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The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.
This module contains information about Cisco Express Forwarding and describes the tasks for configuring a load-balancing scheme for Cisco Express Forwarding traffic. Load-balancing allows you to optimize resources by distributing traffic over multiple paths.
Cisco Express Forwarding is an advanced Layer 3 IP switching technology. It optimizes network performance and scalability for all kinds of networks: those that carry small amounts of traffic and those that carry large amounts of traffic in complex patterns, such as the Internet and networks characterized by intensive web-based applications or interactive sessions.
Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest feature information and caveats, see the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the "Feature Information for Configuring a Load-Balancing Scheme for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic" section.
Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.
•Prerequisites for Configuring a Load-Balancing Scheme for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•Restrictions for Configuring a Load-Balancing Scheme for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•Information About Configuring a Load-Balancing Scheme for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•How to Configure a Load-Balancing Scheme for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•Configuration Examples for Configuring a Load-Balancing Scheme for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•Feature Information for Configuring a Load-Balancing Scheme for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•Cisco Express Forwarding or distributed Cisco Express Forwarding must be enabled on your switch or router.
•If you enable per-packet load balancing for traffic going to a particular destination, all interfaces that can forward traffic to that destination must be enabled for per-packet load balancing.
You must globally configure load balancing on Cisco 12000 Series Router E2 line cards in the same way: either in per-destination or per-packet mode. It is not possible (as in other Cisco IOS software-based platforms) to configure some packet prefixes in per-destination mode and others in per-packet mode.
•Cisco Platform Support for Central Cisco Express Forwarding and Distributed Cisco Express Forwarding
•Cisco Express Forwarding Load-Balancing Overview
•Per-Destination Load Balancing for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•Per-Packet Load Balancing for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•Load-Balancing Algorithms for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
Cisco Express Forwarding is enabled by default on most Cisco platforms running Cisco IOS software Release 12.0 or later. When Cisco Express Forwarding is enabled on a router, the Route Processor (RP) performs the express forwarding.
To find out if Cisco Express Forwarding is enabled on your platform, enter the show ip cef command. If Cisco Express Forwarding is enabled, you receive output that looks like this:
Router# show ip cef
Prefix Next Hop Interface
[...]
10.2.61.8/24 192.168.100.1 FastEthernet1/0/0
192.168.101.1 FastEthernet6/1
[...]
If Cisco Express Forwarding is not enabled on your platform, the output for the show ip cef command looks like this:
Router# show ip cef
%CEF not running
Distributed Cisco Express Forwarding is enabled by default on the Catalyst 6500 series switch, the Cisco 7500 series router, and the Cisco 12000 series router. When distributed Cisco Express Forwarding is enabled on your platform, the line cards perform the express forwarding.
If Cisco Express Forwarding is not enabled on your platform, use the ip cef command to enable (central) Cisco Express Forwarding or the ip cef distributed command to enable distributed Cisco Express Forwarding.
Cisco Express Forwarding load balancing is based on a combination of source and destination packet information; it allows you to optimize resources by distributing traffic over multiple paths.
You can configure load balancing on a per-destination or per-packet basis. Because load-balancing decisions are made on the outbound interface, load balancing must be configured on the outbound interface.
Per-destination load balancing allows the router to use multiple paths to achieve load sharing across multiple source-destination host pairs. Packets for a given source-destination host pair are guaranteed to take the same path, even if multiple paths are available. Traffic streams destined for different pairs tend to take different paths.
Per-destination load balancing is enabled by default when you enable Cisco Express Forwarding. To use per-destination load balancing, you do not perform any additional tasks once Cisco Express Forwarding is enabled. Per-destination is the load-balancing method of choice for most situations.
Because per-destination load balancing depends on the statistical distribution of traffic, load sharing becomes more effective as the number of source-destination host pairs increases.
You can use per-destination load balancing to ensure that packets for a given host pair arrive in order. All packets intended for a certain host pair are routed over the same link (or links).
Typically, you disable per-destination load balancing when you want to enable per-packet load balancing.
Note The Cisco 10000 series router and the Cisco 12000 series router are configured by default to perform per-destination load balancing.
Cisco Express Forwarding Per-packet load balancing allows the router to send successive data packets over different paths without regard to individual hosts or user sessions. It uses the round-robin method to determine which path each packet takes to the destination. Per-packet load balancing ensures that the traffic is balanced over multiple links.
Per-packet load balancing is good for single-path destinations, but packets for a given source-destination host pair might take different paths. Per-packet load balancing can therefore introduce reordering of packets. This type of load balancing is inappropriate for certain types of data traffic (such as voice traffic over IP) that depend on packets arriving at the destination in sequence.
