Load Balancing - Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Software Configuration Manual

CEF Configuration Restrictions
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Load Balancing

The Catalyst 4500 series switch supports load balancing for routing packets in the Integrated Switching
Engine hardware. Load balancing is always enabled. It works when multiple routes for the same network
with different next-hop addresses are configured. These routes can be configured either statically or
through a routing protocol such as OSPF or EIGRP.
The hardware makes a forwarding decision by using a hardware load sharing hash function to compute
a value, based on the source and destination IP addresses and the source and destination TCP port
numbers (if available). This load sharing hash value is then used to select which route to use to forward
the packet. All hardware switching within a particular flow (such as a TCP connection) is routed to the
same next hop, which reduces the chance that packet reordering occurs. Up to eight different routes for
a particular network are supported.
Software Interfaces
Cisco IOS for the Catalyst 4500 series switch supports GRE and IP tunnel interfaces that are not part of
the hardware forwarding engine. All packets that flow to or from these interfaces must be processed in
software and have a significantly lower forwarding rate than that of hardware-switched interfaces. Also,
Layer 2 features are not supported on these interfaces.
CEF Configuration Restrictions
The CEF Integrated Switching Engine supports only ARPA and ISL/802.1q encapsulation types for
Layer 3 switching in hardware. The CPU subsystem supports a number of encapsulations such as SNAP
for Layer 2 switching that you can use for Layer 3 switching in software.
Configuring CEF
These sections describe how to configure CEF:
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Enabling CEF
By default, CEF is enabled globally on the Catalyst 4500 series switch. No configuration is required.
To reenable CEF, perform this task:
Catalyst 4500 Series Switch, Cisco IOS Software Configuration Guide - Cisco IOS XE 3.9.xE and IOS 15.2(5)Ex
36-6
Packets that exceed the MTU of an output interface and must be fragmented
Packets that require an IGMP redirect for routing
802.3 Ethernet packets
Enabling CEF, page 36-6
Configuring Load Balancing for CEF, page 36-7
Chapter 36 Configuring Cisco Express Forwarding