Difference between Port Channel and Ether Channel

[ravindra Krishna]

Hi All,

What is the exact difference between

Port-Channel

and

Ether-Channel

. or if they are same terms.

If the below setup is possible. If yes, please let me know the sample config of the

L3

and the

router1

or any link to the documentation will help.

Also, if the

Port channel

interface will be

 l2 

or is it possible to configure it

l3.

Your reply is higly appreciated.

Regards,

Ravindra K

[rsimoni]

Port-channel and ether-channel

are synonyms.

The way you configured your channel is wrong (unless R1 and R2 are some kind of logically

single router/switch

such as N7K vpC or Cat6500 VSS - or for some other corner case scnario).

You need to have 2 or more links from a

 L2 or L3 

device bundled together in a

portchannel

terminating to a

SINGLE router or switch.

Riccardo

[ravindra Krishna]

Hi Riccardo,

So you mean

Port-Channel>=Link Aggregation=Link Aggregation?<

Regards,

Ravindra K

[mtsb]

Hi Ravindra,

Yes, they are all same. In IOS-XR world, they call it bundle-ether.

Port-channel

can be of

L2 or L3

depending on how you configure it.

Thanks,

Madhu

[rsimoni]

Hi Ravindra,

Port-Channel=Link Aggregation=Link Aggregation?

I guess you meant

Port-Channel=Etherchannel=Link Aggregation?

the answer is yes.

Riccardo

[ravindra Krishna]

yes you are right. I meant

Port-Channel=Etherchannel=Link Aggregation?

Thanks Ricardo. It's resolved.

Regards,

Ravi

[Peter Paluch · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Perhaps just to add a minor comment:

EtherChannel

or

Link Aggregation

is the particular technology that allows you to bundle several links between two devices and use them simultaneously as a single interface. The

Port-channel

is the name of this virtual interface in IOS. This is similar to, say, WiFi as a technology, and "Dot11Radio0" as the name of the interface, or ISDN as a technology, and BRI as an interface name.

Best regards,

Peter

[Leo Laohoo]

The

Port-channel

is the name of this virtual interface in IOS. This is similar to, say, WiFi as a technology, and "Dot11Radio0" as the name of the interface,

Errr ... Dot11Radio0 and Dot11Radio1 are both physical interface.  Bridged Virtual Interface (BVI) is a virtual interface for both wired and wireless networks.

[Peter Paluch]

Leo,

Yes, you're right - I was merely pointing on the difference between a technology and the usual name for the interface to access that technology.

Best regards,

Peter

[ravindra Krishna]

Thank you All.

It resolves my query.

Regards,

Ravi