Cross-Stack EtherChannel
Sometimes you can create an EtherChannel across two physical switches. For example, when 3750s are stacked, the stack becomes a single logical entity and each physical switch acts like a blade. Configuring an EtherChannel across two physical switches in the stack is possible, and even recommended to eliminate single physical failure points. Nothing special is required to accomplish this once the stack has been configured—just configure each port to be in the same port-channel group:
3750-IOS(config)#int range g1/0/1 , g2/0/13750-IOS(config-if-range)#channel-group 10 mode onCreating a port-channel interface Port-channel 10
Cisco calls this cross-stack EtherChannel, and
it has some interesting capabilities and limitations. For example, you can
have 16 ports in a cross-stack EtherChannel, with 8 active and 8 in
standby. You cannot use PAgP, though, so your modes are confined to
active, passive, and
on.
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