CCNP Switch Certification Guide: Aggregating Switch Links

This chapter presents topics that you need to master for the CCNP SWITCH exam, focusing on technologies that you can use in a campus network to provide higher bandwidth and reliability between switches.

From the Book

This chapter covers the following topics that you need to master for the CCNP SWITCH exam:

• Switch Port Aggregation with EtherChannel—This section discusses the concept of aggregating, or "bundling," physical ports into a single logical link. Methods for load balancing traffic across the physical links also are covered.
• EtherChannel Negotiation Protocols—This section discusses two protocols that dynamically negotiate and control EtherChannels: Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP), a Cisco proprietary protocol, and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), a standards-based protocol.
• EtherChannel Configuration—This section discusses the Catalyst switch commands needed to configure EtherChannel.
• Troubleshooting an EtherChannel—This section gives a brief summary of things to consider and commands to use when an aggregated link is not operating properly.

In previous chapters, you learned about connecting switches and organizing users and devices into common workgroups. Using these principles, end users can be given effective access to resources both on and off the campus network. However, today's mission-critical applications and services demand networks that provide high availability and reliability.

This chapter presents technologies that you can use in a campus network to provide higher bandwidth and reliability between switches.

"Do I Know This Already?" Quiz

The "Do I Know This Already?" quiz allows you to assess whether you should read this entire chapter thoroughly or jump to the "Exam Preparation Tasks" section. If you are in doubt based on your answers to these questions or your own assessment of your knowledge of the topics, read the entire chapter. Table 6-1 outlines the major headings in this chapter and the "Do I Know This Already?" quiz questions that go with them. You can find the answers in Appendix A, "Answers to the 'Do I Know This Already?' Quizzes."

Table 6-1. "Do I Know This Already?" Foundation Topics Section-to-Question Mapping

Foundation Topics Section

Questions Covered in This Section

Switch Port Aggregation with EtherChannel

EtherChannel Negotiation Protocols