Which load-balancing option on a Cisco Catalyst switch will use MAC addresses for load-balancing?
- src-dst-port
- src-dst-name
- src-dst-ip
- src-dst-mac
Explanation: EtherChannel uses a hashing algorithm to distribute traffic across the physical links in a bundled group. The src-dst-mac option specifically utilizes both the source and destination MAC addresses of the incoming frames to calculate this hash value. By using both addresses, the switch can distribute traffic more effectively between different pairs of hosts, allowing packets sent from host A to host B and host A to host C to potentially use different physical ports in the channel. While the default load-balancing mode on many Cisco switches is often src-dst-ip, administrators can manually select src-dst-mac to ensure load distribution occurs at Layer 2. This is particularly useful in environments where a significant amount of non-IP traffic is present or when traffic needs to be balanced across a local segment based on hardware addresses. It is important to note that a single conversation between two specific devices will always be sent through the same physical link to maintain the proper order of frames.
Related exam: Modules 1 – 7: Checkpoint Exam: Network Switching Answers (CCNP ENCOR v9)
