User`s guide

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) Overview
Matrix DFE Series and N-SA User’s Guide 4-3
Matrix DFE Series and N-SA Usage Considerations
Innormalusage(andtypicalimplementations)thereisnoneedtomodifyanyofthedefault
LACPparametersontheMatrixDFESeriesandN‐SAdevice.Thedefaultconfigurations,as
showninTable 4‐2,willresultinthemaximumnumberofaggregationspossible.Iftheswitchis
placedin
aconfigurationwithpeersnotrunningtheprotocol,nodynamiclinkaggregationswill
beformedandtheswitchwillfunctionnormally(thatis,willblockredundantpaths).
AsshowninTable 4‐2,dependingonthemodel,eachMatrixdeviceprovideseither4or48
aggregatorports,whicharedesignatedin
theCLIaslag.0.1throughlag.0.48.Onceunderlying
physicalports(suchas,fe.x.x,orge.x.x)areassociatedwithanaggregatorport,theresulting
aggregationwillberepresentedasoneLAGwithalag.x.xportdesignation.LACPdetermines
whichunderlyingphysicalportsarecapableofaggregatingbycomparingoperationalkeys.

AggregatorportsallowonlyunderlyingportswithkeysmatchingtheirstojointheirLAG.
LACPDU Link Aggregation Control Protocol Data Unit. The protocol exchanges
aggregation state/mode information by way of a port’s actor and partner
operational states. LACPDUs sent by the first party (the actor) convey to the
second party (the actor’s protocol partner) what the actor knows, both about
its own state and that of its partner.
Actor and Partner An actor is the local device sending LACPDUs. Its protocol partner is the
device on the other end of the link aggregation. Each maintains current status
of the other using LACPDUs containing information about their ports’ LACP
status and operational state.
Admin Key Value assigned to aggregator ports and physical ports that are candidates for
joining a LAG. The LACP implementation on Matrix DFE Series and N-SA
devices will use this value to form an operational key and will determine which
underlying physical ports are capable of aggregating by comparing
operational keys. Aggregator ports allow only underlying ports with
operational keys matching theirs to join their LAG.
System Priority Value used to build a LAG ID, which determines aggregation precedence. If
there are two partner devices competing for the same aggregator, LACP
compares the LAG IDs for each grouping of ports. The LAG with the lower
LAG ID is given precedence and will be allowed to use the aggregator.
Note: Only one LACP system priority can be set on a Matrix DFE
Series or N-SA device, using either the set lacp asyspri command
(page 4-6), or the set port lacp command (page 4-6).
Port Priority Used by the device with the lowest LAG ID to determine which underlying
physical ports will be allowed into a LAG. Ports with the lowest priority are
allowed to join and all others are placed in standby.
Table 4-1 LACP Terms and Definitions (continued)
Term Definition
Table 4-2 Link Aggregation Configurations by Device
Device Aggregator Ports Provided Ports Allowed in a LAG
Matrix DFE-Platinum Series 48 (lag.0.1 - lag.0.48) unlimited
Matrix N-SA 48 (lag.0.1 - lag.0.48) unlimited
Matrix DFE-Gold Series 4 (lag.0.1 - lag.0.4)4