What's the diff? Trunk vs just connecting a cable?

[jriker1]

I have three HP Procurve 1810g-24 switches and am going to be linking them together.  The first I can only connect one physical network cable to the second due to existing in wall wiring between the locations the two switches are at.  The third is close to the second so can connect as many network cables between the two as is value added.  That said, right now two of the three switches are basically connected by just plugging a network cable between the two and moving on.  What is the reason/value of setting up a trunk between any of these switches as opposed to what I'm doing now?

Thanks.

JR

[EricAtHP]

A trunk, also known as a link aggregation, provides additional bandwidth and redundancy between two devices. In your case, I don't think it is necessary especially since it isn't possible between all three switches.