Maipu Administration Guide

Basic Concepts

Aggregation Group and Member Ports

Multiple physical ports are bound to form an aggregation group, and the physical ports are member ports of the aggregation group.

Member Port Status

The member ports of an aggregation group have the following two statuses:

Selected: The member ports which are in this status can participate in user service traffic forwarding. The member ports in this status are called "the selected ports".
Unselected: The member ports which are in this status cannot participate in user service traffic forwarding. The member ports in this status are called "the unselected ports".

The rate and duplex mode of an aggregation group is determined by the selected ports in the aggregation group. The rate of an aggregation group is the sum of all selected ports, and the duplex mode of the aggregation group is the same as the duplex mode of the selected ports.

Operation Key

An operation key is the property configuration of member ports. It consists of the rate, duplex mode, and administrative key (that is, the aggregation group number). In property configuration, change of the duplex mode or rate may cause re-calculation of the operation key.

In one aggregation group, if the duplex modes or rates of member ports are different, then the generated operation keys are different. However, the member ports that are in the selected status must have the same operation key.

LACP

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) is a protocol that is based on IEEE802.3ad. In LACP, Link Aggregation Control Protocol Data Units (LACPDUs) are used to interchange messages with the peer end.

LACP Priorities

LACP priorities are categorized into two types: system LACP priorities and port LACP priorities.

System LACP priorities: They are used to determine the LACP priority order of the devices at two ends.
Port LACP priorities: They are used to determine the priority order at which the member ports of the local device are selected.

System ID and Port ID

System ID: Aggregation property of a device. It consists of the system LACP priority of the device and the system MAC address. The higher the system LACP priority is, the better the system ID of the device is. If the system LACP priorities are the same, then the smaller the system MAC address is, the better the system ID of the device is.

Port ID: Aggregation property of a port. It consists of the port LACP priority and the port number. The higher the port LACP priority is, the better the port ID is. If the port LACP priorities are the same, then the smaller the port number is, the better the port ID is.

Root Port of an Aggregation Group

The protocols that are applied in an aggregation group receive and send protocol packets through the root port of the aggregation group. The root port of an aggregation group is selected from the member ports of the aggregation group. The physical link of the root port must be in the up status.