Link Aggregation

Link Aggregation
• If all ports on a switch are operating at the same speed
(for example, 1 Gbps), the most likely ports to
experience congestion are ports connecting to another
switch or router
• logically combine multiple physical connections into a
single logical connection, over which traffic can be sent,
is called link aggregation.
LAG (Link Aggregation Group)

 LAG is a process of inter-connecting two switches with two or more links between them
(or between a switch and a server), so that multiple links are combined into one bigger
virtual link that can carry a higher (combined) bandwidth.
 LAG is also used for increasing link reliability.
 multiple links connect two devices, even if one fails the other links keep carrying the
information and the traffic on the failed link is also transferred to them.
 LAG is a static protocol and needs to be configured individually for each pair of physical
ports. LAG is a standard.
 LAG can also be called a port-channel, a bond, or a team
Link Aggregation Control Protocol
 803.2ad or 802.1AX, also called Link Aggregation Control Protocol or LACP.
 LACP is the standards based protocol used to signal LAGs
 Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) is a protocol for the collective handling of multiple
physical ports that can be seen as a single channel for network traffic purposes.

LACP can be configured in one of two modes:

•Active mode – the device immediately sends LACP messages (LACP PDUs) when the port
comes up
•Passive mode – Places a port into a passive negotiating state, in which the port only
responds to LACP PDUs it receives but does not initiate LACP negotiation
Port Monitoring
Port Monitoring
• For troubleshooting purposes, you might want to
analyze packets flowing over the network.
• port mirroring feature, which makes a copy of traffic
seen on one port and sends that duplicated traffic out
another port (to which a network sniffer could be
attached).
User Authentication
• For security purposes, some switches require users to authenticate themselves
(that is, provide credentials, such as a username and password, to prove who
they are) before gaining access to the rest of the network.
• standards-based method of enforcing user authentication is IEEE 802.1X.
Three primary components of an 802.1X network
Component Description
Supplicant The device that wants to gain access to the network
Authenticator: The authenticator forwards the supplicant’s authentication
request on to an authentication server. After the authentication
server authenticates the supplicant, the authenticator receives a
key that is used to communicate securely during a session with
the supplicant.
Authentication The authentication server (for example, a Remote Authentication
server: Dial In User Service [RADIUS] server) checks a supplicant’s
credentials. If the credentials are acceptable, the authentication
server notifies the authenticator that the supplicant is allowed to
communicate on the network. The authentication server also
gives the authenticator a key that can be used to securely
transmit data during the authenticator’s session with the
supplicant.
Switch Interface Properties
Basic Interface Configuration
Speed and Duplex
 Speed : 10/100/1000
 Duplex: Half/Full
 Automatic and Manual
 Needs to match on both sides

IP Address Management
 Layer 3 interfaces
 VLAN interfaces
 Management interfaces
 IP address, subnet mask/CIDR block, default gateway, DNS (optional)
VLAN
VLAN assignment
 Each device port should be assigned a VLAN

Trucking
 Connecting switches together
 Multiple VLANs in a single link

Tagged and untagged VLANs

 Non-tagged frame is on the default VLAN
 Also called the native VLAN
 Trunk port will tag the outgoing frames
 And remove the tag on incoming frames
Power over Ethernet
 Power provide on an Ethernet cable
 One wire for both network and electricity
 Phones, cameras, wireless access points
 Useful in difficult-to-power areas
 Power Provided at the switch
 Built-in power - Endspans
 In-line power injector – Midspans
 Power Modes
 Mode A – Power on the data pairs
 Mode B – Power on the spare pairs
PoE and PoE+
PoE : IEEE 802.3af – 2003
 The original PoE specification
 Included in 802.3at
 Now part of the 802.3 standard
 15.4 watts DC Power
 Maximum current of 350 mA
PoE+ : IEEE 802.3at -2009
 The updated PoE specification
 25.5 watts DC Power
 Maximum current of 600mA