Configuring an Actively Negotiated EtherChannel

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The EtherChannel technology allows you to combine multiple physical interfaces into a single logical interface, providing higher bandwidth, redundancy, and load balancing capabilities.

When configuring an EtherChannel, you need to specify how the interfaces will negotiate the formation of the channel. There are two main modes of negotiation:

• Passive mode: the interface waits for the other side to initiate the negotiation.
• Active mode: the interface actively sends out LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) packets to initiate the negotiation.

To configure an EtherChannel to actively negotiate, you can use the "channel-group" command with either the "mode active" or "mode desirable" keyword. Here's what they mean:

• "channel-group 10 mode active": this command configures the interface to actively send out LACP packets to negotiate the formation of the channel. This mode is compatible with devices that support either LACP or PAgP (Port Aggregation Protocol).

• "channel-group 10 mode desirable": this command also configures the interface to actively initiate negotiation using PAgP, a Cisco proprietary protocol. However, if the other side doesn't support PAgP, the interface will fallback to LACP.

Therefore, the correct answers to the question are D. channel-group 10 mode desirable and E. channel-group 10 mode active. Answer A (channel-group 10 mode on) would configure the interface to not negotiate and simply bundle the interfaces together. Answer B (channel-group 10 mode auto) would configure the interface to negotiate using the passive mode, but it wouldn't actively send out packets. Answer C (channel-group 10 mode passive) would configure the interface to wait for the other side to initiate the negotiation.