Configuration Guide User guide

FastIron Configuration Guide 697
53-1002494-02
Chapter
20
Trunk Groups and Dynamic Link Aggregation
Table 131 lists the individual Brocade FastIron switches and the trunk groups and dynamic link
aggregation features they support. These features are supported in the Layer 2, base Layer 3, edge
Layer 3, and full Layer 3 software images, except where explicitly noted.
Trunk group overview
The trunk group feature allows you to manually configure multiple high-speed load-sharing links
between two Brocade Layer 2 switches or Layer 3 switches or between a Brocade Layer 2 switch
and Layer 3 switch and a server.
In addition to enabling load sharing of traffic, trunk groups provide redundant, alternate paths for
traffic if any of the segments fail.
Trunk groups are manually configured aggregate links containing multiple ports. 802.3ad link
aggregation is a protocol that dynamically creates and manages trunk groups.
NOTE
You can use both types of trunking on the same device. However, you can use only one type of
trunking for a given port. For example, you can configure port 1/1 as a member of a static trunk
group or you can enable 802.3ad link aggregation on the port, but you cannot do both.
Figure 62 shows an example of a configuration that uses trunk groups.
TABLE 131 Supported trunk group and dynamic link aggregation features
Feature FESX
FSX 800
FSX 1600
FWS FCX ICX 6610 ICX 6430
ICX 6450
Trunk groups Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Trunk threshold for static trunk groups Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Flexible trunk group membership Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Option to include Layer 2 in trunk hash
calculation
No Yes Yes Yes Yes
802.3ad link aggregation (dynamic trunk
groups)
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Single link LACP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Single link static trunk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Singleton LACP trunk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes