable</b>

5 Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 3

6 DLS1(config-if-range)# <b>interface port-channel 3</b>

7 DLS1(config-if)# <b>no switchport</b>

8 DLS1(config-if)# <b>ip address 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.0</b>

b. Verify that you have Layer 3 connectivity by attempting to ping the other side of the
link.
1 DLS1# <b>ping 10.0.0.2</b>

2 Type escape sequence to abort.

3 Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 10.0.0.2, timeout is 2 seconds:

4 !!!!!

5 Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 1/1/1 ms

c. If you look at the output of the show etherchannel summary command, you see that
it lists the port channel as a routed port, not a switched port. The RU in parentheses
next to the name means routed and up, as opposed to switched and up (SU).

1 DLS1# <b>show etherchannel summary</b>

2 Flags: D - down P - in port-channel

3 I - stand-alone s - suspended

4 H - Hot-standby (LACP only)

5 R - Layer3 S - Layer2

6 U - in use f - failed to allocate aggregator

7 u - unsuitable for bundling

8 w - waiting to be aggregated

9 d - default port

1 Number of channel-groups in use: 2

0 Number of aggregators: 2

1 Group Port-channel Protocol Ports

1 ------+-------------+-----------+----------------------------------------

1 2 Po2(SU) LACP Fa0/7(P) Fa0/8(P)

2 3 Po3(RU) PAgP Fa0/11(P) Fa0/12(P) <b></b>

1 <b></b>

3
1

6
Step 6: Configure load balancing.

The switches can use different methods to load-balance traffic going through a port
channel. The available methods as well as the default method used varies by hardware
platform. By default, Cisco Catalyst 3560 and Catalyst 2960 switches load-balance
using the source MAC address.

a. You can view the current load-balancing configuration with the show etherchannel
load-balance command.

1 DLS1# <b>show etherchannel load-balance</b>

2 EtherChannel Load-Balancing Operational State (src-mac):

3 Non-IP: Source MAC address

4 IPv4: Source MAC address

5 IPv6: Source IP address

Other methods of load balancing are based on the destination MAC address, both
source and destination MAC addresses, source IP address, destination IP address, and
both source and destination IP addresses. Some older platforms, such as the Cisco
Catalyst 2950 and Catalyst 3550 switches, may not support all of these methods.

b. For this scenario, configure ALS1 to load-balance by both source and destination
MAC addresses using the global configuration command port-channel load-
balance method, where the method is src-dstmac.

1 ALS1(config)# <b>port-channel load-balance src-dst-mac</b>

2 c. Verify the configuration with the <b>show etherchannel load-balance </b>command.

3 ALS1# <b>show etherchannel load-balance</b>

4 EtherChannel Load-Balancing Operational State (src-dst-mac):

5 Non-IP: Source XOR Destination MAC address

6 IPv4: Source XOR Destination MAC address

7 IPv6: Source XOR Destination IP address

8 <b></b>
Challenge

The topology still has redundant links that you can aggregate. Experiment with the other
port channel modes using the question mark on the interface-level command channel-
group number mode ?. Look at the descriptions and implement some port channels in
different ways. If The port mode is set to desirable, auto, active or passive (when PAgP
or LACP are used), the command channel-protocol can be used. It cannot be used
with channel-group number mode on command. The “on” mode statically sets the
EtherChannel protocol without negotiation.

This challenge section is open-ended and can be implemented as desired.

Device Configurations (Instructor version)

Switch DLS1

1 hostname DLS1

2 !

3 interface Port-channel2

4 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

5 switchport mode trunk

6 !

7 interface Port-channel3

8 no switchport

9 ip address 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.0

1 !

0 interface FastEthernet0/7

1 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

1 switchport mode trunk

1 channel-group 2 mode active

2 !

1 interface FastEthernet0/8

3 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

1 switchport mode trunk

4 channel-group 2 mode active

1 !

5 interface FastEthernet0/9

1 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

6 switchport mode trunk

1 !

7 interface FastEthernet0/10

1 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

8 switchport mode trunk

1 !

9 interface FastEthernet0/11

2 no switchport

0 no ip address

2 channel-group 3 mode desirable

1 !

2 interface FastEthernet0/12

2 no switchport

2 no ip address

3 channel-group 3 mode desirable

2 !

4 end

2 <b></b>
5

0
Switch DLS2

1 hostname DLS2

2 !

3 interface Port-channel3

4 no switchport

5 ip address 10.0.0.2 255.255.255.0

6 !

7 interface FastEthernet0/7

8 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

9 switchport mode trunk

1 !

0 interface FastEthernet0/8

1 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

1 switchport mode trunk

1 !

2 interface FastEthernet0/9

1 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

3 switchport mode trunk

1 !

4 interface FastEthernet0/10

1 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

5 switchport mode trunk

1 !

6 interface FastEthernet0/11

1 no switchport

7 no ip address

1 channel-group 3 mode desirable

8 !

1 interface FastEthernet0/12

9 no switchport

2 no ip address

0 channel-group 3 mode desirable

2 !

1 end

2 <b></b>

3
3

4
Switch ALS1

1 hostname ALS1

2 !

3 port-channel load-balance src-dst-mac

4 !

5 interface Port-channel1

6 switchport mode trunk

7 !

8 interface Port-channel2

9 switchport mode trunk

1 !

0 interface FastEthernet0/7

1 switchport mode trunk

1 channel-group 2 mode active

1 !

2 interface FastEthernet0/8

1 switchport mode trunk

3 channel-group 2 mode active

1 !

4 interface FastEthernet0/9

1 switchport mode trunk

5 !

1 interface FastEthernet0/10

6 switchport mode trunk

1 !
7 interface FastEthernet0/11

1 switchport mode trunk

8 channel-group 1 mode desirable

1 !

9 interface FastEthernet0/12

2 switchport mode trunk

0 channel-group 1 mode desirable

2 !

1 end

2 <b></b>

2
3

4
Switch ALS2

1 hostname ALS2

2 !

3 interface Port-channel1

4 switchport mode trunk

5 !

6 interface FastEthernet0/7

7 switchport mode trunk

8 !

9 interface FastEthernet0/8

1 switchport mode trunk

0 !

1 interface FastEthernet0/9

1 switchport mode trunk

1 !

2 interface FastEthernet0/10

1 switchport mode trunk

3 !

1 interface FastEthernet0/11

4 switchport mode trunk

1 channel-group 1 mode desirable

5 !

1 interface FastEthernet0/12
6

0
switchport mode trunk
2
channel-group 1 mode desirable
1
!
2
end
2

6
More Resources

 CCNP Switch Lab Manual with Solutions

 CCNP Switch FAQ
 CCNA Exam Answers Cisco Learning Network
 CCNA Frequently Asked Questions
 CCNA Exam Questions with Explanation