topic Re: Link Aggregation Query in General Topics

Link Aggregation Query

fatboy1607 — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 11:09:27 GMT

We have PA 500 which links to 100 Mbps throughput as mentioned by datasheet.

If we do link aggregation would it be possible for us to increase that ?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Link Aggregation Query

pulukas — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 13:37:23 GMT

The datasheet limitations are not based on physical port limits but on the processing of traffic and inspection limits of the platform. They cannot be increased by port aggregation or other physical means.

They do tend to be conservative in their estimation of processing power, so you can likely experience better performance. But the base limitations are with the packet inspection and processing not the port speeds.

Re: Link Aggregation Query

fatboy1607 — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 16:48:01 GMT

so link aggregration are basically for interface redundancy ?

Re: Link Aggregation Query

reaper — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 22:56:42 GMT

You can aggregate interfaces to increase the potential throughput achievable by an interface group, but you will never be able to surpass the platform total capacity
It's not clear which of the two you are trying to increase

Re: Link Aggregation Query

pulukas — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 12:59:43 GMT

The other thing to be aware of is that these specifications are specific to the feature they mention in the sheet. So for the PA500 the 100M specification is for traffic that hits policies with threat prevention enabled. The 250 M is for traffic that hits policies that use app-id. So these are not the total traffic passing the interface but the traffic actually processes by the inspection system.

https://media.paloaltonetworks.com/documents/Summary_Specsheet-Nov12.pdf