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What is load balancing in Cisco router?
Per-Destination Load Balancing. Per-destination load balancing allows the router to use multiple paths to achieve load sharing across multiple source-destination host pairs. Per-destination load balancing is enabled by default when you enable Cisco Express Forwarding.
Do routers load balance?
With load balancing, multiple broadband lines are connected to a load-balancing router. Many load-balancing routers can accept two broadband connections, while some (generally the more expensive routers) can support a greater number of connections. Some routers allow mobile broadband connections to be used.
What is load balancing routing?
A load balancing router, sometimes referred to as a failover router, will attempt to route internet traffic across two or more broadband connections in the most optimal way. This makes it possible to deliver a better experience to broadband users who are simultaneously accessing internet applications or files.
Can we do load balancing in OSPF?
If equal-cost paths exist to the same destination, the Cisco implementation of OSPF can keep track of up to 16 next hops to the same destination in the routing table (which is called load balancing). By default, the Cisco router supports up to four equal-cost paths to a destination for OSPF.
How does load balancing work on a Cisco router?
Load balancing is a standard functionality of the Cisco IOS® router software, and is available across all router platforms. It is inherent to the forwarding process in the router and is automatically activated if the routing table has multiple paths to a destination.
What kind of routing protocol does load balancing use?
It is based on standard routing protocols, such as Routing Information Protocol (RIP), RIPv2, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), and Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), or derived from statically configured routes and packet forwarding mechanisms.
How does the per packet load balancing work?
Per-packet load balancing guarantees equal load across all links. However, there is potential that the packets may arrive out of order at the destination because differential delay may exist within the network.
How does load balancing work for fast switching?
For fast-switching—load balancing is on a per-destination basis and the asterisk (*) points to the interface over which the next destination-based flow is sent. The position of the asterisk (*) keeps rotating among the equal cost paths each time a packet/flow is served. You can set load-balancing to work per-destination or per-packet.