Reference Guide

Managing Trunking Connections
∙ Trunking overview...........................................................................................................................................................................................................467
∙ Supported platforms for trunking......................................................................................................................................................................... 469
∙ Supported configurations for trunking...............................................................................................................................................................469
∙ Requirements for trunk groups..............................................................................................................................................................................469
∙ Recommendations for trunk groups...................................................................................................................................................................470
∙ Configuring trunk groups.............................................................................................................................................................................................471
∙ Enabling trunking..............................................................................................................................................................................................................471
∙ Disabling trunking.............................................................................................................................................................................................................471
∙ Displaying trunking information............................................................................................................................................................................. 472
∙ ISL trunking over long-distance fabrics.............................................................................................................................................................473
∙ EX_Port trunking.............................................................................................................................................................................................................474
∙ F_Port trunking.................................................................................................................................................................................................................475
∙ Displaying F_Port trunking information.............................................................................................................................................................. 481
∙ Disabling F_Port trunking............................................................................................................................................................................................481
∙ Enabling the DCC policy on a trunk area......................................................................................................................................................... 482
Trunking overview
Trunking optimizes the use of bandwidth by allowing a group of links to merge into a single logical link, called a
trunk group . Traffic is
distributed dynamically and in order over this trunk group, achieving greater performance with fewer links. Within the trunk group,
multiple physical ports appear as a single port, thus simplifying management. Trunking also improves system reliability by maintaining
in-order delivery of data and avoiding I/O retries if one link within the trunk group fails.
Trunking is frame-based instead of exchange-based. Because a frame is much smaller than an exchange, this means that frame-based
trunks are more granular and better balanced than exchange-based trunks and provide maximum utilization of links.
The Trunking license is required for any type of trunking, and must be installed on each switch that participates in trunking. For details on
obtaining and installing licensed features, refer to the Fabric OS Software Licensing Guide .
Types of trunking
Trunking can be between two switches, between a switch and an Access Gateway module, or between a switch and a Brocade adapter.
The types of trunking are as follows:
∙ ISL trunking, or E_Port trunking, is configured on an inter-switch link (ISL) between two Fabric OS switches and is applicable
only to E_Ports.
∙ ICL trunking is configured on an inter-chassis link (ICL) between two Brocade DCX 8510 Backbones and/or X6 Directors and
is applicable only to ports on the core blades.
Refer to Inter-chassis Links on page 451 for detailed information about ICL trunking.
∙ EX_Port trunking is configured on an inter-fabric link (IFL) between an FC router (EX_Port) and an edge fabric (E_Port). The
trunk ports are EX_Ports connected to E_Ports.
Refer to EX_Port trunking on page 474 for additional information about EX_Port trunking.
∙ F_Port trunking is configured on a link between a switch and either an Access Gateway module or a Brocade adapter. The trunk
ports are F_Ports (on the switch) connected to N_Ports (on the Access Gateway or adapter).
Brocade Fabric OS Administration Guide, 8.0.1
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