User Guide

CHAPTER

13-1

Catalyst 6500 Series Switch Cisco IOS Software Configuration Guide—Release 12.1 E

78-14099-04

Configuring EtherChannels

This chapter describes how to configure EtherChannels on the Catalyst 6500 series switch Layer 2 or

Layer 3 LAN ports.

Note • For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this chapter, refer to the

Catalyst 6500 Series Switch Cisco IOS Command Reference publication.

• The commands in the following sections can be used on all LAN ports in Catalyst 6500 series

switches, including the ports on the supervisor engine and a redundant supervisor engine.

• Release 12.1(13)E and later releases support the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol

(LACP).

• The WS-X6548-GE-TX and WS-X6548V-GE-TX fabric-enabled switching modules do not support

more than 1 Gbps of traffic per EtherChannel, except when the switch is operating in truncated

mode.

• The WS-X6148-GE-TX and WS-X6148V-GE-TX switching modules do not support more than

1 Gbps of traffic per EtherChannel.

This chapter consists of these sections:

• Understanding How EtherChannels Work, page 13-1

• EtherChannel Feature Configuration Guidelines and Restrictions, page 13-5

• Configuring EtherChannels, page 13-6

Understanding How EtherChannels Work

These sections describe how EtherChannels work:

• EtherChannel Feature Overview, page 13-2

• Understanding How EtherChannels Are Configured, page 13-2

• Understanding Port Channel Interfaces, page 13-5

• Understanding Load Balancing, page 13-5