Link aggregation

"IEEE 802.3ad" redirects here. It is not to be confused with IEEE 802.1ad.

Link Aggregation between a switch and a server

In computer networking, the term link aggregation refers to various methods of

combining (aggregating) multiple network connections in parallel in order to
increase throughput beyond what a single connection could sustain, and to
provide redundancy in case one of the links should fail. A link aggregation
group (LAG) is the collection of physical ports combined together.
Other umbrella terms used to describe the method include trunking,[1] bundling,
[2]
 bonding,[1] channeling[3] or teaming. These umbrella terms encompass not only
vendor-independent standards such as Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
for Ethernet defined in IEEE 802.1AX or the previous IEEE 802.3ad, but also various
proprietary solutions.
Link Aggregation Control Protocol[edit]
Within the IEEE specification, the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) provides a method to
control the bundling of several physical ports together to form a single logical channel. LACP allows
a network device to negotiate an automatic bundling of links by sending LACP packets to the peer
(directly connected device that also implements LACP).
LACP Features and practical examples

1. Maximum number of bundled ports allowed in the port channel: Valid values are usually from
1 to 8.
2. LACP packets are sent with multicast group MAC address 01:80:c2:00:00:02 (01-80-c2-00-
00-02)
3. During LACP detection period
o LACP packets are transmitted every second
o Keep-alive mechanism for link member: (default: slow = 30s, fast=1s)
4. LACP can have the port-channel load-balance mode :
o link (link-id) Integer that identifies the member link for load balancing. The range is
from 1 to 8 and the load balancing mode can be set-up based on traffic models. [9]
5. LACP mode :
o Active: Enables LACP unconditionally.
o Passive: Enables LACP only when an LACP device is detected. (This is the default
state)
Advantages over static configuration[edit]

 Failover occurs automatically: When a link fails and there is (for example) a media
converter between the devices, a peer system will not perceive any connectivity problems. With
static link aggregation, the peer would continue sending traffic down the link causing the
connection to fail.
 Dynamic configuration: The device can confirm that the configuration at the other end can
handle link aggregation. With Static link aggregation, a cabling or configuration mistake could go
undetected and cause undesirable network behavior. [

Private VLAN
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Private VLAN, also known as port isolation, is a technique in computer

networking where a VLAN contains switch ports that are restricted such that they can
only communicate with a given "uplink". The restricted ports are called "private ports".
Each private VLAN typically contains many private ports, and a single uplink. The uplink
will typically be a port (or link aggregation group) connected to
a router, firewall, server, provider network, or similar central resource.

NetFlow
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NetFlow architecture

NetFlow is a feature that was introduced on Cisco routers around 1996 that provides
the ability to collect IP network traffic as it enters or exits an interface. By analyzing the
data provided by NetFlow, a network administrator can determine things such as the
source and destination of traffic, class of service, and the causes of congestion. A
typical flow monitoring setup (using NetFlow) consists of three main components: [1]

 Flow exporter: aggregates packets into flows and exports flow records towards
one or more flow collectors.
 Flow collector: responsible for reception, storage and pre-processing of flow
data received from a flow exporter.
 Analysis application: analyzes received flow data in the context of intrusion
detection or traffic profiling, for example.

Port mirroring
Port mirroring is used on a network switch to send a copy of network packets seen on
one switch port (or an entire VLAN) to a network monitoring connection on another
switch port. This is commonly used for network appliances that require monitoring of
network traffic such as an intrusion detection system, passive probe or real user
monitoring (RUM) technology that is used to support application performance
management (APM). Port mirroring on a Cisco Systems switch is generally referred to
as Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) or Remote Switched Port Analyzer (RSPAN). Other
vendors have different names for it, such as Roving Analysis Port (RAP)
on 3Com switches.
Network engineers or administrators use port mirroring to analyze and debug data or
diagnose errors on a network. It helps administrators keep a close eye on network
performance and alerts them when problems occur. It can be used to mirror either
inbound or outbound traffic (or both) on single or multiple interfaces.

Traffic shaping
Traffic shaping is a bandwidth management technique used on computer
networks which delays some or all datagrams to bring them into compliance with a
desired traffic profile.[1][2] Traffic shaping is used to optimize or guarantee performance,
improve latency, or increase usable bandwidth for some kinds of packets by delaying
other kinds. It is often confused with traffic policing, the distinct but related practice
of packet dropping and packet marking.[3]
The most common type of traffic shaping is application-based traffic shaping. [4][failed verification] In
application-based traffic shaping, fingerprinting tools are first used to identify
applications of interest, which are then subject to shaping policies. Some controversial
cases of application-based traffic shaping include bandwidth throttling of peer-to-peer
file sharing traffic. Many application protocols use encryption to circumvent application-
based traffic shaping.
Another type of traffic shaping is route-based traffic shaping. Route-based traffic
shaping is conducted based on previous-hop or next-hop information.[5]

Trunking
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This article is about the networking topic. For dangerous transportation, see Trunking (auto).
"trunk line" redirects here. For the rail line on Norway, see Trunk Line. For other uses,
see Trunkline (disambiguation).

In telecommunications, trunking is a way to provide network access to many clients by

sharing a set of lines or frequencies instead of providing them individually. This is
analogous to the structure of a tree with one trunk and many branches. Examples of this
include telephone systems and the two-way radios commonly used by police agencies.
Trunking, in the form of link aggregation and VLAN tagging, has been applied
in computer networking as well.
A trunk is a single communications channel between two points, each point being either
the switching center or the node.

Label Distribution Protocol

Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) is a protocol in which routers capable
of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) exchange label mapping information. Two
routers with an established session are called LDP peers and the exchange of
information is bi-directional. LDP is used to build and maintain LSP databases that are
used to forward traffic through MPLS networks.
LDP can be used to distribute the inner label (VC/VPN/service label) and outer label
(path label) in MPLS. For inner label distribution, targeted LDP (tLDP) is used. LDP and
tLDP discovery runs on UDP port 646 and the session is built on TCP port 646. During
the discovery phase hello packets are sent on UDP port 646 to the 'all routers on this
subnet' group multicast address (224.0.0.2). However, tLDP unicasts the hello packets
to the targeted neighbor's address.

Link Layer Discovery Protocol

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"LLDP" redirects here. For the lying position, see Decubitus.
The Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) is a vendor-neutral link layer protocol
used by network devices for advertising their identity, capabilities, and neighbors on
a local area network based on IEEE 802 technology, principally wired Ethernet.[1] The
protocol is formally referred to by the IEEE as Station and Media Access Control
Connectivity Discovery specified in IEEE 802.1AB with additional support in IEEE 802.3
section 6 clause 79.[2]
LLDP performs functions similar to several proprietary protocols, such as Cisco
Discovery Protocol, Foundry Discovery Protocol, Nortel Discovery Protocol and Link
Layer Topology Discovery.

Cisco Discovery Protocol

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) is a proprietary Data Link Layer protocol developed
by Cisco Systems in 1994[1] by Keith McCloghrie and Dino Farinacci. It is used to share
information about other directly connected Cisco equipment, such as the operating
system version and IP address. CDP can also be used for On-Demand Routing, which
is a method of including routing information in CDP announcements so that
dynamic routing protocols do not need to be used in simple networks.