FYI here is what I have on EC on the NA.
*heh*
<<TRUNKING.html>>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bennett Todd [SMTP:bet@newritz.mordor.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 1999 11:48 AM
> To: tkaczma(a)gryf.net
> Cc: toasters(a)mathworks.com
> Subject: Etherchannel (was Re: NetApp/Auspex killer?)
>
> 1999-03-16-02:01:42 Tom:
> > Speaking of EtherChannel or more generically Link Aggregation. Does
> > anyone know a link describing it in quite a detail without going through
> a
> > complete protocol suite definition.
>
> Don't know of a link, would love to see one. But as I understand it, the
> general strategy is that very roughly each side separately runs simple
> algorithms to attempt to schmeer traffic over the multiple links. Often
> the
> algorithm is based on the MAC addrs of the two endpoints, and so won't
> yield
> over 100Mbps for any single link, but will hopefully (3 times out of 4)
> place
> competing high-volume connections on separate links.
>
> There are then hacks for failing over to another line when one link drops,
> and
> other border-condition exotica.
>
> But the basic idea is that given a large number of communication
> endpoints,
> you can schmear the traffic over multiple links quite cheaply.
>
> Dunno if this is any help to you.
>
> -Bennett