Etherchannel with 3 ports

[kkalaycioglu]

May sound silly but is it possible to configure etherchannel with 3 ports (or with port numbers except 2,4,8)?

And in case of a 4-port etherchannel bundle how does load-balancing algorithm work in case one link fails?

Regards.

[skarundi]

which product do you want to configure the etherchannel on and what is the model number of the modules you wish to use ?

Most cisco switches nowadays can support up to 8 links in an etherchannel.

Here is the support matrix for Etherchannels on cat switches

URL: http://www.cisco.com/warp/customer/473/49.html

[skarundi]

if you want to understand how the load balancing algorithm works on different platforms go to

URL:http://www.cisco.com/warp/customer/473/4.html

To answer your question, if one link fails in a channel, the switch continues load balancing using the remaining links. In the process of reacting to the link failure, a packet or 2 will be lost.

[whimpyred01]

dude, you can load-balance up to a total of 8 ports, using at least 2 ports. any port on the switch can be used. regarding the link failure, the switch automatically sends information to the active ports within the etherchannel.