IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation (LAG): what it is, and what it is not

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IEEE 802.3 HSSG
802.3ad Link Aggregation
• Is a very good thing
– It does what it was intended to do
– It is relatively easy to implement and use
• Does not always provide a linear multiple of the data rate
of a single link
– N aggregated links usually do not provide
N times the bandwidth
• Incurs a linear multiple of the cost of a single link
– N aggregated links cost N times as much as a single link,
because everything must be replicated
• Appears to the user as N individual links, which must be
individually managed