An AIX instance was initially configured to communicate over a single network interface. The administrator plans to configure an EtherChannel using the existing network interface and an additional…

In AIX EtherChannel (IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation), member adapters are raw physical devices that form the channel and cannot have IP addresses assigned to them. Removing the existing IP configuration from the current interface is therefore the mandatory first step, after which both adapters can be joined to the EtherChannel and the IP address assigned to the resulting aggregated interface.

Configuring the existing interface as a primary adapter is a later step in EtherChannel setup and cannot be performed while an IP address is still assigned to that interface.

Assigning the same IP address to the additional interface would create a duplicate address conflict on the network and is not part of any valid EtherChannel configuration procedure.

Adding both adapters as primary adapters is an intermediate configuration step that cannot be performed until the IP information has first been removed from the existing adapter.