Channel Distribution Method

[pbunchuk]

Are there any issues with changing the port channel distribution from "ip both" to "mac source" on a 6509 with connected servers & switches? I am noticing that traffic is not being load balanced.

[rjackson]

It doesnt balance the load it shares it. It hashes what you choose to distribute by and chooses a path with the result. You are looking the the most unique numbers to hash on. IP both usually does the best job of sharing it close to evenly. The source mac addresses are the same for devices entering the segment through a router and for all packets coming from a server so they will all hash the same.

[pbunchuk]

My question was regarding the effects, negative if any, on the connected devices when changing the port channel distribution method . I am concerned about dropping connections to the servers.

According to Cisco - "The load-balancing policy (frame distribution) can be based on a MAC address (Layer 2), an IP address (Layer 3), or a port number (Layer 4). These policies can be activated, respectively using the set port channel all distribution {ip | mac} [source | destination | both] command."