What is the maximum number of ports Cisco switches support for a single EtherChannel bundle?

The maximum number of physical ports that Cisco switches can support in a single EtherChannel bundle is indeed 8 ports. EtherChannel allows multiple physical Ethernet links to be combined into a single logical link, which provides increased bandwidth and redundancy. The limitation to 8 ports per EtherChannel is a design choice aimed at balancing performance and network management complexity.

By keeping the maximum at 8, it ensures simpler configurations and reduces the likelihood of potential bottlenecks or issues associated with larger bundles. This is particularly relevant in ensuring efficient load balancing and failover capabilities across the aggregated links. As a result, only 8 ports can effectively work together under one EtherChannel umbrella, providing multiple physical connections while maintaining a single logical interface to the devices on either end.