ECMP
Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) is a routing strategy that distributes network traffic across multiple paths with identical cost, optimizing performance, redundancy, and load balancing.
ECMP enables routers and switches to forward packets over multiple equal-cost paths to a destination, maximizing network resource utilization and providing redundancy. By balancing traffic across available paths, ECMP prevents congestion and enhances overall network throughput.
Path selection is typically determined by a hashing algorithm applied to packet header fields, ensuring that flows remain consistent and packet order is preserved. ECMP is protocol-agnostic and works with routing protocols such as OSPF and BGP, making it highly scalable and adaptable to large, dynamic networks.
Common use cases include data centers, enterprise networks, and service provider infrastructures where high availability and efficient bandwidth utilization are critical. Best practices involve monitoring path health, tuning hash algorithms for optimal flow distribution, and ensuring routing protocol compatibility.