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Link Aggregation Control Protocol

Last Updated : 11 May, 2022

In the process of networking, wired and wireless both are useful methods.
However, wired methods are proven more effective than wireless. But while
networking, it’s troublesome to manage many wires at once. To solve this
problem, link aggregation plays a vital role. since it’s known to carry multiple
ports collectively as a single channel. In other words, link aggregation
combines multiple physical ports as one port, which makes it easy to carry
out the task by the user. Also, it makes the process cost-effective.

The link aggregation control protocol provides an effective method for

bundling several physical links in a single logical link, which enables a
network device to create an automatic aggregation of links, and also
includes the transmission of LACP packets to the different network devices
and implementation it through direct connect device.

Mainly, it improves the bandwidth and resilience of Ethernet networks. With

the use of link aggregation, the idea of integrating several physical
connections into one logical connection can help in developing more durable
communications.

This article will focus on the LACP or link aggregation control protocol. We
will go through its architecture, its working procedure, and its use in
computer networking, as well as how to configure the LACP. and its
advantages.

Link Aggregation Control Protocol:

LACP is an IEEE standard, which is a part of the IEEE 802.3ad specification.

It allows the user to combine numerous physical Ethernet links into one
logical link, which helps create load balancing in the interfaces. LACP Ether
Channel can be configured with a maximum of 16 Ethernet ports of the

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In the process, link aggregation takes place through two different modes,
Active or Passive. Both are briefly explained below:

Active: To form an LACP connection, this interface keeps sending packets

actively.
Passive: On the other hand, in the passive mode, the interface can give a
response to LACP, but cannot initiate itself.

Structure of LACP:

Link aggregation applies to any three bottom layers of the OSI model. Here,
power lines and wireless network devices, which combine multiple
frequency bands, can be a good example of link aggregation at layer1 or the
Physical layer.

In layer2, it usually happens between the switch ports, for instance, Ethernet
frame in LAN or multi-link PPP in WAN, data link layer, or Ethernet MAC
address, which can be either virtual or physical ports.

In the network layer or layer3, it can use the Round-robin scheduling. For
aggregation at layer 3 of the OSI model, hash code computed from fields in
the packet header, or combining both methods, can be used.

It can maintain the balance in network load across all links, regardless of the
aggregation layer. However, it may not be used in some cases to avoid out-
of-order delivery. In most cases, the failover is also included in this kind of
method.

In the process, combining is possible only if either, the majority of interfaces

are sharing the same IP address or the other way is when each interface has
its address. Here, the first one may need both ends of a link to share the
same aggregating procedure, but it is considerably better in terms of
performance.

On the other hand, Load balancing divides the traffic across the interfaces
based on the network socket or layer 4, besides, the channel bonding
indicates a lower-level division of traffic between physical interfaces, either
based on the per-packet or the data link.

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1. The maximum range of a valid number of ports is 1 to 8, which are used

in the channel.
2. To send LACP packets with multiple grouping, the MAC address
01:80:C2:00:00:02 is used.
3. During the process of LACP detection, the LACP packets are sent every
second, and also the keep-alive mechanism for link members can work
faster by the 1sec. and slower by the 30sec. (which is set by default)
4. The option of load-balancing mode is also available, which can be
selected in some cases. But not necessarily at all.
5. The LACP mode contains two main modes, active and passive. Active
mode helps the LACP to run indefinitely. On the other hand, the passive
mode can activate LACP only, once the LACP device is found. Which is
also a default setting.

Standardization of the Link Aggregation:

The standardization of the link aggregation includes the two main standards
of link aggregation control protocol.

1. The 802.3ad IEEE Link Aggregation:

The IEEE 802.3ad of Link aggregation makes it easy for the users to group
Ethernet interfaces at the physical layer to create a single link-layer
interface, often known as a LAG or bundle.

Sometimes the user needs more bandwidth in the network, which is not
possible with a single Ethernet link. However, a high-speed Gigabit Ethernet
link can be very expensive. On the other hand, using IEEE 802.3ad link
aggregation can be a good solution. It can increase port density and
bandwidth at a very less cost. Take an example, suppose there is a need for
450 Mbps of bandwidth for data transmission, but there is only a 100 Mbps
Ethernet link available. In this kind of situation, it is more convenient to
create a LAG bundle of Five 100 Mbps fast Ethernet links than to buy a
single Ethernet link.

As for functionalities, the link aggregation provides protocols, and

procedures, and manages the objects to allow one or more parallel instances
of full-duplex links to be aggregated together, to form a Link Aggregation
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The IEEE 802.1AX-2008 is an upgraded version of 802.3ad IEEE standard,

which is usually used to bundle up the multiple network connections into
the parallel full-duplex point-to-point link, which can be used as a single
point link. this kind of link aggregation provides a higher availability and
transmission speed than the conventional connection.

How to Configure LACP?

1. First of all, enable the LACP, and then, configure the per-port specific
LACP, either in Active mode or Passive mode. Usually, the range of group
numbers goes from 0 to 7.
2. In the second step, the user needs to set a timeout for the LACP session,
which defines the amount of time that a port channel will wait for a
LACPDU before terminating the LACP session. It can go 3sec shorter to
90sec longer.
3. The third step is to set a priority value. It can be high or low accordingly.
By default, it is 255, but the range can go higher to 1-65535.
4. View the LACP configuration.

Here are screenshots for a better understanding of the process:

LACP Port Selection

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LACP Commands

Benefits:

1. Increased bandwidth: The main advantage of the link aggregation

control protocol is that it is capable of combining multiple links into one
logical link. which helps increase the bandwidth of the network.
2. Automatic occurrence of failover and failback: once the link failure
occurs, the traffic under the failed link then automatically turned onto the
other available links. Which makes it a reliable method for data
transmission.
3. Cost-effective method: link aggregation is a cost-effective method. It
combines multiple links into one, which makes it less costly and reliable
at the same time.
4. Less drain on the network address pool: The whole aggregation process
can be assigned one IP address. which makes it a less confusing and
time-saving method.

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