Now, when we get onto our configuration for our switch, we want to configure a
port channel.
This is going to involve two aspects.
First of all, we need to select what becomes known as our member interfaces.
The member interfaces are going to be placed into a bundle that, well, I mean,
after all
the ether channel talk, Cisco calls the bundle a port channel interface,
usually something
like PO and then we'll say 10 or 20.
I give it an ID. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
I give it an ID.
And so this becomes a logical configuration configured interface.
Now, I know I like to use dots for layer three, so we don't want to use a dot
here.
I'll just use a square because it's not a layer three interface per se, but it
is a
separate interface that gets configured.
All of these member interfaces get connected to this port channel ID and we
connect it
using the channel group command.
So I will say it's a little bit unfortunate that Cisco seems to use a lot of WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So I will say it's a little bit unfortunate that Cisco seems to use a lot of
different
terms for configuring ether channels.
For example, as we mentioned, we've got commands like the show ether channel
summary and show
ether channel summary uses the ethernet or ether channel word.
So we've got ether channel in here.
Meanwhile, I have to create a port channel interface and I have to use the
channel group
command in order to add a member interface into the bundle.
So yeah, it is what it is, but either way, I'm going to use the ID here and WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So yeah, it is what it is, but either way, I'm going to use the ID here and
this is what
gets placed or what gets matched to the logical port channel interface.
So these member links now are going to be part of this port channel and the
configuration
is going to end up getting synchronized between the two.
Now what's most proper is that once this has all been configured that I as the
admin,
if I want to change configuration, let's say I want to add a VLAN to the link,
that
I should perform that configuration here on the logical interface and then it WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
I should perform that configuration here on the logical interface and then it
gets pushed
down as part of the syncing process.
Furthermore, if it gets out of sync, if I do push configuration down here to
the interface,
then we might actually see that the interface gets removed from the bundle
because the configuration
is out of sync.
So this synchronization is really a one way synchronization.
The configuration gets pushed down from the logical interface and so things WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
The configuration gets pushed down from the logical interface and so things
like VLAN lists
and whether it's an access port or a chunk port and all of these types of
configurations
really need to go up here on the port channel ID and allow it to push that
configuration
down to our member interfaces.
Now we're going to want to zero in on this command later when we get into the
lab because
this command is very useful and it can tell us our member interface statuses. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
this command is very useful and it can tell us our member interface statuses.
It's important that we be able to interpret this command and there are several
status
indicators that we're going to want to be aware of.
First of all, P means that we are port channeled, which again, now we're using
the port channel
word instead of ether channel, but the fact that we're port channeled means
that we are
online and operational.
This is what we want to see.
We want to see capital P's because that tells us that everything is healthy. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
We want to see capital P's because that tells us that everything is healthy.
So I might see, for example, as part of this command that we're talking about
port channel
10 interface and then I've got different member interfaces.
So I'll see, for example, like gig zero zero and gig zero one listed.
I'll just write them here, gig zero one, and then we'll have status here.
And so I'm probably going to want to see that there's a capital P in here that
represents
that we're online and operational, but we might also see D for being down. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
that we're online and operational, but we might also see D for being down.
So that's not ideal. Maybe I've got a third link in here and it's in a down
state.
And furthermore, we might see an eye for independent.
This one shouldn't show up very often, but where it can show up is that
scenario that
we diagrammed earlier, where we had four connections and I'm using LACP for
dynamic negotiation.
At this point, I might place LACP properly on four ports here, three ports down
here, WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
here,
and then we bundle these together, but it's going to report that this interface
is in
an independent status. It's configured to be part of the bundle, but it's not
actively
part of the bundle. So it's kind of operating in standalone operation,
basically an unbundled
state. And lastly, we might see a little s and this stands for suspended.
So let's say we've got another one on here. So gig zero three suspended. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So let's say we've got another one on here. So gig zero three suspended.
What this means is that this is out of sync and therefore it's not allowed to
be part
of the bundle. So maybe I got on to one of these interfaces and I made a
configuration
change that made it out of sync with its logical port.
So because of this change, it was placed into the suspended state until we fix
this issue.
So if we see suspended, that usually means that we need to look at the
configuration
of the member interface itself. Now fortunately, port channels and ether WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
of the member interface itself. Now fortunately, port channels and ether
channels, these are
fairly dynamic and I can add and remove members without taking down the entire
connection.
So I might have, for example, two connections bundled together and then I
decide to pull
two more. So now that I've got these two, I need to get on here and I need to
use this
channel group command to place them into the bundle. So I say channel group WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
channel group command to place them into the bundle. So I say channel group
here, I place
them into the bundle and I do that on both sides. Furthermore, if I'm removing
those two,
then I can just remove the channel group configuration and it will no longer be
part of the bundle.
But if I'm adding it now, all of a sudden, we've got all four of these bundled
together
and the switches can handle that again without us having to shut those port
channels down.
The main thing that I'll say is that when we add a interface into a bundle that
the config WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
the config
should sync. But this should is a big problem at times. It doesn't always quite
work out
that way. So we might need to manually sync those configurations if needed.
Once again,
we're going to want to especially pay attention to the suspended state because
if I add two
additional ports to the bundle and I think that they should be online and run
that show WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
that show
either channel summary command, if I'm seeing suspended, then I probably need
to manually
sync the configurations. So long story short, this configuration should
synchronize. It
doesn't always synchronize when maybe when we're not expecting it to and it
does or vice
versa. But either way, we can always manually sync it once they are
synchronized between
our port channel interface up here and the individual member interfaces, then
ideally
we're going to find that they enter the port channel state and our port channel WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
we're going to find that they enter the port channel state and our port channel
is operational.
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