A customer wants to increase the bandwidth between two Aruba OS-CX switches without buying expensive hardware. Which technology could help?

Link aggregation groups are a technology that allows multiple physical network connections to be combined into a single logical connection. This approach increases bandwidth between two network devices—such as Aruba OS-CX switches—without the need to purchase additional hardware. By bundling several links together, link aggregation not only enhances throughput but also provides redundancy. If one of the links in the aggregation fails, the remaining links continue to support data traffic, thus improving network resilience.

In the context of improving bandwidth specifically, link aggregation enables the simultaneous use of multiple network paths, which effectively increases the total bandwidth available for data transfers between the switches. It adheres to standards such as IEEE 802.3ad (also known as Link Aggregation Control Protocol or LACP), ensuring interoperability between devices from various vendors.

The other options do not achieve the goal of increasing bandwidth in the same manner. Load balancing distributes traffic across multiple paths but does not inherently increase the total available bandwidth unless those paths are aggregated. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is focused on network management and monitoring, and static routes are about defining specific pathways for packet forwarding rather than enhancing bandwidth directly.