IEEE introduced its 802.1AX-2014 standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks – Link Aggregation.
IEEE 802.1AX has two new key features: Conversation Sensitive Traffic Distribution and Distributed Resilient Network Interconnect (DRNI).
- Conversation sensitive traffic distribution allows for the association of individual conversations to physical links in a priority order. This enables control of the physical link a conversation utilizes, and ensures that the same link is also used in both the forward and the reverse directions.
- Distributed Resilient Network Interconnect (DRNI) enables up to three nodes on each side of a Link Aggregation (LAG), further enhancing interconnectivity by adding node redundancy and protection. In effect, IEEE 802.1AX-2014 provides a standardized version of multi-chassis LAG, the common nomenclature for current proprietary solutions. DRNI provides isolation, independence, and rapid recovery even below 50ms. With DRNI, interconnected network domains can be independently administered and managed and can use different technologies. Failure events are isolated so that a failure in one network domain is not propagated to the other, and failure in the DRNI is not propagated to either network domain.
“The new standard revision IEEE 802.1AX-2014 marks yet another milestone in ongoing efforts to improve the performance and reliability of the link aggregation standard,” said Glenn Parsons, chair, IEEE 802.1 Working Group. “In a growing world economy where connectivity is key, the 802.1 working group is committed to supporting broader deployment of the standard to ensure the latest technology is being applied to enhance link aggregation solutions.”