Table Of Contents
Configure the Port-Channel Interface
Configure the Fast Ethernet Interfaces
Fast EtherChannel
Feature Summary
The Fast EtherChannel feature allows multiple Fast Ethernet point-to-point links to be bundled into one logical link to provide bidirectional bandwidth of up to 800 Mbps. Fast EtherChannel builds on standards-based 802.3 full-duplex Fast Ethernet to provide fault-tolerant, high-speed links between switches, routers, and servers. This feature can be configured between Cisco 7500 series routers and Cisco 7000 series routers with the 7000 Series Route Switch Processor (RSP7000) and 7000 Series Chassis Interface (RSP7000CI) or between a Cisco 7500 series router or a Cisco 7000 series router with the RSP7000 and RSP700CI and a Catalyst 5000 switch.
Note
Using the Fast EtherChannel feature on a Catalyst 5000 switch requires a hardware upgrade. Contact your local sales representative for upgrade details.
Benefits
Fast EtherChannel provides the following benefits and features:
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Logical aggregation of bandwidth
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Load balancing
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Fault tolerance
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Supports all features currently supported on the Fast Ethernet interface
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Fully compatible with Cisco IOS virtual LAN (VLAN) and routing technologies
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Support for host standby using Host Standby Router Protocol (HSRP)—available in Cisco IOS Release 11.1(19)CA and Release 11.1(20)CC
•
Support for Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) and distributed CEF (dCEF)—available in Cisco IOS Release 11.1(20)CC
List of Terms
Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF)—Layer 3 switching technology. CEF can also refer to central CEF mode, one of the two modes of CEF operation that enables a route processor to perform express forwarding.
Distributed CEF (dCEF)—One of two modes of CEF operation that enables line cards to perform the express forwarding between port adapters.
port-channel—Type of interface in Cisco IOS software used to group up to four Fast Ethernet interfaces.
Fast EtherChannel—Feature used to group together multiple full-duplex 802.3 Fast Ethernet to provide fault-tolerant, high-speed links between switches, routers, and servers.
Document Conventions
Command descriptions use these conventions:
•
Boldface indicates commands and keywords that are entered literally as shown.
•
Italics indicate arguments for which you supply values; in contexts that do not allow italics, arguments are enclosed in angle brackets ( >).
•
Square brackets ([ ]) indicate optional elements.
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Braces ({ }) group required choices, and vertical bars ( | ) separate alternative elements.
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Braces and vertical bars within square brackets ([{ | }]) indicate a required choice within an optional element.
Platforms
This feature is supported on these platforms:
•
Cisco 7500 series
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Cisco 7000 series routers with the RSP7000 and RSP7000CI
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Catalyst 5000 switch
Supported MIBs and RFCs
None
Restrictions
If you are using the Fast EtherChannel feature in Cisco IOS Release 11.1 CA or Release 11.1(19)CC (or earlier), you must disable distributing switching on the router.
Functional Description
Fast EtherChannel provides higher bidirectional bandwidth, redundancy, and load sharing. Up to four Fast Ethernet interfaces can be bundled in a port-channel, and the router or switch can support up to four port-channels. The Fast EtherChannel feature is capable of load balancing traffic across the Fast Ethernet links. Unicast, broadcast, and multicast traffic is distributed across the links providing higher performance and redundant parallel paths. In the event of a link failure, traffic is redirected to remaining links within the Fast EtherChannel without user intervention.
In this release of the Fast EtherChannel feature, IP traffic is distributed over the port-channel interface while traffic from other routing protocols is sent over a single link. Bridged traffic is distributed based on the Layer 3 information in the packet. If the Layer 3 information does not exist in the packet, the traffic is sent over the first link.
Fast EtherChannel supports all features currently supported on the Fast Ethernet interface. You must configure these features on the port-channel interface rather than on the individual Fast Ethernet interfaces. Fast EtherChannel connections are fully compatible with Cisco IOS virtual LAN (VLAN) and routing technologies. The Inter-Switch Link (ISL) VLAN trunking protocol can carry multiple VLANs across a Fast EtherChannel, and routers attached to Fast EtherChannel links can provide full multiprotocol routing with support for host standby using Host Standby Router Protocol (HSRP).
