PAgP or LACP. In the on mode, a usable EtherChannel exists only when the devices at both ends of the link are configured in the on mode. Ports that are configured in the on mode in the same channel group must have compatible port characteristics, such as speed and duplex. Ports that are not compatible are suspended, even though they are configured in the on mode. Caution You should use care when using the on mode. This is a manual configuration, and ports on both ends of the EtherChannel must have the same configuration. If the group is misconfigured, packet loss or spanning-tree loops can occur.
Load-Balancing and Forwarding Methods EtherChannel balances the traffic load across the links in a channel by reducing part of the binary pattern that is formed from the addresses in the frame to a numerical value that selects one of the links in the channel. You can specify one of several different load-balancing modes, including load distribution based on MAC addresses, IP addresses, source addresses, destination addresses, or both source and destination addresses. The selected mode applies to all EtherChannels configured on the device.
Note Layer 3 Equal-cost multi path (ECMP) load balancing is based on source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, and layer 4 protocol. Fragmented packets will be treated on two different links based on the algorithm that is calculated using these parameters. Any changes in one of these parameters result in load balancing. MAC Address Forwarding With source-MAC address forwarding, when packets are forwarded to an EtherChannel, they are distributed across the ports in the channel based on the source-MAC address of the incoming packet.
Therefore, to provide load-balancing, packets from different hosts use different ports in the channel, but packets from the same host use the same port in the channel. With destination-MAC address forwarding, when packets are forwarded to an EtherChannel, they are distributed across the ports in the channel based on the destination host’s MAC address of the incoming packet. Therefore, packets to the same destination are forwarded over the same port, and packets to a different destination are sent on a different port in the channel.
With source-and-destination MAC address forwarding, when packets are forwarded to an EtherChannel, they are distributed across the ports in the channel based on both the source and destination MAC addresses. This forwarding method, a combination source-MAC and destination-MAC address forwarding methods of load distribution, can be used if it is not clear whether source-MAC or destination-MAC address forwarding is better suited on a particular device. With source-and-destination MAC-address forwarding, packets sent from host A to host B, host A to host C, and host C to host B could all use different ports in the channel.
IP Address Forwarding With source-IP address-based forwarding, packets are distributed across the ports in the EtherChannel based on the source-IP address of the incoming packet. To provide load balancing, packets from different IP addresses use different ports in the channel, and packets from the same IP address use the same port in the channel. Configuring EtherChannels Load-Balancing and Forwarding Methods Configuring EtherChannels 8