Creating Etherchannel group on live network

Guest

I have been playing with Cisco switches and VLANs for a while and have
learned alot by trial and error.

I have a situation that I'd like a little more info before I proceed.

I have 2 2960G switches that connect my server room to a wire closet.

I'd like to create an etherchannel between the 2 for increased
bandwidth and redundancy.

I have a good idea of the commands involved but I need to know if
there will be any network interruption while I am creating the
etherchannel group on the 2 switches.
I'm not sure either if I can make the physical connections on the
additional ports without causing a loop problem.
This is a live network for a 24/7 business. I can schedule downtime
but I'd rather not if i don't have to.

Any info or advive would be welcome.

dc