User`s guide

Section II: Local and Telnet Mangement
78
Port Trunking Overview
Port trunking is an economical way for you to increase the bandwidth
between two switches. A port trunk is a group of 2 to 8 ports that have
been grouped together to function as one logical path. A port trunk
increases the bandwidth between switches and is useful in situations
where a single physical data link between switches is insufficient to
handle the traffic load.
A port trunk always sends packets from a particular source to a particular
destination over the same link within the trunk. A single link is
designated for flooding broadcasts and packets of unknown destination.
The example in Figure 25 consists of a port trunk of four data links
between two AT-8324 Switches.
Figure 25 Port Trunk Example
Port Trunking
Guidelines
When creating a port trunk, observe the following guidelines:
Selecting the Number of Ports in a Trunk
A port trunk can consist of 2 to 8 ports. .
Selecting Ports from the Same Switch in a Stack
The ports of a port trunk must be from the same switch in a stack. A port
trunk cannot consist of ports from different switches in a stack.
STATUS
RESET
FAULT
MASTER
RPS
PWR
10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX
FAST ETHERNET SWITCH
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX
1X 3X 5X 7X
2X 4X 6X 8X
9X 11X 13X 15X
10X 12X 14X 16X
17X 19X 21X 23X
18X 20X 22X 24X
A
B
RS-232
TERMINAL PORT
100M LINK / ACTIVITY 10M LINK / ACTIVITY
HALF DUP/ COL
FULL DUP
PORT ACTIVITY
L/A
L/A
D/C
D/C
L/A
D/C
STATUS
RESET
FAULT
MASTER
RPS
PWR
10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX
FAST ETHERNET SWITCH
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX
1X 3X 5X 7X
2X 4X 6X 8X
9X 11X 13X 15X
10X 12X 14X 16X
17X 19X 21X 23X
18X 20X 22X 24X
A
B
RS-232
TERMINAL PORT
100M LINK / ACTIVITY 10M LINK / ACTIVITY
HALF DUP/ COL
FULL DUP
PORT ACTIVITY
L/A
L/A
D/C
D/C
L/A
D/C