diff --git a/include/types/backend.h b/include/types/backend.h
index 921eaed89..3c5273b09 100644
--- a/include/types/backend.h
+++ b/include/types/backend.h
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   include/types/backend.h
   This file rassembles definitions for backends
 
-  Copyright (C) 2000-2006 Willy Tarreau - w@1wt.eu
+  Copyright (C) 2000-2007 Willy Tarreau - w@1wt.eu
   
   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 #define PR_O_COOK_INS   0x00000010      /* insert cookies when not accessing a server directly */
 #define PR_O_COOK_PFX   0x00000020      /* rewrite all cookies by prefixing the right serverid */
 #define PR_O_COOK_ANY   (PR_O_COOK_RW | PR_O_COOK_IND | PR_O_COOK_INS | PR_O_COOK_PFX)
-#define PR_O_BALANCE_RR 0x00000040      /* balance in round-robin mode */
+#define PR_O_SMTP_CHK   0x00000040      /* use SMTP EHLO check for server health - pvandijk@vision6.com.au */
 #define	PR_O_KEEPALIVE  0x00000080      /* follow keep-alive sessions */
 #define	PR_O_FWDFOR     0x00000100      /* insert x-forwarded-for with client address */
 #define	PR_O_BIND_SRC   0x00000200      /* bind to a specific source address when connect()ing */
@@ -48,19 +48,24 @@
 #define PR_O_TCP_SRV_KA 0x00080000      /* enable TCP keep-alive on server-side sessions */
 #define PR_O_USE_ALL_BK 0x00100000      /* load-balance between backup servers */
 #define PR_O_FORCE_CLO  0x00200000      /* enforce the connection close immediately after server response */
-#define PR_O_BALANCE_SH 0x00400000      /* balance on source IP hash */
+#define PR_O_TCP_NOLING 0x00400000      /* disable lingering on client and server connections */
 #define PR_O_ABRT_CLOSE 0x00800000      /* immediately abort request when client closes */
 #define PR_O_SSL3_CHK   0x01000000      /* use SSLv3 CLIENT_HELLO packets for server health */
 
+/* TPXY: exclusive values */
 #define	PR_O_TPXY_ADDR  0x02000000	/* bind to this non-local address when connect()ing */
 #define	PR_O_TPXY_CIP	0x04000000	/* bind to the client's IP address when connect()ing */
 #define	PR_O_TPXY_CLI	0x06000000	/* bind to the client's IP+port when connect()ing */
 #define	PR_O_TPXY_MASK	0x06000000	/* bind to a non-local address when connect()ing */
 #define	PR_O_TCPSPLICE	0x08000000      /* delegate data transfer to linux kernel's tcp_splice */
-#define PR_O_BALANCE_UH 0x10000000      /* balance on URI hash */
-#define PR_O_BALANCE    (PR_O_BALANCE_RR | PR_O_BALANCE_SH | PR_O_BALANCE_UH)
-#define PR_O_SMTP_CHK   0x20000000      /* use SMTP EHLO check for server health - pvandijk@vision6.com.au */
-#define PR_O_TCP_NOLING 0x40000000      /* disable lingering on client and server connections */
+
+/* BALANCE: exclusive values */
+#define PR_O_BALANCE_RR 0x10000000      /* balance in round-robin mode */
+#define PR_O_BALANCE_SH 0x20000000      /* balance on source IP hash */
+#define PR_O_BALANCE_L4 0x30000000      /* mask to match layer4-based algorithms */
+#define PR_O_BALANCE_UH 0x40000000      /* balance on URI hash */
+#define PR_O_BALANCE_L7 0x40000000      /* mask to match layer7-based algorithms */
+#define PR_O_BALANCE    0x70000000      /* mask to extract BALANCE algorithm */
 
 
 #endif /* _TYPES_BACKEND_H */
diff --git a/src/backend.c b/src/backend.c
index faf5db89a..758b42967 100644
--- a/src/backend.c
+++ b/src/backend.c
@@ -164,21 +164,23 @@ int assign_server(struct session *s)
 
 	if (!(s->flags & SN_ASSIGNED)) {
 		if (s->be->options & PR_O_BALANCE) {
+			int len;
+		
 			if (s->flags & SN_DIRECT) {
 				s->flags |= SN_ASSIGNED;
 				return SRV_STATUS_OK;
 			}
+
 			if (!s->be->srv_act && !s->be->srv_bck)
 				return SRV_STATUS_NOSRV;
 
-			if (s->be->options & PR_O_BALANCE_RR) {
+			switch (s->be->options & PR_O_BALANCE) {
+			case PR_O_BALANCE_RR:
 				s->srv = get_server_rr_with_conns(s->be);
 				if (!s->srv)
 					return SRV_STATUS_FULL;
-			}
-			else if (s->be->options & PR_O_BALANCE_SH) {
-				int len;
-		
+				break;
+			case PR_O_BALANCE_SH:
 				if (s->cli_addr.ss_family == AF_INET)
 					len = 4;
 				else if (s->cli_addr.ss_family == AF_INET6)
@@ -189,15 +191,17 @@ int assign_server(struct session *s)
 				s->srv = get_server_sh(s->be,
 						       (void *)&((struct sockaddr_in *)&s->cli_addr)->sin_addr,
 						       len);
-			}
-			else if (s->be->options & PR_O_BALANCE_UH) {
+				break;
+			case PR_O_BALANCE_UH:
 				/* URI hashing */
 				s->srv = get_server_uh(s->be,
 						       s->txn.req.sol + s->txn.req.sl.rq.u,
 						       s->txn.req.sl.rq.u_l);
-			}
-			else /* unknown balancing algorithm */
+				break;
+			default:
+				/* unknown balancing algorithm */
 				return SRV_STATUS_INTERNAL;
+			}
 		}
 		else if (!*(int *)&s->be->dispatch_addr.sin_addr &&
 			 !(s->fe->options & PR_O_TRANSP)) {
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index e347cff8f..8e390d563 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -2513,11 +2513,11 @@ int readcfgfile(const char *file)
 				Warning("parsing %s : monitor-uri will be ignored for %s '%s'.\n",
 					file, proxy_type_str(curproxy), curproxy->id);
 			}
-			if (curproxy->options & PR_O_BALANCE_UH) {
+			if (curproxy->options & PR_O_BALANCE_L7) {
 				curproxy->options &= ~PR_O_BALANCE;
 				curproxy->options |= PR_O_BALANCE_RR;
 
-				Warning("parsing %s : URI hash will be ignored for %s '%s'. Falling back to round robin.\n",
+				Warning("parsing %s : Layer 7 hash not possible for %s '%s'. Falling back to round robin.\n",
 					file, proxy_type_str(curproxy), curproxy->id);
 			}
 		}