Based on the IEEE 802.1ax standard (formerly 802.3ad), Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs) can be configured to increase the bandwidth available between two network devices, depending on the number of links installed. LAG also provides redundancy if one or more links participating in the LAG fail. All physical links in a specific LAG links combine to form one logical interface.
Packet sequencing must be maintained for any session. The hashing algorithm deployed by the Nokia routers is based on the type of traffic transported to ensure that all traffic in a flow remains in sequence while providing effective load sharing across the links in the LAG.
LAGs must be statically configured or formed dynamically with Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). The optional marker protocol described in IEEE 802.1ax is not implemented. LAGs can be configured on network and access ports.
The LAG load sharing is executed in hardware, which provides line rate forwarding for all port types.
The LAG implementation supports LAG with all member ports of the same speed and LAG with mixed port-speed members (see the sections that follow for details).