Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Interfaces Configuration Guide, Releases 26.x and Later

PDF

EtherChannels on the service side

Updated: April 24, 2026

Want to summarize with AI?

Log in

Describes EtherChannels on the service side, addressing supported devices, prerequisites, restrictions, load-balancing using CLI commands, port channel configuration via groups, and procedures for enabling specific load-balancing methods.

EtherChannels on the service side is a capability that

  • extends EtherChannel functionality to the service-facing interfaces of Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN device s,

  • provides fault-tolerant, high-speed links, redundancy, and increased bandwidth for service-side connections, and

  • is configurable through CLI device templates, CLI add-on feature templates, and configuration groups.

Supported devices for service side EtherChannel

This section provides a list of Cisco platforms that support EtherChannel functionality, including load balancing, on the service side. This information is crucial for planning and deploying Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN solutions that leverage EtherChannels for enhanced bandwidth and redundancy on service-facing interfaces.

The following platforms support EtherChannel and also offer load balancing for EtherChannel on the service side:

  • Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers

    • Cisco 4451-X Integrated Services Router

    • Cisco 4461 Integrated Services Router

    • Cisco 4431 Integrated Services Router

    • Cisco 4331 Integrated Services Router

    • Cisco 4351 Integrated Services Router

  • Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers

    • Cisco ASR 1001-X Router

    • Cisco ASR 1006-X Router

    • Cisco ASR 1001-HX Router

    • Cisco ASR 1002-HX Router

    • Cisco ASR 1002-X Router

  • Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software

  • Cisco Catalyst 8200 Router

  • Cisco Catalyst 8300 Router

  • Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Router

Supported NIMs

Any L3 Ethernet interface on Network Interface Modules (NIMs) or Service Modules (SMs) can support EtherChannels on the service side.

Note

Network Interface Modules (NIMs) with L2 ports do not support EtherChannels on the service side.

Prerequisites for EtherChannels on the service side

Before configuring EtherChannels on the service side, ensure that the following prerequisties are met. These prerequisites are essential for your EtherChannel configuration.

  • All the LAN ports in each EtherChannel must be of the same speed.

  • All the LAN ports must be configured on Layer 3 service-side ports.

  • All member interfaces in a port channel must have the same speed and duplex, when using platforms that support multiple rate SFPs on the same port.

Restrictions for EtherChannels on the service side

Maximum port channels

The maximum number of port channel interfaces that a device can support varies, depending on the particular model of the device.

Port channel configuration

You can configure EtherChannels on a device by using the CLI, or using only the CLI templates or CLI add-on feature templates in Cisco SD-WAN Manager.

Hardware and interface compatibility

  • Network Interface Modules (NIMs) with L2 ports do not support EtherChannels on the service side.

  • The EtherChannel Quality of Service (QoS) feature on port channels is not supported on the service side.

  • The Aggregate EtherChannel QoS feature on port channels is not supported on the service side.

  • An EtherChannel does not support Digital Signal Processor (DSP) farm services and voice services.

  • Sub interfaces cannot be added as member of EtherChannel.

Load balancing for service side EtherChannels using CLI commands

This topic describes the CLI commands and methods for configuring load balancing on service side EtherChannels, including enabling load balancing on individual port channels, configuring global and per-port-channel flow-based hash algorithms, and enabling VLAN load balancing.

The following tasks detail how to configure load balancing options for service side EtherChannels using the CLI commands:

Note

From Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.15.1, you can use any other hash algorithims for load balancing on the service side.

The Hash Algorithms For Flow-based Load Balancing feature is supported only on Cisco Aggregation Services Routers platforms, where the hardware load-balancing for Etherchannel is supported. This command is not supported on Cisco Integrated Services Routers and Cisco Catalyst Router platforms.

Enable load balancing on an individual port channel

Use this procedure to apply load balancing on an individual port channel.

Before you begin

You must be in global configuration mode and have an existing port channel created.

Complete these steps to enable load balancing on an individual port channel.

Procedure

1.

Enter the port channel interface configuration mode.

interface Port-channel channel-number
2.

