Multi-WAN for performance and reliability device question

[matt621]

I have 2 DSL lines installed and looking for a multi-wan router/firewall to bond the two DSL lines and have a USB port for a 3G dongle in case the DSL goes out so that I always have at least some connection.

This will go to a gibabit switch like the NETGEAR GS724T. (or something like it, haven't bought it yet.)

I looked at the peplink balance 30 but see no USB ports on it. The website says the 30 has USB modem support but the pictures in the manual show no USB ports front or back and says:

Support up to three 10/100BaseT WAN connections, typically connected to broadband modems
Note: WAN1 is auto MDI/MDI-X port; WAN2/WAN3 are MDI ports

Is there some ethernet to USB gizmo I'd need because all the 3G dongles I've seen are USB. I can use the phone as a wifi hotspot, but that required manual intervention and yet another device.

I also found this site said it takes 50-60 seconds for it to fail over to another WAN. I would prefer much faster switching on a connection loss.

I also looked at the draytek but it does not seem to be true load balancing but more failover. I want to combine whatever connections I have into one big pipe.

Are there other products that will do this? Other suggestions? The network is fairly small and we only need connectivity for 3-5 people, but one of them is me and I can't stand to wait. (DSL is all that is available in our area.)

Thank you.

 

[GregN]

Don't know if this meets your needs, but the the Cradlepoint's CBA250 Cellular Network Adapter, will handle cell to ethernet, a ethernet connection that can be used for fail-over or load balancing.

We have a good guy ( Dennis Wood ) here that likes the Drayteks, but has started to move to a DIY router using pfSense. Might want to take a look, he seems to have the same sort of requirements that you are looking at.

Used managed gigabit switches can be had for cheap over on EBay....I picked up a 24 port Dell PowerConnect for $70 there.

 

[matt621]

Thank you. The cradlepiont does the failover for a affordable price, but it doesn't do anything for the channel bonding for the DSL lines.

I found the UBM 200 and 400, but they are out of my budget.
I found the Mushroom Truffle and Truffle Lite, but they are way out of my budget.
I found the xroads UBM 55, but I can't find a price and it looks like it's out of my budget as well.


I'm at a loss as to why they have to be so expensive. It's just two (or more) switches ($100 each) together in the same box with some bonding/balancing software. With the cost of DSL lines coming down this is an idea consumer/small business solution and they could be selling a lot more product. Software is engineered once.

I'm wondering... if I put 2 switches behind 2 DSL modems and 2 Lan cards in each machine, is there a windows/software solution to the balancing/bonding?

I guess it's back to the peplink balance 30. I found some pictures on the net with a USB port on it so I'll just make sure it has it when I order. The pictures in the manual tho do not show a USB port.

Thanks. If anyone has any other ideas I'm listening.

 

[GregN]

Thank you. The cradlepiont does the failover for a affordable price, but it doesn't do anything for the channel bonding for the DSL lines.

Didn't say it did, just gives you a rj45 instead of a usb plug, and the corresponding clarity.

I'm at a loss as to why they have to be so expensive. It's just two (or more) switches ($100 each) together in the same box with some bonding/balancing software.

Hmm, ADSL seems to have google vectored here. Third question this week.

If you build your own router, you can solve these issues, put two DSL modem cards ( or NICs wired to provider supplied modems) and a Cradlepoint to NIC, configure for MultiWAN load balancing (with choice of algorithm!) and failover. Plus you'll get a bunch of other features, like a high performance caching proxy server and IDS.

If you have an old machine around, you can do this on the cheap.

I do dual WAN (two different ISPs) in this fashion using pfSense and am pleased.

I'm wondering... if I put 2 switches behind 2 DSL modems and 2 Lan cards in each machine, is there a windows/software solution to the balancing/bonding?

Not sure that would work, but you would not get intelligent load balancing.

Aggregated links (802.3ad) are at the NIC driver to switch level, so it depends on your NIC(s). Not sure how Windows does load balancing across NICs.

 

[matt621]

The problem is I'm a noob at networking.

But what this sounds like is a refurbed box for $250, 4 Lan cards (3 in and 1 out) a USB dongle and a software pkg.

Does such a software pkg exist?

The Peplink 30 is $375. The next closest is one of the sonic wall items at about $795. Anything else I've found is $2K.

If it costs more than $375 to put together, I'll just buy the peplink. But there seems to be a LOT of used computers not being used and Lan cards are cheaps and DSL lines (and 3/4G modems) are relatively cheap.

So there seems to be a demand for the product and plenty of profit margin there.

Anyone know of someone taping into this market?

Offering some software to do it?

Thanks!

 

[GregN]

Does such a software pkg exist?

The Peplink 30 is $375.

There are Operating System Distributions that do this, several a matter of fact.

My personal fav is pfSense, other folks are going with Astraro, Endian, ClearOS (just to name a few)

Take a look at:

Build Your Own IDS Firewall With pfSense


The cost is largely dependent on the pieces/parts you use, my very first one was less than $75 dollars, but that was using a box just laying around with an added NIC.

The installation and alike is generally turn-key.