ethernet switch question

Hi,
I dont know whether this is right forum to post this question or not
but..anyway..

My question is: Can I connect two ethernet switches using multiple
cables (of course using multiple ports) to increase the bandwidth
between those switches and can the switches utilize it?

e.g. I have 24 machines and I have two 16 port switches, can I connect
12 machines to each switch and use remaining 4 ports to directly
connect the switches so that the bandwidth across these cluster of
machines is 4 times higher than just using one port for switch
connection?

Can that be done?
Is this the industry practice?

Thanks in advance,
Mrugesh

(E-Mail Removed) writes:

> My question is: Can I connect two ethernet switches using multiple
> cables (of course using multiple ports) to increase the bandwidth
> between those switches and can the switches utilize it?

Yes, if the switches support it.

It has gone under several names from different vendors, but take a
look at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation> for more
information.

> Can that be done?

Yes

> Is this the industry practice?

Yes, described in IEEE 802.3ad.

--
Jacob

On 8 Feb 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.networking, in article
<(E-Mail Removed) .com>,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>I dont know whether this is right forum to post this question or not
>but..anyway..

Depends on the switch - 'comp.dcom.sys.bay-networks', 'comp.dcom.sys.cisco'
'comp.dcom.sys.nortel' might be more appropriate.

>My question is: Can I connect two ethernet switches using multiple
>cables (of course using multiple ports) to increase the bandwidth
>between those switches and can the switches utilize it?

Depends on the make/model of the switches, and how much effort you want
to put into configuring them.

>e.g. I have 24 machines and I have two 16 port switches, can I connect
>12 machines to each switch and use remaining 4 ports to directly
>connect the switches so that the bandwidth across these cluster of
>machines is 4 times higher than just using one port for switch
>connection?

Also depends on how much horsepower those switches have.

>Can that be done?

Yes, in some cases

>Is this the industry practice?

Do you mean "does everyone do this?" No.

Old guy

On Feb 8, 3:01 pm, ibupro...@painkiller.example.tld (Moe Trin) wrote:
> On 8 Feb 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.networking, in article
> <1170936635.708705.103...@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups .com>,
>
> gajjar.mrug...@gmail.com wrote:
> >I dont know whether this is right forum to post this question or not
> >but..anyway..
>
> Depends on the switch - 'comp.dcom.sys.bay-networks', 'comp.dcom.sys.cisco'
> 'comp.dcom.sys.nortel' might be more appropriate.
>
> >My question is: Can I connect two ethernet switches using multiple
> >cables (of course using multiple ports) to increase the bandwidth
> >between those switches and can the switches utilize it?
>
> Depends on the make/model of the switches, and how much effort you want
> to put into configuring them.
>
> >e.g. I have 24 machines and I have two 16 port switches, can I connect
> >12 machines to each switch and use remaining 4 ports to directly
> >connect the switches so that the bandwidth across these cluster of
> >machines is 4 times higher than just using one port for switch
> >connection?
>
> Also depends on how much horsepower those switches have.
>
> >Can that be done?
>
> Yes, in some cases
>
> >Is this the industry practice?
>
> Do you mean "does everyone do this?" No.
>
> Old guy


first you need Link aggregation support on those switches, if it
supports, then you can aggregate all Four ports like single port, also
incase if Spanning tree is supported, then spanning might consider
redundenat and might put some portsw in disabled state, again look at
those Data sheets, is it Managed switch or regular switch?.

On 11 Feb 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.networking, in article
<(E-Mail Removed) .com>, GS wrote:

> (Moe Trin) wrote:

>> gajjar.mrug...@gmail.com wrote:

>>> My question is: Can I connect two ethernet switches using multiple
>>> cables (of course using multiple ports) to increase the bandwidth
>>> between those switches and can the switches utilize it?
>>
>> Depends on the make/model of the switches, and how much effort you want
>> to put into configuring them.
>>
>>> e.g. I have 24 machines and I have two 16 port switches, can I connect
>>> 12 machines to each switch and use remaining 4 ports to directly
>>> connect the switches so that the bandwidth across these cluster of
>>> machines is 4 times higher than just using one port for switch
>>> connection?
>>
>> Also depends on how much horsepower those switches have.

>first you need Link aggregation support on those switches,

Not really - you can do it with simple routing algorithms on a managed
device.

>again look at those Data sheets, is it Managed switch or regular switch?.

That's the key. Simplicity is often a heck of a lot easier to implement
without spending huge quantities of cash.

Old guy