What is the maximum number of physical link we can bind to a ether-channel and port-channel

Question

Hi,
I was studying about port-channel & ether-channel and found that, it can be bind up-to 8 ports. So maximum number, we can have of 8 ports or more ? 
For binding we should have minimum of 2 ports or 1 ports will work ? For load-balancing purpose, is the port no. would be in a bundle of 2,4 and 8 ?
Thanks

Answer 1

Hi Kathik,
I have gone through one document. It's saying the below mentioned things :
Jun 7, 2012 9:36 PM (in response to Sarabjit)
Re: What is the maximum number of etherchannels we can have?
The maximum number of Etherchannels varies from platform to platform. The maximum number of ports in an etherchannel is either 8 ro 16 depending on the platform. The minimum number of ports in an etherchannel bundle is 1.
Jun 8, 2012 1:27 AM (in response to Sarabjit)
Re: What is the maximum number of etherchannels we can have?
Etherchannels is a Cisco term. Other vendors call them 802.3ad trunks. It's common to see something like this in datasheets:
48 ports 10/100/1000 Mbit/s
802.3ad:
Maximum of 32 groups
Maximum of 8 ports per group
The document url is https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/43680
The another document says the below mentioned things :
Matrix of Load Balancing Methods
This matrix consolidates the load balancing methods that this document describes:
Platform
Address Used in XOR
Source-Based?
Destination-Based?
Source-Destination-Based?
Load Balancing Method—Configurable/Fixed?
6500/6000
Layer 2, Layer 3 addresses, Layer 4 information, or MPLS information2
Yes
Yes
Yes
Configurable
5500/5000
Layer 2 address only
Yes
Cannot change the method
4500/4000
Layer 2, Layer 3 addresses, or Layer 4 information
Yes
Yes
Yes
Configurable
2900XL/3500XL
Layer 2 address only
Yes
Yes
Configurable
3750/3560
Layer 2 or Layer 3 address only
Yes
Yes
Yes
Configurable
2950/2955/3550
Layer 2 address only1
Yes
Yes
—1
Configurable
1900/2820
These platforms use a special method of load balancing. See theCatalyst 1900/2820 section for details.
8500
Layer 3 address only
Yes
Cannot change the method
1 For the 3550 series switch, when source-MAC address forwarding is used, load distribution based on the source and destination IP address is also enabled for routed IP traffic. All routed IP traffic chooses a port based on the source and destination IP address.
2 For the 6500 series switches that run Cisco IOS, MPLS layer 2 information can also be used for load balancing MPLS packets.
The document url is http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/lan-switching/etherchannel/12023-4.html
Another document says the below mentioned things for load-balancing :
inally, here is full list of valid load-distribution methods:
•dst-ip—Load distribution on the destination IP address
•dst-mac—Load distribution on the destination MAC address
•dst-port—Load distribution on the destination TCP/UDP port
•src-dst-ip—Load distribution on the source XOR destination IP address
•src-dst-mac—Load distribution on the source XOR destination MAC address
•src-dst-port—Load distribution on the source XOR destination TCP/UDP port
•src-ip—Load distribution on the source IP address
•src-mac—Load distribution on the source MAC address
•src-port—Load distribution on the source port
The document url is https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/63064
Please suggest.