Command Line Interface Reference Guide > The Configuration Menu > /cfg/l2/lacp Link Aggregation Control Protocol Menu
/cfg/l2/lacp
Link Aggregation Control Protocol Menu
Alteon supports the IEEE 802.3ad standard. At the core of the 802.3ad standard is the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). This protocol allows the user to group several physical ports into one logical port (LACP trunk group) with any device that supports the IEEE 802.3ad standard (LACP). You can configure the trunk groups manually (static trunks), as well as configure dynamic trunk group using the IEEE 802.3ad standard (LACP trunks).
The maximum number of configurable trunk groups is 40, including 12 user configurable trunks and 28 LACP trunks, depending upon the maximum number of ports in Alteon. The maximum number of active physical ports in any trunk group is eight, and the number of standby ports is also eight.
The 802.3ad standard allows two or more standard Ethernet links to form a single Layer 2 link using LACP. Link aggregation is a method of grouping physical link segments of the same media type and speed in full duplex, and treating them as if they were part of a single, logical link segment. If a link in a LACP trunk group fails, traffic is reassigned dynamically to the remaining links of the LACP trunk group or is assigned to the standby LACP links.
Note: For detailed information about this standard, refer to IEEE 802.3ad-2000.
LACP automatically determines which member links can be aggregated and then aggregates them. It provides for the controlled addition and removal of physical links for the link aggregation.
Each external Alteon port can have one of the following LACP modes:
*off (default) — The user can configure this port to a regular static trunk group. When the system initializes, all ports are in off mode by default.
*active — The port is capable of forming an LACP trunk. This port initiates negotiation with the partner system port by sending LACPDU (Link Aggregation Control Protocol Data Unit) packets.
*passive — The port is capable of forming an LACP trunk. This port only responds to the negotiation requests sent from an LACP active port.
Each LACP active or passive port needs an admin key, an operational key, and an aggregator for LACP to start negotiation on these ports. You need to assign the same admin key to a group of ports to enable Alteon to aggregate them. The link can generate a Link Aggregation ID (LAG ID) based on the operational key. All the ports for aggregation must have the same LAG ID. You can form an active LACP trunk group with all the ports that have the same LAG ID.
For detailed information on this protocol, refer to the Alteon Command Line Interface Application Guide.
 
[LACP Menu]
name - Set descriptive LACP system name
sysprio - Set LACP system priority
timeout - Set LACP system timeout scale for timing out partner info
port - LACP port Menu
blkport - Enable/disable blocking traffic on ports when not in LAG
cur - Display current LACP configuration
 
Link Aggregation Control Protocol Menu Options (/cfg/l2/lacp) 
Command Syntax and Usage
name < name (31 characters only) >
 
Defines a descriptive name for the LACP system.
Values: 1 — 31 characters
sysprio <1-65535>
 
Defines the system priority value. Lower numbers provide higher priority.
System priority is used when there are more than eight ports configured with the same adminkey. The system priority, in conjunction with port priority, decides which eight ports should be combined to form a trunk group between two Alteons. The rest of the ports stay in standby mode to substitute for any failed ports.
Values: 1 – 65535
Default: 32768
timeout <short|long>
 
Defines the timeout period before invalidating LACP data from a remote partner.
Values:
*short — 3 seconds
*long — 90 seconds
Default: long
port <port number>
 
Displays the LACP Port menu.
blkport disable|enable (d|e)
 
Enables or disables blocking for an LACP port that is removed from a Link Aggregation Group (LAG).
Values:
*disable — The LACP port that was removed from a LAG remains as an independent forwarding port.
*enable — For STP-disabled ports, the LACP port that was removed from a LAG is blocked.
Default: enable
cur
 
Displays the current LACP configuration.