From the course: Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) v1.1 (200-301) Cert Prep

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Introduction to EtherChannel

Introduction to EtherChannel

From the course: Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) v1.1 (200-301) Cert Prep

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Introduction to EtherChannel

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(bright music) - [Instructor] In this video, let's consider EtherChannel and how it operates. First, think back to Spanning Tree Protocol. With Spanning Tree Protocol, if we had a couple of connections between two switches, spanning tree would allow that to provide redundancy, but one of those links would not be carrying traffic. We could only have one link at a time carrying traffic to avoid a Layer 2 topological loop. And the link that was not carrying traffic would just be standing by, waiting to take over if the primary link failed. However, with EtherChannel, we can logically bundle together those ports to form a virtual port. It's called a port channel port. And with this port channel port, we can send traffic over these links at the same time. And that gives us a few benefits. We effectively get higher bandwidth between our switches. We're able to load balance. Some traffic goes down one link, some traffic goes down another link, and these links are redundant. So if one link…

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