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Link Aggregation Groups

Link Aggregation Groups (LAG) combine multiple network links between two switches into a single logical trunk to provide higher bandwidth and redundancy. LAG allows bandwidth to be increased cost effectively without hardware upgrades by aggregating multiple 1 Gigabit Ethernet ports. The Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) provides automation for LAG configuration and maintenance by enabling ports to automatically add and remove from trunk groups. LACP helps ensure all links are connected to the correct LAG and can distribute traffic across multiple links.

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Naser Khoshbakht
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23 views3 pages

Link Aggregation Groups

Link Aggregation Groups (LAG) combine multiple network links between two switches into a single logical trunk to provide higher bandwidth and redundancy. LAG allows bandwidth to be increased cost effectively without hardware upgrades by aggregating multiple 1 Gigabit Ethernet ports. The Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) provides automation for LAG configuration and maintenance by enabling ports to automatically add and remove from trunk groups. LACP helps ensure all links are connected to the correct LAG and can distribute traffic across multiple links.

Uploaded by

Naser Khoshbakht
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Link Aggregation Groups (LAG) and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) are

methods to provide more than one link between two switches and automate its
configuration and maintenance, respectively. Let us look at why LAG/LACP are required
and their advantages, in this article.

LAG – Link Aggregation Groups

To connect two
switches, we use a cable to connect two physical ports (one in each of the switches) and
configure them as a trunk. But a single trunk has bandwidth limitations. We can use
stacking to obtain higher bandwidth, but stacking is mostly proprietary and supports a
limited distance. In order to obtain high-bandwidth trunk lines between two switches (or
two devices), we can use LAG – Link Aggregation Group.

LAG is a process of inter-connecting two switches with two or more links between them
(or between a switch and a server), so that multiple links are combined into one bigger
virtual link that can carry a higher (combined) bandwidth. All these multiple links
participating in a Link Aggregation Group act like a single large (virtual) link.
If two switches support 1 GE ports, multiple ports from one switch can be connected to
multiple ports in another switch to provide high-bandwidth connections (2 GE, 3 GE, etc)
between the switches.

A practical situation to consider: If two switches are connected to each other with a
bandwidth of 1 GE and the network administrator feels that it is insufficient, they can
either buy another switch with 10 GE trunk support (hardware upgrade, more expensive)
or just connect multiple ports between these two switches and configure them as a Link
Aggregation Group. This approach is not only inexpensive (doesn’t require hardware
upgrades), but also allows a granular upgrade of interconnect bandwidth between the two
switches.

LAG is also used for increasing link reliability. Since multiple links connect two devices,
even if one fails the other links keep carrying the information and the traffic on the failed
link is also transferred to them. That way, loss of a single link between two switches
doesn’t stop the communication between them. Multiple links participating in a LAG can
also load-balance the traffic between them so that traffic is evenly distributed.

The number of links that can combine to form a larger link between two devices is
generally restricted by the hardware vendor. LAG is a static protocol and needs to be
configured individually for each pair of physical ports. LAG is a standard.

LACP – Link Aggregation Control


Protocol
LACP is similar to LAG, where multiple ports/links between two switches combine to
provide higher bandwidth links between them. Additionally, ports that are LACP enabled
can automatically configure themselves into trunk groups, without any manual
configuration/intervention.

The main purpose of LACP is to automatically add/delete individual links to the


aggregate bundle, while adding new links and also after recovering from link failures.
LACP can monitor to verify if all the links are connected to the right group. Basically,
LACP helps automate the configuration and maintenance of LAG’s.

LACP is a dynamic protocol. It is sufficient if multiple ports on various devices are


LACP enabled, once. LACP is a standard and hence LACP can be implemented between
multi-vendor switches. LACP should be enabled on the trunk ports initially in order for
both the participating switches/devices that support the standard, to use it. If there are
more links (between two devices) than what is supported by the vendor for LACP, the
additional links are placed in stand-by mode and activated automatically when a link
fails.

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