The port-channel (consisting of up to four Fast Ethernet interfaces) is treated as a single interface. Port-channel is used in the Cisco IOS software to maintain compatibility with existing commands on the Catalyst 5000 switch. You create the Fast EtherChannel by using the interface port-channel interface configuration command. You can assign up to four Fast Ethernet interfaces to a port-channel by using the channel-group interface configuration command.
Configuration Tasks
Configuring a Fast EtherChannel consists of the following required steps:
1
Create a port-channel interface and assign an IP address.
2
Assign the Fast Ethernet interfaces (up to four) to the port-channel interface.
For information on other configuration tasks for the Fast EtherChannel, refer to the "Configure an Ethernet or Fast Ethernet Interface" section in the "Configuring Interfaces" chapter of the Configuration Fundamentals Configuration Guide.
For information on other commands that can be used by the Fast EtherChannel, refer to the Cisco IOS Release 11.1 configuration guides.
Configure the Port-Channel Interface
To configure the port-channel interface, perform the following tasks beginning in global configuration mode:
Note
If you configure ISL, you must assign the IP address to the subinterface (for example, interface port-channel 1.1—an IP address per VLAN), and you must specify the encapsulation with the VLAN number under that subinterface (for example, encapsulation isl 100) for ISL to work.
Note
Currently, if you want to use the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), you must configure it only on the port-channel interface and not on the physical Fast Ethernet interface.
Note
If you do not assign a static MAC address on the port-channel interface, the Cisco IOS software automatically assigns a MAC address. If you assign a static MAC address and then later remove it, the Cisco IOS software automatically assigns a MAC address.
CautionWith Release 11.1(20)CC, Fast EtherChannel supports CEF/dCEF. We recommend that you clear all explicit ip route-cache distributed commands from the Fast Ethernet interfaces before enabling dCEF on the port-channel interface. Doing this gives the port-channel interface proper control of its physical Fast Ethernet links. When you enable CEF/dCEF globally, all interfaces that support CEF/dCEF are enabled. When CEF/dCEF is enabled on the port-channel interface, it is automatically enabled on each of the Fast Ethernet interfaces in the channel group. However, if you have previously disabled CEF/dCEF on the Fast Ethernet interface, CEF/dCEF is not automatically enabled. In this case, you must enable CEF/dCEF on the Fast Ethernet interface.
Configure the Fast Ethernet Interfaces
To assign the Fast Ethernet interfaces to the Fast EtherChannel, perform the following tasks beginning in global configuration mode:
Task CommandStep 1
Create or modify an existing Fast Ethernet interface and enter interface configuration mode.
interface fastethernet slot/port-adapter/port
Step 2
If the Fast Ethernet interface already exists and has an IP address assigned, disable the IP address before performing the next step.
no ip address
Step 3
Assign the Fast Ethernet interfaces to the Fast EtherChannel. The channel-number is the same as the channel-number you specified when you created the port-channel interface.
channel-group channel-number
Step 4
Exit interface configuration mode and repeat Step 1 through Step 4 to add up to four Fast Ethernet interfaces to the Fast EtherChannel.
exit
Step 5
Exit when you have finished.
end
Step 6
Verify the configuration.
show interface port-channel
CautionThe port-channel interface is the routed interface. Do not enable Layer 3 addresses on the physical Fast Ethernet interfaces. Do not assign bridge groups on the physical Fast Ethernet interfaces because it creates loops. Also, you must disable spanning tree.
To remove a Fast Ethernet interface from a Fast EtherChannel, perform the following tasks beginning in global configuration mode:
The Cisco IOS software automatically removes a Fast Ethernet interface from the Fast EtherChannel if the interface goes down, and the software automatically adds the Fast Ethernet interface to the Fast EtherChannel when the interface is back up.
Currently, Fast EtherChannel relies on keepalives to detect whether the line protocol is up or down. Keepalives are enabled by default on the Fast Ethernet interfaces. If the line protocol on the interface goes down because it did not receive a keepalive signal, the Fast EtherChannel detects that the line protocol is down and removes the interface from the Fast EtherChannel. However, if the line protocol remains up because keepalives are disabled on the Fast Ethernet interface, the Fast EtherChannel cannot detect this link failure (other than a cable disconnect) and does not remove the interface from the Fast EtherChannel even if the line protocol goes down. This can result in unpredictable behavior. The implementation of the Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP) in a subsequent release of this feature will remove the dependency on keepalives.
