Hello,
To my best knowledge, there is no easy way of doing this without causing an intermittent connection failure. By removing the entire Port-channel interface using the no interface Po1 command, all physical members will be automatically shut down. On the other hand, if you just remove the physical interfaces from the channel-group without removing the Port-channel interface itself, the ports will go over the STP port role/state determination which may require several seconds for them to become forwarding again. In addition, this requires that the ports are unbundled (i.e. removed from the channel-group) on both interconnected switches within a short timeframe, otherwise switching loops may and possibly will occur.
The most safe way would be to simply use console access but that may not be feasible. In that case, I suggest proceeding as follows (however, please test this in a lab first if possible - I am explicitly warning that this may not prevent a permanent network outage!):
- Have SSH/Telnet connection open to both switches
- Make sure that the configuration of the bundled ports under a particular channel-group is identical to the configuration of the Port-channel interface itself. Resolve any omissions or discrepancies before proceeding further.
- On both switches, shut down all but one physical interface in the channel-group. Leave only one physical link alive in the bundle, all other should be shutdown.
- Remove all physical ports from the channel-group on the topologically farther switch without removing the Port-channel interface, using the no channel-group 1 command on the appropriate physical interfaces. Use the interface range command to unbundle all appropriate ports at once.
- Using the same approach, unbundle the physical ports on the topologically closer switch.
- Because of STP, the connectivity will be disrupted for up to 30 seconds (much shorter with RSTP).
- When the connection is reestablished, remove the Port-channel interfaces from both switches before proceeding further.
- Reactivate all shutdown physical ports.
- Recreate the channel-groups now using the LACP, first on the topologically farther switch, then on the closer switch.
Best regards,
Peter
