Cisco 2960x switch etherchannel channel group creation

[swmacpat]

I am a bit new to the Cisco world in particular the Etherchannel configurations.

Our company have a pair or Cisco 2960x switches connected with FlexStack Plus module.  Both network switches are configured Port-Channel groups running LACP and each Port-Channel group are associated with two GigabitEthernet ports belongs to Switch One and Switch Two.

Below are part of the Running configuration of the Cisco 2960X pair:

interface GigabitEthernet1/0/2
 description Internet DMZ
 switchport access vlan 101
 switchport mode access
 spanning-tree portfast
 channel-group 2 mode active
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/3
 description Internet DMZ
 switchport access vlan 101
 switchport mode access
 spanning-tree portfast
 channel-group 3 mode active
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/4
 description Internet DMZ
 switchport access vlan 101
 switchport mode access
 spanning-tree portfast
 channel-group 4 mode active
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/5
 description Internet DMZ Uplink
 switchport access vlan 101
 switchport mode access
 spanning-tree portfast
!
Interface GigabitEthernet2/0/2
 description Internet DMZ
 switchport access vlan 101
 switchport mode access
 spanning-tree portfast
 channel-group 2 mode active
!
interface GigabitEthernet2/0/3
 description Internet DMZ
 switchport access vlan 101
 switchport mode access
 spanning-tree portfast
 channel-group 3 mode active
!
interface GigabitEthernet2/0/4
 description Internet DMZ
 switchport access vlan 101
 switchport mode access
 spanning-tree portfast
 channel-group 4 mode active
!
interface GigabitEthernet2/0/5
 description Internet DMZ Uplink
 switchport access vlan 101
 switchport mode access
 spanning-tree portfast

Currently, we have port-channel Po2, Po3 and Po4 created and Gigabit port 2, 3, 4 from switches1 and 2 are belong to those port-channel group. Our requirements is we would like to create another Port-Channel group (Group 5) and associated the Gigabit Port 1/0/5 and 2/0/5 into this newly created group running LACP.

Questions:

We understand that there are two approach to create the new Port-Channel group:

** Method 1 ***

Conf t

int GI 1/0/5

Channel-group 5 mode active

int GI 1/0/5

Channel-group 5 mode active

Then the port channel group 5 will be automatically created. However, we still need to go back to the port channel group 5 and configure the switchport mode access and VLAN 101 as follows:

Conf t

Int Port-Channel 5

Switchport access vlan 101
switchport mode access
spanning-tree portfast

** Method 2 ***

Conf t

Int Port-Channel 5

Switchport access vlan 101
switchport mode access
spanning-tree portfast

Conf t

int GI 1/0/5

Channel-group 5 mode active

int GI 1/0/5

Channel-group 5 mode active

Method 2 use the approach of creating the interface port-channel group 5 first and then assign the GI 1/0/5 & 2/05 to the channel-group.

Question: What is the Cisco prefer or recommended approach Method 1 or 2 ? Any different between the two approach ?

Your kind assistance and advice is very much appreciated.

Thanks & Regards
Pat T.

[Mark Malone · Accepted solution]

Hi it doesn't make a difference really I use method 2 but have seen people use 1 as well , I would just keep one side shut down until you have everything configured then bring the ints up that can be important as it can prevent unwanted negotiations and issues until your ready

as well configure using the range command as example below , you can bring the interfaces up at once 3

int range g1/0/1 - 5

or

config)#int range g1/7/17 ,g1/8/10

[swmacpat]

Really appreciate your advice. If possible, I will try to setup a GNS3 testing environment before deploying the configuration to our production switch.

Thanks a lot

Pat T