Port Group (EC)

With the Port Group (EtherChannel) page, you can:

• Create Fast EtherChannel or Gigabit EtherChannel port groups.
• Change the distribution for a group.
• Remove a port from a port group.

Note: On this page, clicking the Apply and Cancel buttons has no effect.

Fast EtherChannel and Gigabit EtherChannel port groups are logical high-speed connections between switches or between switches and servers. Port groups can also provide redundant links between switches.

The switch treats the port group as a single logical port; therefore, when you create a port group, the switch uses the configuration of the first port for all ports added to the group. After the group is created, changing STP or VLAN membership parameters for one port in the group automatically changes the parameters for all ports.

One port in each group carries all unknown multicast, broadcast, and STP packets.

Port Group Restrictions

Any port, except an ATM port, can belong to a port group, but the following restrictions apply:

• No port group member can be configured for port monitoring.
• No port group member can be enabled for port security.
• Port group members must belong to the same set of VLANs and must be either all static-access, all multi-VLAN, or all trunk ports (Enterprise Edition Software only).
• Port group members must be all Fast EtherChannel or all Gigabit EtherChannel ports. Do not mix the two port types within a port group.
• Dynamic-access ports (Enterprise Edition Software only) cannot be grouped with any other port, not even with other dynamic-access ports.

Creating a Fast EtherChannel or Gigabit EtherChannel Port Group

You can create up to 12 port groups. Each can be all source-based, all destination-based, or a combination of both group types. All ports within a group must be the same type; for example, they must be all source-based or all destination-based ports.

A source-based port group can contain up to eight members. A destination-based port group can contain an unlimited number of members. By default, all port groups are configured for source-based forwarding.

To configure a port group:

1. From the Port drop-down list, select a port to be added to the group.
   Note: A network port cannot be in a destination-based port group. An ATM port cannot be in a port group.
2. Click <<Add<<.
   The port appears in the group list.
3. When adding the last port to the group, select either the Source (the default) or Destination checkbox.
   The forwarding method applied to the last port in the group applies to all ports in the port group.

Note: By default, a switch forwards traffic to a port group based on the packet source address. If you configure a static address for a port group, configure the switch to forward packets from the static address to all ports in the group to eliminate the chance of lost packets. If you set the port group to forward packets based on the destination addresses, configure the switch to forward packets destined for the static address to only one port in the port group. Otherwise, the destination address will receive duplicate packets.

Changing the Distribution for a Group

To change the distribution for a group:

1. Select the new Source or Destination checkbox.
2. Click Apply.

Removing a Port from a Port Group

When you remove a port from a group, you must remove it on both ends of the link.

To remove a port from a port group:

1. From the Group list, select a port.
2. Click Remove.