Etherchannel and when to implement

e24ohm

Folks:

I was reviewing the items about Etherchannel and how it allows for load balancing across the ports assigned to the channel; however, how do I know when this implementation is needed? What statistics do I need to realize that I have a bandwidth issue between my switches and vlans?

Thanks you,
E

EdTheLad

Port stats will tell you, config the load-interval on an interface to 30, then do "show interface x/x | i rate " you will be interested in the outbound rate.If you have 100mb link and the rate is 9mb you might think about using an ethernet bundle or upgrading to a gig link, it all depends whats economically viable.
There are applications out there that will collect snmp utilization stats and draw nice graphs for you too, also do some reading on netflow.Many ways to skin a cat.