Use per-packet load balancing to help ensure that a path for a single source-destination host pair does not get overloaded. If the bulk of the data passing through parallel links is for a single pair, per-destination load balancing overloads a single link while other links have very little traffic. Enabling per-packet load balancing allows you to use alternate paths to the same busy destination.
Note Although per-packet load balancing is intended for use on the majority of Cisco IOS routers, it is not supported on the Cisco ASR 1000 (and higher) Series Aggregation Services Router. Also, per-packet load balancing can result in out-of-sequence (OOS) packet delivery errors on some routers, which can cause applications such as VoIP to malfunction. Therefore, per-packet load balancing is not recommended. For more information, see the release notes and caveats for your platform and software release.
The following load-balancing algorithms are provided for use with Cisco Express Forwarding traffic. You select a load-balancing algorithm with the ip cef load-sharing algorithm command.
•Original algorithm—The original Cisco Express Forwarding load-balancing algorithm produces distortions in load sharing across multiple routers because the same algorithm was used on every router. Depending on your network environment, you should select either the universal algorithm (default) or the tunnel algorithm instead.
•Universal algorithm—The universal load-balancing algorithm allows each router on the network to make a different load sharing decision for each source-destination address pair, which resolves load-sharing imbalances. The router is set to perform universal load sharing by default.
•Tunnel algorithm—The tunnel algorithm is designed to balance the per-packet load when only a few source and destination pairs are involved.
•Include-ports algorithm—The include-ports algorithm allows you to use the Layer 4 source and destination ports as part of the load-balancing decision. This method benefits traffic streams running over equal cost paths that are not load shared because the majority of the traffic is between peer addresses that use different port numbers, such as Real-Time Protocol (RTP) streams. The include-ports algorithm is available in Cisco IOS Release 12.4(11)T and later releases.
•Enabling or Disabling Cisco Express Forwarding Per-Destination Load Balancing (optional)
•Configuring Cisco Express Forwarding Per-Packet Load Balancing (optional)
•Selecting a Cisco Express Forwarding Load-Balancing Algorithm (optional)
Perform this task to enable or disable Cisco Express Forwarding per-destination load balancing.
Typically, you disable per-destination load balancing when you want to enable per-packet load balancing.
1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. interface type slot/port or interface type slot/port-adapter/port
4. [no] ip load-sharing per-destination
5. end
Perform the following task to configure Cisco Express Forwarding per-packet load balancing.
1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. interface type slot/port or interface type slot/port-adapter/port
4. ip load-sharing per-packet
5. end
Perform one of the following tasks to elect a Cisco Express Forwarding load-balancing algorithm.
•Selecting a Tunnel Load-Balancing Algorithm for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
•Selecting an Include-Ports Layer 4 Load-Balancing Algorithm for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
The router is set to perform universal load sharing by default.
Perform the following task to select a tunnel load-balancing algorithm for Cisco Express Forwarding traffic. Select the tunnel algorithm when your network environment contains only a few source and destination pairs.
1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. ip cef load-sharing algorithm {original | tunnel [id] | universal [id] | include-ports {source [id] | [destination] [id] | source [id] destination [id]}}
4. end
Perform the following task to select an include-ports load-balancing algorithm for Cisco Express Forwarding traffic. Select the include-port algorithm when your network environment contains traffic running over equal-cost paths that is not load shared because the majority of the traffic is between peer addresses with different port numbers, such as RTP streams.
Your system must be using an image that supports Cisco Express Forwarding in Cisco IOS Release 12.4(11)T or a later release.
The Layer 4 load-balancing algorithm applies to software switched packets.
For platforms that switch traffic using a hardware forwarding engine, the hardware load-balancing decision might be different from the software load-balancing decision for the same traffic stream. You might want to override the configured algorithm.
1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. ip cef load-sharing algorithm {original | tunnel [id] | universal [id] | | include-ports {source [id] | [destination] [id] | source [id] destination [id]}}
4. end
•Example: Enabling or Disabling Cisco Express Forwarding Per-Destination Load Balancing
•Example: Configuring Cisco Express Forwarding Per-Packet Load Balancing
•Example: Selecting a Cisco Express Forwarding Load-Balancing Algorithm
Per-destination load balancing is enabled by default when you enable Cisco Express Forwarding. Typically, you disable per-destination load balancing when you want to enable per-packet load balancing. The following example shows how to disable per-destination load balancing:
configure terminal
!
interface ethernet 1/1
no ip load-sharing per-destination
end
The following example shows how to configure per-packet load balancing for Cisco Express Forwarding:
configure terminal
!
interface ethernet 1/1
ip load-sharing per-packet
end
If you want to enable per-packet load balancing for traffic intended for a particular destination, all interfaces that can forward traffic to that destination must be enabled for per-packet load-balancing.
