Cisco EtherChannel technology builds upon standards-based 802.3 full-duplex Fast
Ethernet to provide network managers with a reliable, high-speed solution for the campus
network backbone. EtherChannel technology provides bandwidth scalability within the
campus by providing up to 800 Mbps, 8 Gbps, or 80 Gbps of aggregate bandwidth for a Fast
EtherChannel, Gigabit EtherChannel, or 10 Gigabit EtherChannel connection, respectively.
Each of these connection speeds can vary in amounts equal to the speed of the links used
(100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, or 10 Gbps). Even in the most bandwidth-demanding situations,
EtherChannel technology helps to aggregate traffic, keeps oversubscription to a minimum,
and provides effective link-resiliency mechanisms.
Cisco EtherChannel Benefits
Cisco EtherChannel technology allows network managers to provide higher bandwidth
among servers, routers, and switches than a single-link Ethernet technology can
provide.
Cisco EtherChannel technology provides incremental scalable bandwidth and the
following benefits:
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Standards-based—Cisco EtherChannel technology builds upon IEEE
802.3-compliant Ethernet by grouping multiple, full-duplex point-to-point
links. EtherChannel technology uses IEEE 802.3 mechanisms for full-duplex
autonegotiation and autosensing, when applicable.
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Flexible incremental bandwidth—Cisco EtherChannel technology provides
bandwidth aggregation in multiples of 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, or 10 Gbps,
depending on the speed of the aggregated links. For example, network
managers can deploy EtherChannel technology that consists of pairs of
full-duplex Fast Ethernet links to provide more than 400 Mbps between the
wiring closet and the data center. In the data center, bandwidths of up to
800 Mbps can be provided between servers and the network backbone to provide
large amounts of scalable incremental bandwidth.
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Load balancing—Cisco EtherChannel technology comprises several Fast Ethernet
links and is capable of load balancing traffic across those links. Unicast,
broadcast, and multicast traffic is evenly distributed across the links,
providing improved performance and redundant parallel paths. When a link
fails, traffic is redirected to the remaining links within the channel
without user intervention and with minimal packet loss.
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Resiliency and fast convergence—When a link fails, Cisco EtherChannel
technology provides automatic recovery by redistributing the load across the
remaining links. When a link fails, Cisco EtherChannel technology redirects
traffic from the failed link to the remaining links in less than one second.
This convergence is transparent to the end user—no host protocol timers
expire and no sessions are dropped.