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. It
provides 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. This depends 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. It 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.
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