The router is set to perform universal load balancing by default.
The following examples show how to select a different Cisco Express Forwarding load-balancing algorithm:
•Example: Selecting a Tunnel Load-Balancing Algorithm for Cisco Express Forwarding Traffic
The following example shows how to select a tunnel load-balancing algorithm for Cisco Express Forwarding:
configure terminal
!
ip cef load-sharing algorithm tunnel
end
The following example shows how to disable the tunnel load-balancing algorithm:
configure terminal
!
no ip cef load-sharing algorithm tunnel
end
The following example shows how to select an include-ports Layer 4 load-balancing algorithm for Cisco Express Forwarding traffic:
configure terminal
!
ip cef load-sharing algorithm include-ports source
end
This example sets up load sharing that includes the source port in the load-balancing decision.
To disable the include-ports Layer 4 load-balancing algorithm and return to the default universal mode, enter the following commands:
configure terminal
!
no ip cef load-sharing algorithm
end
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Cisco IOS commands |
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IP switching commands: complete command syntax, command modes, command history, defaults, usage guidelines, and examples. |
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List of the features documented in the Cisco Express Forwarding modules |
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Overview of the Cisco Express Forwarding feature |
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Tasks for verifying basic Cisco Express Forwarding and distributed Cisco Express Forwarding operation |
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Tasks for enabling or disabling Cisco Express Forwarding or distributed Cisco Express Forwarding |
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Tasks for configuring Cisco Express Forwarding consistency checkers |
Configuring Cisco Express Forwarding Consistency Checkers for Route Processors and Line Cards |
Tasks for configuring epochs for Cisco Express Forwarding tables |
Configuring Epochs to Clear and Rebuild Cisco Express Forwarding and Adjacency Tables |
Tasks for configuring and verifying Cisco Express Forwarding network accounting |
|
Tasks for customizing the display of recorded Cisco Express Forwarding events |
Customizing the Display of Recorded Cisco Express Forwarding Events |
Explanation of and troubleshooting information for the Cisco IOS software implementation of Layer 3 load balancing across multiple parallel links when Cisco Express Forwarding is used |
Troubleshooting Load Balancing Over Parallel Links Using Cisco Express Forwarding |
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No new or modified standards are supported by this feature, and support for existing standards has not been modified by this feature. |
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No new or modified RFCs are supported by this feature, and support for existing RFCs has not been modified by this feature. |
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Table 1 lists the release history for this feature.
Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and software image support. Cisco Feature Navigator enables you to determine which software images support a specific software release, feature set, or platform. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.
Note Table 1 lists only the Cisco IOS software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given Cisco IOS software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that Cisco IOS software release train also support that feature.
adjacency—A relationship formed between selected neighboring routers and end nodes for the purpose of exchanging routing information. Adjacency is based upon the use of a common media segment by the routers and nodes involved.
Cisco Express Forwarding—A Layer 3 switching technology. Cisco Express Forwarding can also refer to central Cisco Express Forwarding mode, one of two modes of Cisco Express Forwarding operation. Cisco Express Forwarding enables a Route Processor to perform express forwarding. Distributed Cisco Express Forwarding is the other mode of Cisco Express Forwarding operation.
distributed Cisco Express Forwarding—A mode of Cisco Express Forwarding operation in which line cards (such as Versatile Interface Processor [VIP] line cards) maintain identical copies of the forwarding information base (FIB) and adjacency tables. The line cards perform the express forwarding between port adapters; this relieves the Route Switch Processor of involvement in the switching operation.
FIB—forwarding information base. A component of Cisco Express Forwarding that is conceptually similar to a routing table or information base. The router uses the FIB lookup table to make destination-based switching decisions during Cisco Express Forwarding operation. The router maintains a mirror image of the forwarding information in an IP routing table.
LSP—label switched path. A sequence of hops (Router 0...Router n). A packet travels from R0 to Rn by means of label switching mechanisms. An LSP can be chosen dynamically, based on normal routing mechanisms, or you can configure the LSP manually.
prefix—The network address portion of an IP address. A prefix is specified by a network and mask and is generally represented in the format network/mask. The mask indicates which bits are the network bits. For example, 1.0.0.0/16 means that the first 16 bits of the IP address are masked, making them the network bits. The remaining bits are the host bits. In this example, the network number is 10.0.
RIB—Routing Information Base. A central repository of routes that contains Layer 3 reachability.