Etherchannel load balance method

[xamza1412]

Hi, excuse me, my English very bad

Whether the same load balance method on two switches connected between? if yes,why? 

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

It depends on the platform, as they are not all the same.  Most smaller switches (3650, 3750, 2960, etc) by default do source mac address and larger platforms like the 6500 do source IP.

HTH

[xamza1412]

You understood me wrong

My SW1 using src-dst-ip algorithm and SW2 using src-macalgorithm. Should this suppose to be same? 

[Reza Sharifi]

Ok, sorry if I understood you wrong.

Anyway, for consistency, I would use the same algorithm on both switches (src-mac).

HTH

[xamza1412]

necessarily? why? what issues?refers on official guide

thank you

[Reza Sharifi]

Not sure if I have seen an official guide recommend from Cisco what method to use but usually in the lower layer (access) src-mac works well, as it is also default for most access switches and in the upper layer (distro/core) src-dst-ip is mostly used.

Here is a doc on Etherchannel that maybe helpful.

http://packetlife.net/blog/2010/jan/18/etherchannel-considerations/

HTH

[Joseph W. Doherty · Accepted solution]

They might be the same, they might be different.  Depends on the algorithm you're using and the attributes of your traffic.

For example, from a gateway to multiple hosts, you might use dest-mac, but from those same hosts to the gateway, you would use src-mac.  This because there's only one gateway.

However, if your equipment supports more complex algorithms, you could use, for the prior example src-dest-mac.

[xamza1412]

Thanks,

One question, why for switch that connected to esxi host i must using only src dst ip method?