EtherChannel between C3500XL switches

[jfk8680]

Hi,

I currently have two racks in my server room. One rack contains our core C3508XL switches with fibre interfaces. One of these switches also has ONE fibre cable going to another rack which contains our VoIP hardware (Callmanager, Unity and stuff like that). All the VoIP hardware is connected to one C3524XL switch. I would like to add another fibre cable between the core routers and this 3524XL switch so I have this link redundant. I am thinking of creating an EtherChannel between these devices.

Is this the correct way to create a backup path and if so, do I simply add the command "port group 1" to the interfaces to accomplish this?

Thanks,



Jeffrey Kusters

MCSA, MCSE, CCNA

 

[computerhighguy]

Etherchannel makes two links into 1. Yes it is a sort of a backup, but not really. If you have 2 - 1GB connections between the switches, etherchannel will multilink them together to make 1 - 2GB connection. If one happens to fail, it will revert back to the 1 GB channel that is working.


It is what it is!!
__________________________________
A+, Net+, I-Net+, Certified Web Master, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, and few others (I got bored one day)

 

[jfk8680]

I know Cisco didn't intend it to be used specifically for backup means and having a 2Gb link if both connections are up and running is nice but the added redundancy is my main goal.

So adding the "port group 1" statement to these interfaces is sufficient?

Thanks!

Jeffrey Kusters

MCSA, MCSE, CCNA

 

[computerhighguy]

Here is an example from one of our 3508xls we have running etherchannel on two gigabit links.


interface GigabitEthernet0/7
description Server Room Closet
port group 1 distribution destination
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport mode trunk
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/8
description Server Room Closet
port group 1 distribution destination
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport mode trunk




It is what it is!!
__________________________________
A+, Net+, I-Net+, Certified Web Master, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, and few others (I got bored one day)

 

[jfk8680]

Is there a particular reason why you configured the etherchannel with "distribution destination" instead of the default "distribution source"? I have been reading some info on

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...n_guide_chapter09186a008007e838.html#xtocid14

but don't really understand when to use "source" and "destination".

Looking forward to your answer!

Jeffrey Kusters

MCSA, MCSE, CCNA