See the "Configuration Example" section, later in this document, for configuration examples.
You can monitor the status of the Fast EtherChannel interface by using the show interfaces port-channel EXEC command.
Configuration Example
shows four point-to-point Fast Ethernet interfaces that are aggregated into a single Fast EtherChannel interface.
Figure 1 Fast Ethernet Interfaces Aggregated into a Fast EtherChannel
Following is an example of how to create a Fast EtherChannel (port-channel interface) with four Fast Ethernet interfaces. In this example, ISL is enabled on the Fast EtherChannel, and an IP address is assigned to the subinterface.
router# configure terminalrouter(config)# interface port-channel 1router(config-if)# no shutdownrouter(config-if)# exitrouter(config)# interface port-channel 1.1router(config-if)# ip address 1.1.1.10 255.255.255.0router(config-if)# encapsulation isl 100router(config-if)# exitrouter(config)# interface fastethernet 0/0/0router(config-if)# no ip addressrouter(config-if)# channel-group 1Fast Ethernet 0/0 added as member-1 to port-channel1.router(config-if)# exitrouter(config)# interface fastethernet 0/1/0router(config-if)# no ip addressrouter(config-if)# channel-group 1Fast Ethernet 0/1 added as member-2 to port-channel1.router(config-if)# exitrouter(config)# interface fastethernet 1/0/0router(config-if)# no ip addressrouter(config-if)# channel-group 1Fast Ethernet 1/0 added as member-3 to port-channel1.router(config-if)# exitrouter(config)# interface fastethernet 1/1/0router(config-if)# no ip addressrouter(config-if)# channel-group 1Fast Ethernet 1/1 added as member-4 to port-channel1.router(config-if)# exitrouter(config)# exitrouter#The following is a partial example of a configuration file. The MAC address is automatically added to the Fast Ethernet interface when the interfaces are added to the Fast EtherChannel.
Note
If you do not assign a static MAC address on the port-channel interface, the Cisco IOS software automatically assigns a MAC address. If you assign a static MAC address and then later remove it, the Cisco IOS software automatically assigns a MAC address.
interface Port-channel1ip address 1.1.1.10 255.255.255.0!interface Port-channel1.1encapsulation isl 100!interface FastEthernet0/0/0mac-address 00e0.1476.7600no ip addresschannel-group 1!interface FastEthernet0/1/0mac-address 00e0.1476.7600no ip addresschannel-group 1!interface FastEthernet1/0/0mac-address 00e0.1476.7600no ip addresschannel-group 1!interface FastEthernet1/1/0mac-address 00e0.1476.7600no ip addresschannel-group 1Command Reference
This section documents new or modified commands. All other commands used with this feature are documented in the Cisco IOS Release 11.2 command references.
channel-group
To assign a Fast Ethernet interface to a Fast EtherChannel group, use the channel-group interface command. To remove a Fast Ethernet interface from a Fast EtherChannel group, use the no form of the command.
channel-group channel-number
no channel-group channel-numberSyntax Description
channel-number
Port-channel number previously assigned to the port-channel interface when using the interface port-channel global configuration command. Range is 1 to 4.
Default
No channel group is assigned.
Command Mode
Interface configuration
Usage Guidelines
This command first appeared in Cisco IOS Release 11.1 CA.
Before you assign a Fast Ethernet interface to a Fast EtherChannel group, you must first create a port-channel interface. To create a port-channel interface, use the interface port-channel global configuration command.
If the Fast Ethernet interface has an IP address assigned, you must disable it before adding the Fast Ethernet interface to the Fast EtherChannel. To disable an existing IP address on the Fast Ethernet interface, use the no ip address interface configuration command.
The Fast EtherChannel feature allows multiple Fast Ethernet point-to-point links to be bundled into one logical link to provide bidirectional bandwidth of up to 800 Mbps. Fast EtherChannel can be configured between Cisco 7500 series routers and Cisco 7000 series routers with the 7000 Series Route Switch Processor (RSP7000) and 7000 Series Chassis Interface (RSP7000CI) or between a Cisco 7500 series router or a Cisco 7000 series router with the RSP7000 and RSP700CI and a Catalyst 5000 switch.
Up to four Fast Ethernet interfaces can be added to a Fast EtherChannel group.
