Configuring EtherChannel
Load balancing over Ethernet

EtherChannel balances traffic load across the links in a channel. Load balancing can be based upon the variables listed. The default load balancing method varies among the Catalyst models.

Load balancing is applied globally for all EtherChannel bundles in the switch. To configure EtherChannel load balancing, use the port-channel load-balancetype command. The load-balancing keywords are as follows:

  • src-mac – Source MAC addresses
  • dst-mac – Destination MAC addresses
  • src-dst-mac – Source and destination MAC addresses
  • src-ip – Source IP addresses
  • dst-ip – Destination IP addresses
  • src-dst-ip – Source and destination IP addresses (default)
  • src-port – Source TCP/User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port
  • dst-port – Destination TCP/UDP port
  • src-dst-port – Source and destination TCP/UDP port

Configuring and Verifying EtherChannel Load Balancing
This example shows how to configure and verify EtherChannel load balancing.

Switch(config)#port-channel load-balance src-dst-ip
Switch(config)#exit
Switch#show etherchannel load-balance
Source XOR Destination IP address

Lab Activity

Lab Exercise: Configuring Fast EtherChannel

The purpose of this lab is to provide more bandwidth between Ethernet switches. Two 100-Mb links will be combined together to form a full duplex 200-Mb link.