Interfaces | 393Assign an IP address to a port channelYou can assign an IP address to a port channel and use port channels in Layer 3 routing protocols.To assign an IP address, use the following command in the INTERFACE mode:Delete or disable a port channelTo delete a port channel, you must be in the CONFIGURATION mode and use the no interface portchannelchannel-number command.When you disable a port channel (using the shutdown command) all interfaces within the port channel areoperationally down also.Load balancing through port channelsFTOS uses hash algorithms for distributing traffic evenly over channel members in a port channel (LAG).The hash algorithm distributes traffic among ECMP paths and LAG members. The distribution is based ona flow, except for packet-based hashing. A flow is identified by the hash and is assigned to one link. Inpacket-based hashing, a single flow can be distributed on the LAG and uses one link.Packet based hashing is used to load balance traffic across a port-channel based on the IP Identifier fieldwithin the packet. Load balancing uses source and destination packet information to get the greatestadvantage of resources by distributing traffic over multiple paths when transferring data to a destination.FTOS allows you to modify the hashing algorithms used for flows and for fragments. The load-balanceand hash-algorithm commands are available for modifying the distribution algorithms. Their syntax andimplementation are somewhat different between the E-Series and the C-Series and S-Series.Command Syntax Command Mode Purposeip address ip-address mask [secondary] INTERFACE Configure an IP address and mask on the interface.• ip-address mask: enter an address indotted-decimal format (A.B.C.D) and the maskmust be in slash format (/24).• secondary: the IP address is the interface’sbackup IP address. You can configure up to eightsecondary IP addresses.Note: Hash-based load-balancing on MPLS does not work when packet-based hashing (load-balanceip-selection packet-based) is enabled.
