Can I use both Ethernet ports on the ZoneDirector for load balancing / link aggregation?

Summary

Can the two Eth ports on a ZoneDirector be used for Load Balancing / link aggregation?

Question

Can the two Eth ports on a ZoneDirector be used for Load Balancing?

Customer Environment

ZoneDirector and 2+ customer switches

Root Cause

Customers see two GigE ports on ZoneDirector and wonder if they can be combined for increased throughput.

Resolution

The two Ethernet ports on a ZoneDirector are each 1GB capable, but the two Physical interfaces are one Logical
interface to the ZoneDirector.

You can connect each ZD interface to a separate network switch, but Spanning Tree should be blocked on one of the switches
port paths to prevent the ZD MAC address from being seen on its other interface, forming a loop.

This provides High Availability for uptime purposes, in the event that a cable/interface/switch went bad or went down,
but we cannot transmit/receive traffic over both ZD interfaces simultaneously (Load Balancing / Link Aggregation).

Article Number:
000002296

Updated:
August 18, 2020 07:40 AM (over 4 years ago)

Tags:
Performance, Configuration, System Network Management, Known Issues and Workarounds, ZoneDirector

Votes:
4

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