Enable load balancing on an individual port channel.

load-balancing flow

The specified port channel now uses the configured load balancing method, overriding any global settings.

This example shows how to set the load-balancing method to flow, when VLAN-manual method is configured globally:

Device# config-transaction 
Device(config)# interface port-channel 1 
Device(config-if)# load-balancing flow

This example shows how to set the load-balancing method to VLAN:

Device# config-transaction 
Device(config)# interface port-channel 1 
Device(config-if)# load-balancing vlan

This example shows a configuration where flow-based load balancing is configured on port channel 2 while the VLAN-manual method is configured globally:


  port-channel load-balancing vlan-manual
  interface Port-channel2
   ip address 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.0
   load-balancing flow

  interface GigabitEthernet2/1/0
   no ip address
   channel-group 2
 
  interface GigabitEthernet2/1/1
   no ip address
   channel-group 2

This example shows configuration for VLAN when the load balancing is set to default on the global level: 

port-channel load-balancing vlan-manual


interface Port-channel1
interface Port-channel1.100
 encapsulation dot1Q 100 primary GigabitEthernet 1/1/1
 secondary GigabitEthernet 1/2/1
 ip address 10.16.2.100 255.255.255.0

interface Port-channel1.200
 encapsulation dot1Q 200 primary GigabitEthernet 1/2/1
 ip address 10.16.3.200 255.255.255.0
interface Port-channel1.300
 encapsulation dot1Q 300
 ip address 10.16.4.300 255.255.255.0

interface GigabitEthernet 1/1/1
 no ip address
 channel-group 1!
interface GigabitEthernet 1/2/1
 no ip address
 channel-group 1
Note

Interface 1 and interface 2 must be member ports of a port channel when encapsulation dot1q is configured.

Enable hash algorithms for flow-based load balancing on a global level

Use this procedure to configure a specific hash algorithm for flow-based load balancing globally across all port channels on the device.

Before you begin

Complete these steps to enable hash algorithms for flow-based load balancing on a global level.

Procedure

Configure the desired flow-based hash algorithm globally.

port-channel load-balance-hash-algo hash-algo

Replace hash-algo with one of the following supported hash algorithms:

dst-ip; dst-macsrc-dst-ipsrc-dst-ipsrc-dst-macsrc-dst-mixed-ip-portsrc-ipsrc-mac

The selected hash algorithm is now applied globally for flow-based load balancing on all port channels.

This example shows configuration for enabling a hash algorithm on a global level flow-based load balancing:

device(config)# port-channel load-balance-hash-algo src-mac

Enable hash algorithms flow-based load balancing on an individual port channel interface

Use this procedure to configure a flow-based hash algorithm for load balancing on an individual port channel interface

Before you begin

This feature is supported from Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN Release 17.15.1a and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.15.1.

Complete these steps to enable flow-based load balancing on an individual port channel interface.

Procedure

1.

Enter the port channel interface configuration mode.

interface Port-channel
2.

Enable flow-based load balancing hash algorithm. 

load-balance-hash-algo hash-algo

Replace hash-algo with one of the following supported hash algorithms:

dst-ip; dst-macsrc-dst-ipsrc-dst-ipsrc-dst-macsrc-dst-mixed-ip-portsrc-ipsrc-mac

The specified port channel interface now uses the configured flow-based load balancing hash algorithm.

This example shows configuration of hash algorithms for flow-based load balancing on an individual port channel interface. When sdwan hash algorithm is configured on the transport side, you can enable different hash algorithm options on the service side.

device(config)# interface Port-channel 1
device(config-if)# load-balance-hash-algo sdwan
device(config-if)# exit
device(config)# interface Port-channel 2
device(config-if)# load-balance-hash-algo src-dst-mixed-ip-port
device(config-if)# exit
device(config)# interface Port-channel 3
device(config-if)# no shut
device(config-if)# commit
device(config-if)# end

Enable VLAN load balancing per port channel on the service side

Use this procedure to configure VLAN-based load balancing on a specific EtherChannel port channel on the service side.

