Dell PowerEdge FN I/O Module Configuration Guide 9.10(0.0)

• Virtual link trunk (VLT) — The combined port channel between an attached device and the VLT peer switches.
• VLT backup link — The backup link monitors the vitality of VLT peer switches. The backup link sends configurable, periodic keep alive messages between the VLT peer switches.
• VLT interconnect (VLTi) — The link used to synchronize states between the VLT peer switches.
• VLT domain — This domain includes both the VLT peer devices, VLT interconnect, and all of the port channels in the VLT connected to the attached devices. It is also associated to the configuration mode that you must use to assign VLT global parameters.
• VLT peer device — One of a pair of devices that are connected with the special port channel known as the VLT interconnect (VLTi).

VLT peer switches have independent management planes. A VLT interconnect between the VLT chassis maintains synchronization of L2/L3 control planes across the two VLT peer switches.

A separate backup link maintains heartbeat messages across an out-of-band (OOB) management network. The backup link ensures that node failure conditions are correctly detected and are not confused with failures of the VLT interconnect. VLT ensures that local traffic on a chassis does not traverse the VLTi and takes the shortest path to the destination via directly attached links.