CautionThe port-channel interface is the routed interface. Do not enable Layer 3 addresses on the physical Fast Ethernet interfaces. Do not assign bridge groups on the physical Fast Ethernet interfaces because it creates loops. Also, you must disable spanning tree.
To display information about the Fast EtherChannel, use the show interfaces port-channel EXEC command.
Example
The following example adds Fast Ethernet 1/0 to the Fast EtherChannel group specified by port-channel 1:
Router(config)# interface port-channel 1Router(config-if)# ip address 1.1.1.10 255.255.255.0Router(config)# interface fastethernet 1/0/0Router(config-if)# channel-group 1Related Command
interface port-channel
show interfaces port-channelclear counters
To clear the interface counters, use the clear counters EXEC command.
clear counters [type number]
Syntax Description
type
(Optional) Interface type; one of the keywords listed in Usage Guidelines.
number
(Optional) Port number.
Command Mode
EXEC
Usage Guidelines
This command first appeared in Cisco IOS Release 10.0.
This command was modified in Cisco IOS Release 11.1 CA to include the port-channel interface type keyword.
This command clears all the current interface counters from the interface unless the optional arguments type and number are specified to clear only a specific interface type (serial, Ethernet, Token Ring, and so on).
Note
This command will not clear counters retrieved using SNMP, but only those seen with the show interface EXEC command.
Example
The following example clears the interface counters on a Fast Etherchannel interface:
Router# show interface port-channel 1Port-channel1 is up, line protocol is upHardware is FEChannel, address is 0060.83d8.4420 (bia 0000.0000.0000)Internet address is 64.1.1.3/24...No. of active members in this channel: 4Member 0: FastEthernet1/0/0Member 1: FastEthernet4/0/0Member 2: FastEthernet10/0/0Member 3: FastEthernet11/0/0Last input 00:00:00, output never, output hang neverLast clearing of "show interface" counters 11w2dQueueing strategy: fifoOutput queue 0/40, 0 drops; input queue 0/300, 0 drops5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec2295286 packets input, 142305812 bytes, 0 no bufferReceived 2294327 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored, 0 abort0 watchdog, 0 multicast0 input packets with dribble condition detected2420593 packets output, 184050286 bytes, 0 underruns0 output errors, 0 collisions, 0 interface resets0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier0 output buffers copied, 0 interrupts, 0 failuresRouter# clear counter port-channel 1Clear "show interface" counters on all interfaces [confirm]%CLEAR-5-COUNTERS: Clear counter on all interfaces by console 1Router# show interface port-channel 1Port-channel1 is up, line protocol is upHardware is FEChannel, address is 0060.83d8.4420 (bia 0000.0000.0000)Internet address is 64.1.1.3/24MTU 1500 bytes, BW 400000 Kbit, DLY 100 usec, rely 255/255, load 1/255Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set, keepalive set (10 sec), fdxARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00No. of active members in this channel: 4Member 0: FastEthernet1/0/0Member 1: FastEthernet4/0/0Member 2: FastEthernet10/0/0Member 3: FastEthernet11/0/0Last input 00:00:01, output never, output hang neverLast clearing of "show interface" counters 00:00:03Queueing strategy: fifoOutput queue 0/40, 0 drops; input queue 0/300, 0 drops5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec1 packets input, 62 bytes, 0 no bufferReceived 1 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored, 0 abort0 watchdog, 0 multicast0 input packets with dribble condition detected1 packets output, 62 bytes, 0 underruns0 output errors, 0 collisions, 0 interface resets0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier0 output buffers copied, 0 interrupts, 0 failuresRelated Command
clear interface
To reset the hardware logic on an interface, use the clear interface EXEC command.
clear interface type number
Syntax Description
Command Mode
EXEC
Usage Guidelines
This command first appeared in Cisco IOS Release 10.0.
This command was modified in Cisco IOS Release 11.1 CA to include the port-channel interface type keyword.
Under normal circumstances, you do not need to clear the hardware logic on interfaces.
Example
The following example resets the interface logic on Fast Etherchannel interface 1:
Router# clear interface port-channel 1interface port-channel
To specify a Fast EtherChannel and enter interface configuration mode, use the interface port-channel global configuration command.
interface port-channel channel-number
Syntax Description
Default
None
Command Mode
Global configuration
Usage Guidelines
This command first appeared in Cisco IOS Release 11.1 CA.
