Abstract: The disclosure includes a method that includes receiving network traffic having a first plurality of packets that each indicate a first packet source and a first packet destination; determining an analysis host destination for each of the first plurality of packets such that the packets are distributed among a plurality of analysis hosts with communications between a given source-destination pair being sent to the same analysis host; encapsulating the first plurality of packets to generate a second plurality of encapsulated packets having the first plurality of packets as a second packet payload; and sending the second plurality of encapsulated packets to respective analysis host destinations.

Abstract: The disclosure includes a method that includes receiving network traffic having a first plurality of packets that each indicate a first packet source and a first packet destination; determining an analysis host destination for each of the first plurality of packets such that the packets are distributed among a plurality of analysis hosts with communications between a given source-destination pair being sent to the same analysis host; encapsulating the first plurality of packets to generate a second plurality of encapsulated packets having the first plurality of packets as a second packet payload; and sending the second plurality of encapsulated packets to respective analysis host destinations.

Abstract: In an embodiment, a method comprises: detecting a change in a multiple-switch configuration in a data communications network comprising a plurality of packet data switches configured as roots of multicast trees. In response to detecting that the multiple-switch configuration has changed, a first value, a second value and a third value representing limits on a number of multicast trees supported in the network and prioritization of the switches are retrieved. The method further comprises determining a type of the multiple-switch configuration change. In response to determining that the type indicates that a first switch was added to the multiple-switch configuration, using at least the first, second and third values, it is determined whether to configure the first switch as a first root in the multiple-switch configuration. The method is performed by one or more computing devices.

Abstract: In an embodiment, a method comprises: detecting a change in a multiple-switch configuration in a data communications network comprising a plurality of packet data switches configured as roots of multicast trees. In response to detecting that the multiple-switch configuration has changed, a first value, a second value and a third value representing limits on a number of multicast trees supported in the network and prioritization of the switches are retrieved. The method further comprises determining a type of the multiple-switch configuration change. In response to determining that the type indicates that a first switch was added to the multiple-switch configuration, using at least the first, second and third values, it is determined whether to configure the first switch as a first root in the multiple-switch configuration. The method is performed by one or more computing devices.