Multi-link trunking
Multi-Link Trunking (MLT) is a link aggregation or IEEE 802.3ad port trunking technology designed by Nortel. It allows grouping several physical Ethernet links into one logical Ethernet link to provide fault-tolerance and high-speed links between routers, switches, and servers. In the past redundant links were unused due to Spanning Tree’s loop protection.
Using this technology allows or enables the use of several links (from 2 up to x) and combined them to create increased bandwidth and several fail-over paths. This produces server to switch or switch to switch connections that are up to 8 times faster.
Fault-tolerance is a very important aspect of an Multi-Link Trunking technology. Should any one or more than one link fail, the MLT technology will automatically redistribute traffic across the remaining links. This automatic redistribution is accomplished in less than half a second (typically less than 100 milisecond[1]) so no outage is noticed by end users. This high speed recovery is required by many critical networks where outages can cause loss of life or very large monetary losses in critical networks. Combining MLT technology with DMLT, SMLT, DSMLT and RSMLT technologies create networks that support the most critical networks.
A general limitation of standard MLT is that all the physical ports in the link aggregation group must reside on the same switch. SMLT, DSMLT and RSMLT technologies removes this limitation by allowing the physical ports to be split between two switches.
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