Link Aggregation on WNM using Switch 14-24 FPOE

Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs) enhance port utilization by combining multiple ports into a unified, higher-bandwidth link. This aggregation boosts bandwidth and enhances port versatility for the switch. Link Aggregation is typically employed to connect high-bandwidth network devices, such as servers, to the network backbone.

The ports involved are termed members of a port trunk group. Since all trunk group ports must be set up to function identically, the configuration applied to one port extends to all others within the trunk group. Consequently, configuring any port within the trunk group suffices. Each data packet consistently travels through the same port within the trunk group, ensuring orderly receipt of individual frames. Traffic distribution across LAG ports is balanced using Aggregate Arithmetic. If one or more ports lose connectivity, their traffic is rerouted through unaffected ports to maintain connection reliability.

LACP is a dynamic protocol which helps to automate the configuration and maintenance of LAG’s. The main purpose of LACP is to automatically configure individual links to an aggregate bundle, while adding new links and helping to recover from link failures if the need arises. LACP can monitor to verify if all the links are connected to the authorized group. LACP is a standard in computer networking, hence LACP should be enabled on the Switch’s trunk ports initially in order for both the participating Switches/devices that support the standard, to use it.