Ethernet link aggregation

A system of transmitting data across a link aggregation group comprising:

• a first upstream switch for receiving a packet sourced from a client having a MAC header and an IP header for transmission from said first upstream switch along a link aggregation and along at least two down stream switches to a server, said MAC header having a Destination MAC address and a Source MAC address, and said IP header having a Source IP address and a Destination IP address;
• means for changing said destination MAC address from a down stream destination to another down stream destination;
• a first down stream switch coupled to first output ports of said first upstream switch through a first link aggregation for receiving said packet;
• calculating means for changing, using a random number generator, said Source MAC address of the packet in the first upstream stream switch to a new address, said random number generator generating a pool of Source MAC addresses from which the new address is selected;
• and
• a second down stream switch having an address coupled to second output ports of said first down stream switch through a second link aggregation;
• and
• a plurality of servers each having a specific address coupled to said second down stream switch, wherein each said changed source MAC identifier being uniquely determined based an IP address indicated in a packet header to ensure that each packet of a communication flow having a same source and destination IP address are transmitted over a same first and second output port.

A system for communicating network packets between one or more first and one or more second computing devices, each said one or more first and second computing devices having an associated media access card (MAC) address identifier, said system comprising:

• a first network switch intermediate said first and second computing devices having a plurality of input ports for receiving packets over a first set of aggregated communication links and a plurality of output ports over which said packets are transmitted over a second set of aggregated communication links, said first network switch adapted to select an output port from among said plurality of output ports based on a source MAC identifier included in a received packet;
• an upstream network switch connecting said first computing device to respective one or more input ports of said first network switch via said first set of aggregated communication links, said upstream network switch receiving said network packets destined for a second computing device and forwarding said packets to said first network switch over said first set of aggregated communication links;
• device at said upstream network switch for selecting, from among a plurality of randomized source MAC identifiers, a randomized source MAC identifier, said device rewriting, for each received network packet, a source MAC identifier in a network packet header with a selected randomized source MAC identifier prior to transmitting said packet to said first network switch;
• and,
• a downstream network switch connecting one or more said second computing devices to respective said one or more plurality of output ports over said second set of aggregated communication links and forwarding said network packets received over said second set of aggregated links to a destination second computing device;
• wherein each said randomized source MAC identifier being uniquely determined based an IP address indicated in a respective network packet header to ensure that packets having a same source and destination IP addresses reach its destined second computing device over a same output port.