Can anyone provide a practical example of when Etherchannel would be configured but then NOT trunked...

[Kevin Melton]

I am in the process of educating a client of mine about all aspects of switching.

I was teaching them about Etherchannel the other day, when I realized that I did not know for sure whether or not one could create an Etherchannel and then not trunk it.

Based on some examples I have seen, I am still led to believe it is possible.

I am just trying to think of a practical example of configuring such...  The only thing that comes to my mind is if you are NIC teaming a server's two NIC's then we may want to Etherchannel but not trunk?...

Thanks in Advance!

[Joseph W. Doherty · Accepted solution]

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Another example would be a p2p link between two L3 switches.

[Kevin Melton]

Thanks for your reply.  that is a fine answer as well.

I appreciate your input.

Kevin

[Kevin Melton]

Thanks John!

As always, you have nailed it.  Now I know what to tell my students tomorrow!

Your help is appreciated with this.

I hope you are well.

[Jon Marshall · Accepted solution]

Hi kevin

Yes it is definitely possible to configure a L2 etherchannel without it having to be a trunk. It's just that most etherchannels are switch interconnects and with these you are usually  passing multiple vlans across it so that is why you see those the most.

But if you simply need an etherchannel for added throughput and redundancy but no need to carry multiple vlans then there is no need to configure it as a trunk.

A practical example as you say would be a server but it can also apply to other devices connecting to the network. It just depends on what you need.

Also worth mentioning there are obviously L3 etherchannels where the concept of trunking is not relevant.

Jon