Before you begin

Complete these steps to enable VLAN load balancing per port channel on the service side.

Procedure

1.

Enter the port channel interface configuration mode.

interface Port-channel channel-number
2.

Enable vlan on per port channel.

load-balancing vlan

The specified service side port channel is now configured to use VLAN-based load balancing.

This example shows configuration for VLAN load balancing on the service side, when the flow-based load balancing is set to default on the global level: 


 interface Port-channel channel-number 
 interface GigabitEthernet slot/subslot/port 
  channel-group channel-group-number 
  interface GigabitEthernet slot/subslot/port 
  channel-group channel-group-number 
 interface Port-channel channel-number 
  load-balancing vlan  
 interface Port-channel channel-number 
  encapsulation dot1Q vlan_id primary interface1 secondaryinterface2
Note

Interface 1 and interface 2 must be member ports of a port channel when encapsulation dot1q is configured.

port-channel load-balancing vlan-manual

Note

This command is available for configuration in the global configuration mode, and applies to all the port-channel configured on the device.

This example shows how the load-balancing configuration can be globally applied to define policies for handling traffic by using the port-channel load-balancing command.

port-channel load-balancing vlan-manual

!
interface Port-channel1
!
interface Port-channel1.100
 encapsulation dot1Q 100 primary GigabitEthernet 1/1/1
 secondary GigabitEthernet 1/2/1
 ip address 10.16.2.100 255.255.255.0
!
interface Port-channel1.200
 encapsulation dot1Q 200 primary GigabitEthernet 1/2/1
 ip address 10.16.3.200 255.255.255.0
!
interface Port-channel1.300
 encapsulation dot1Q 300
 ip address 10.16.4.300 255.255.255.0
 !
interface GigabitEthernet 1/1/1
 no ip address
 channel-group 1!
interface GigabitEthernet 1/2/1
 no ip address
 channel-group 1

Configure load balancing for EtherChannels on the service side using CLI commands

Use this procedure to configure load balancing for EtherChannels on the service side of your Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN devices, ensuring efficient traffic distribution across bundled links.

Load balancing optimizes the use of aggregated bandwidth provided by EtherChannels and enhances network performance. You can choose between flow-based or VLAN-based methods and apply configurations globally or on individual port channels, depending on your network requirements.

Before you begin

Complete these steps to configure load balancing for EtherChannels on the service side using CLI commands.

Procedure

Decide on the load balancing method you want to implement, flow-based or VLAN-based:

For flow-based:

For VLAN-based:

If you choose VLAN-based load balancing, configure it per port channel, see Enable VLAN load balancing per port channel on the service side.

Load balancing is now configured for your service side EtherChannels according to your chosen method.

What to do next

Verify your load balancing configuration using the show etherchannel load-balancing command.

Use this procedure to configure EtherChannel port channels and their member links on the service side using configuration groups within Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager.

Before you begin

Complete these steps to configure a service-side port channel and member link interface using configuration groups in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager.

Procedure

1.

From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Configuration > Configuration Groups.
2.

Under Service Profile, click Add New to add a new service profile or select any existing service profiles, and click Edit.
3.

Select +, and click on the Ethernet Interface to add a new interface.

See Ethernet Interface for more details.
4.

Select Add New from the Ethernet Interface drop-down menu.
5.

Under Basic Configurations, enter the interface name and description.
6.

Click Ether Channel, and assign the EtherChannel to a member interface or a port channel interface from the drop down menu.

Note

If you configure the EtherChannel interface as a port channel, then the default port is LACP. You can assign a different port channel mode using the Port Channel Mode option from Cisco SD-WAN Manager.

Note

You can create multiple interfaces which can be either member or port channel interfaces.
7.

Click Save.
8.

Click Configuration tab, and deploy the newly created port channels.

A service-side port channel and its member links are configured using configuration groups, ready for deployment to your devices.

What to do next

Monitor the status of the deployed EtherChannels and verify traffic flow on the service side. For more information, see Monitor configured EtherChannel using CLI.