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Link aggregation boosts securityand increases throughput
Thick Wires
Link aggregation means grouping connections to link multiple connections between two components (switches, servers, storage systems, etc.) and view them logically as a single connection (Figure 1). As a rule, a system administrator would use this solution to combine two to four individual connections, which are then no longer considered individual links but a link aggregation group (LAG). Although most managed switches support link aggregation, you should look at the data sheet to be sure. The same is true for IP-based iSCSI and NFS/CIFS storage systems. Servers need at least two network cards and software support from the operating system or the network card driver for link aggregation.
Figure 1: Multiple links are grouped to form a link aggregation group (LAG).
Conditions
Before multiple links can be grouped in a LAG, some prerequisites must be met. All links must
- be in full duplex mode,
- have the same data rate (usually 1 Gbps),
- be parallel point-to-point connections
- always terminate on exactly one switch or server at the end points.
Aggregation with multiple switches on one end, such as split multilink trunking (SMLT) by Nortel, is not possible with link
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