Patent ID: 8165127

Claim:
A method comprising: setting a policy within a network element that selects a trunked link from a trunk comprising N trunked links with N an integer greater than 1 for each one of a multiplicity of packets wherein each packet comprises at least one header and at least one selection field and wherein the trunked link selected for each packet is based in part on a value in the at least one selection field; producing the multiplicity of packets and setting the at least one selection field chosen from header fields within each of the packets based on the policy such that the trunked link selected by the policy changes in a random manner, wherein the at least one selection field chosen from header fields within each of the packets is based on a network protocol of the packets; and submitting the multiplicity of packets to the network element, whereby the network element can then send each packet through the trunked link selected for that respective packet.