Patent ID: 7426577

Claim:
A method for identifying per-packet load balancing, comprising: (a) providing a baseline network topology; (b) selecting, from the baseline network topology, first and second addresses associated with first and second routers, respectively, wherein the first router has an associated first hop count relative to a selected node and the second router an associated second hop count relative to the selected node and wherein the first hop count is less than the second hop count; (c) transmitting a plurality of test packets from a common source address to a common selected destination address, each of the test packets having a time to live equal to or greater than the first hop count; (d) receiving a plurality of responses associated with the test packets; and (e) applying the following rules: (E1) when all of the responses are from a common router, concluding that per-packet load balancing is not in effect; and (E2) when the responses are from different routers, concluding that per-packet load balancing is in effect.