EtherChannel
One of the best ways to lower STP’s convergence time is to avoid convergence altogether. EtherChannel provides a way to prevent STP convergence from being needed when only a single port or cable failure occurs.
EtherChannel combines multiple parallel segments of equal speed (up to eight) between the same pair of switches, bundled into an EtherChannel. The switches treat the EtherChannel as a single interface with regard to STP. As a result, if one of the links fails, but at least one of the links is up, STP convergence does not have to occur. For example, Figure 1-10 shows the familiar three-switch network, but now with two Gigabit Ethernet connections between each pair of switches.
Figure 1-10 Two-Segment EtherChannels Between ...
Get Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching ICND2 200-101 Official Cert Guide now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
