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ether bundle

suthomas1
Level 6
Level 6

Hi Experts,

Of the two modes of bundling- layer 2 & layer 3 etherchannel for uplinks, which one is more advantageous & any reasons one should be used over the other.

Thanks in advance.

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Hello,

In my opinion, there is no difference between the achievable throughput with either L2 or L3 EtherChannel. The principial working of EtherChannel remains the same, whether it is L2 or L3. An EtherChannel, be it L2 or L3, carries a single flow of frames only through a single link in the EtherChannel bundle. It is only thanks to different sources and destinations of frames that they get distributed over the multiple links in the EtherChannel, thus arriving at a higher aggregate throughput. The combination of address fields used to decide which link a particular frame shall be sent through (MACs, IPs, L4 ports, their combination) is configured on a platform-wide basis and does not depend on whether the EtherChannel is configured as L2 or L3.

Best regards,

Peter

View solution in original post

3 Replies 3

Peter Paluch
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hi,

Layer2 or Layer3 Etherchannel - that is not an issue of advantage, rather an issue of your needs. Where you would use a normal trunk between two switches, you can use the Layer2 Etherchannel. If you used a routed link between two devices, you can increase its bandwidth by using the Layer3 Etherchannel.

But the question really does not go "which one is better". The only question is - what do you really need?

Best regards,

Peter

well, i want the etherchannel to have the maxiumum achievable bandwidth  & if that comes from choice of either L2 or L3,  i will like to know about it.

what bandwith does a l3  channel offer compared to l2.

thanks

Hello,

In my opinion, there is no difference between the achievable throughput with either L2 or L3 EtherChannel. The principial working of EtherChannel remains the same, whether it is L2 or L3. An EtherChannel, be it L2 or L3, carries a single flow of frames only through a single link in the EtherChannel bundle. It is only thanks to different sources and destinations of frames that they get distributed over the multiple links in the EtherChannel, thus arriving at a higher aggregate throughput. The combination of address fields used to decide which link a particular frame shall be sent through (MACs, IPs, L4 ports, their combination) is configured on a platform-wide basis and does not depend on whether the EtherChannel is configured as L2 or L3.

Best regards,

Peter