The Fast EtherChannel feature allows multiple Fast Ethernet point-to-point links to be bundled into one logical link to provide bidirectional bandwidth of up to 800 Mbps. Fast EtherChannel can be configured between Cisco 7500 series routers and Cisco 7000 series routers with the 7000 Series Route Switch Processor (RSP7000) and 7000 Series Chassis Interface (RSP7000CI) or between a Cisco 7500 series router or a Cisco 7000 series router with the RSP7000 and RSP700CI and a Catalyst 5000 switch.
You can configure the port-channel interface as you would do to any Fast Ethernet interface.
After you create a port-channel interface, you assign Fast Ethernet interfaces (up to four) to it. For information on how to assign a Fast Ethernet interface to a port-channel interface, refer to the channel-group interface configuration command.
CautionThe port-channel interface is the routed interface. Do not enable Layer 3 addresses on the physical Fast Ethernet interfaces. Do not assign bridge groups on the physical Fast Ethernet interfaces because it creates loops. Also, you must disable spanning tree.
Note
If you configure ISL, you must assign the IP address to the subinterface (for example, interface port-channel 1.1—an IP address per VLAN), and you must specify the encapsulation with the VLAN number under that subinterface (for example, encapsulation isl 100) for ISL to work.
Note
Currently, if you want to use the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), you must configure it only on the port-channel interface and not on the physical Fast Ethernet interface.
Note
If you do not assign a static MAC address on the port-channel interface, the Cisco IOS software automatically assigns a MAC address. If you assign a static MAC address and then later remove it, the Cisco IOS software automatically assigns a MAC address.
CautionWith Release 11.1(20)CC, the Fast EtherChannel supports CEF/dCEF. We recommend that you clear all explicit ip route-cache distributed commands from the Fast Ethernet interfaces before enabling dCEF on the port-channel interface. Doing this gives the port-channel interface proper control of its physical Fast Ethernet links. When you enable CEF/dCEF globally, all interfaces that support CEF/dCEF are enabled. When CEF/dCEF is enabled on the port-channel interface, it is automatically enabled on each of the Fast Ethernet interfaces in the channel group. However, if you have previously disabled CEF/dCEF on the Fast Ethernet interface, CEF/dCEF is not automatically enabled. In this case, you must enable CEF/dCEF on the Fast Ethernet interface.
Example
The following example creates a port-channel interface with a channel group number of 1 and adds three Fast Ethernet interfaces to port-channel 1:
Router(config)# interface port-channel 1Router(config-if)# ip address 1.1.1.10 255.255.255.0Router(config)# interface fastethernet 1/0/0Router(config-if)# channel-group 1Router(config)# interface fastethernet 4/0/0Router(config-if)# channel-group 1Router(config)# interface fastethernet 5/0/0Router(config-if)# channel-group 1Related Commands
channel-group
show interfaces port-channelshow interfaces port-channel
To display the information about the Fast EtherChannel on Cisco 7500 series routers and Cisco 7000 series routers with the RSP7000 and RSP7000CI, use the show interfaces port-channel EXEC command.
show interfaces port-channel [channel-number]
Syntax Description
Command Mode
EXEC
Usage Guidelines
This command first appeared in Cisco IOS Release 11.1 CA.
Sample Display
The following is sample output from the show interfaces port-channel command:
Router# show interfaces port-channel 1Port-channel1 is up, line protocol is upHardware is FEChannel, address is 0000.0ca8.6220 (bia 0000.0000.0000)MTU 1500 bytes, BW 400000 Kbit, DLY 100 usec, rely 255/255, load 1/255Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set, keepalive not set, fdxARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00No. of active members in this channel: 4Member 0 : FastEthernet1/0/0Member 1 : FastEthernet1/1/0Member 2 : FastEthernet4/0/0Member 3 : FastEthernet4/1/0Last input 01:22:13, output never, output hang neverLast clearing of "show interface" counters neverQueueing strategy: fifoOutput queue 0/40, 0 drops; input queue 0/75, 0 drops5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec223 packets input, 11462 bytes, 0 no bufferReceived 1 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored, 0 abort0 watchdog, 0 multicast0 input packets with dribble condition detected192 packets output, 13232 bytes, 0 underruns0 output errors, 0 collisions, 0 interface resets0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped outdescribes significant fields in this output.
Related Command



