EtherChannel and IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation

EtherChannel and IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation are network port aggregation technologies that allow several Ethernet adapters to be aggregated together to form a single pseudo Ethernet device.

For example, ent0 and ent1 can be aggregated into an EtherChannel adapter called en3; interface en3 would then be configured with an IP address. The system considers these aggregated adapters as one adapter. Therefore, IP is configured over them, as over any Ethernet adapter. In addition, all adapters in the EtherChannel or Link Aggregation are given the same hardware (Mac) address, so they are treated by remote systems as if they were one adapter. Both EtherChannel and IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation require support in the switch so that these two technologies are aware which switch ports must be treated as one.

The main benefit of EtherChannel and IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation is that they have the network bandwidth of all of their adapters in a single network presence. If an adapter fails, network traffic is automatically sent on the next available adapter without disruption to existing user connections. The adapter is automatically returned to service on the EtherChannel or Link Aggregation when it recovers.

There are some differences between EtherChannel and IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation. Consider the differences listed in Table 1 to determine which technology best suits your requirement.

Dynamic Adapter Membership functionality is available in the AIX® operating system. You can use this functionality to add or remove adapters from an EtherChannel without having to disrupt any user connections.