1. On the Configuration > Ports > Port Configuration page, choose the port you want to configure, and click the General tab.
2. From the Speed drop-down list, choose 10 MB, 100 MB, or 1000 MB as the interface speed. To auto-negotiate the interface speed, and allow communicating ports to decide the optimum speed for transmission, choose auto.
3. Choose full, half, or auto from the Duplex drop-down list. More...
   Auto auto-negotiates the interface mode, and allows communicating ports to decide the optimum mode for data transmission.
   Half-duplex communication is unidirectional, and the device cannot send and receive data simultaneously. This option can impact the performance of your device.
   Full-duplex communication increases effective bandwidth by allowing both ends of a connection to transmit and receive data simultaneously.

4. To enable the interface on the device, set the Status field to up.
5. Click Apply to save your changes.

An EtherChannel or a port group is an aggregation of multiple physical interfaces that acts like a logical interface.

1. On the Configuration > Ports > Port Configuration page, choose the port you want to configure, and click the Port Settings tab.
2. To add ports to a port group, hold the Ctrl key (on Microsoft Windows) or the Command key, and select multiple ports displayed in the switch view. Verify that the ports you selected are displayed.
3. In the Portgroup Number field, enter the EtherChannel to which you want to add the selected ports. More...When you add a port, it is first added to the default interface, after which the new configuration is applied If you do not specify a port group number, the selected ports are configured with the same specified port settings, and no EtherChannel is created.
4. From the Portgroup Type drop-down list, choose PAgP (Port Aggregation Protocol), LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol), or On. Ensure that you configure both ends of the EtherChannel with the same type. More...When you configure one end of an EtherChannel in either PAgP or LACP mode, the device negotiates with the other end of the channel to determine which ports should become active. If the remote port cannot negotiate an EtherChannel, the local port is continues to carry data traffic as an independent port outside the EtherChannel.
   When you configure an EtherChannel in the On mode, no negotiations take place. The device forces all compatible ports to become active in the EtherChannel.
5. Use the Keepalive field to configure the port mode. If you choose PAGP as the port group type, and set the Keepalive field to On, the port is configured in desirable mode. If Keepalive is Off the port mode is set to auto. If you chose LACP as the port group type, and set Keepalive field to On, the port is configured in activemode. If Keepalive field is Off the port mode is set to auto.
6. Click Apply to save your changes.

You can configure a port as a Layer 2 interface or a Layer 3 interface.

Configuring Layer 2 interfaces

To configure a Layer 2 interface:

1. On the Configuration > Ports > Port Configuration page, choose the port you want to configure, and click the Port Settings tab.
2. Choose a switch mode. More...Access ports transport traffic to and from only the VLAN assigned to it. Trunk ports carry traffic for multiple VLANs, using a process called trunking.
   Trunk ports mark frames with unique identifying IEEE 802.1Q tags (when configured), to direct each frame to its designated VLAN.
   When a port is in dynamic auto mode, it passively listens for and receives Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP) messages generated by a port in dynamic desirable mode, on another switch on the other side. A trunk link is formed between the two interfaces and all frames are tagged.
3. If you choose access mode, assign a VLAN to the port, in the Access VLAN field. By default, all ports assigned to VLAN 1 are assigned as access ports.
4. If you choose trunk as the switch mode, assign a range of VLANs to the port. To assign all VLANs to carry port traffic, select All VLANs, or select VLAN IDs and specify a range of VLANs that can carry traffic for the port.
5. If you choose dynamic auto or dynamic desirable, assign a range of VLANs to the port. To assign all VLANs to carry port traffic, select All VLANs, or select VLAN IDs and specify a range of VLANs that can carry traffic for the port. If DTP negotiation fails, the dynamic auto and dynamic desirable ports become access ports. Assign an access VLAN to the ports, in the Access VLAN field.
6. In the Voice VLAN field, specify a VLAN to carry voice traffic.
7. For network security reasons, specify a VLAN other than VLAN 1 in the Native VLAN field. When your device receives untagged frames on a trunk port, they are sent to the native VLAN. By default, this is VLAN 1.
8. If your device connects to endpoints (for example, to phones and computers and not to other switches or hubs), set the Port Fast field to on, to enable PortFast on the interface. More...Devices that connect to PortFast enabled ports can connect to the network immediately, instead of waiting for the port to transition from the Listening and Learning states to the Forwarding state.
9. To activate DHCP snooping on the port, set DHCP Snooping to enable. More... DHCP snooping acts like a firewall between untrusted hosts and trusted DHCP servers, validating DHCP messages received from untrusted sources and filtering out invalid messages. The DHCP snooping binding database maintains information about untrusted hosts with leased IP addresses, and validates subsequent requests from untrusted hosts.
10. Click Apply to save your changes.
    
    

Configuring Layer 3 interfaces

A routed interface is a physical port that can route IP traffic to another device. To configure a Layer 3 interface:

1. On the Configuration > Ports > Port Configuration page, choose the port you want to configure, and click the Port Settings tab.
2. Slide to select Routed mode.
3. Assign an IP address to this interface.
   1. To specify an IPv4 address and subnet mask for the interface, choose Static IP, from the IP Type drop-down list.
   2. To use DHCP to assign an IP address to the interface, choose DHCP from the IP Type drop-down list. Specify a hostname.
   3. To use an IP address from a DHCP pool, choose DHCP Pool. Choose a DHCP pool from the DHCP Pool List drop-down list.
4. Click Apply to save your changes.

You can configure the same IP address on multiple ports, which are in Admin Down state, from the GUI. While configuring the same IP address on different ports:

- No warning message is shown for ports in Admin Down state.

- You can bring UP only one port. If you try to bring up the other port , an error message is shown.

1. On the Configuration > Ports > Port Configuration page, choose the port you want to configure, and click the Advanced Settings tab.
2. To prevent traffic on a LAN from being disrupted by a broadcast, multicast, or unicast storm on a port, choose a value from the Storm Control drop-down list.
• To error-disable the port during a storm, choose Shutdown.
• To generate an SNMP trap when a storm is detected, choose Trap.
• To disable storm control, choose None.
3. Specify thresholds for unicast, broadcast, and multicast traffic entering your device. These values indicates the number of packets allowed per second, as part of your unicast, broadcast, and multicast traffic.
4. Click Apply to save your changes.