Switch User Manual

Configuring SmartTrunks
Device Control Menu Screens 7-19
7.7 CONFIGURING SMARTTRUNKS
Port trunks can be used to increase the bandwidth of a network connection or to ensure fault
recovery. You can configure up six trunk connections (combining 2 through 8 ports into a fat pipe)
between any two switches. However, before making any physical connections between devices,
use the Trunk Configuration menu to specify the trunk on the devices at both ends. When using a
port trunk, note that:
• The trunk ports must all be front panel ports.
• Ports can only be assigned to one trunk.
• The ports in a trunk must belong to the same switch chip (refer to Table 7-1).
• The ports at both ends of a connection must be configured as trunk ports.
• The ports at both ends of a trunk must be configured in an identical manner, including speed,
duplex mode, and VLAN assignments.
• The communication mode must be configured identically at both ends of the trunk.
• None of the ports in a trunk can be configured as a mirror source port or mirror target port.
• All the ports in a trunk have to be treated as a whole when moved from/to, added or deleted from
a VLAN.
• The Spanning Tree Algorithm will treat all the ports in a trunk as a whole.
• You must enable the trunk prior to connecting any cable between the switches to avoid creating
a loop.
• You must disconnect all trunk port cables or disable the trunk ports before removing a port trunk
to avoid creating a loop.
Parameter Description
Mirror Source Port The port on which traffic will be monitored.
Mirror Target Port The port that will duplicate or “mirror” all the traffic on the
monitored port.
Status Enables or disables the mirror function.