Users Guide

Table Of Contents
1064 Link Aggregation
Deployment Scenarios
MLAG is intended to support higher bandwidth utilization in scenarios
where a redundant Layer-2 network is desired. In such scenarios the effects of
STP on link utilization are profound. Large percentages of links do not carry
data because they are blocked and only a single path through the network
carries traffic.
Figure 28-8. STP Blocking
MLAG reduces some of the bandwidth shortcomings of STP in a Layer-2
network. It provides a reduced convergence period when a port-channel link
goes down and provides more bandwidth because all links can forward traffic.
In the figure below, if SW1 and SW2 form an MLAG with SW3 and SW4,
none of the links are blocked, which means traffic can flow over both links
from SW4 through to SW1 and SW2 over both links from SW1 and SW2 to
SW3.