Policy Base Multi Wan Router

[jlodvo]

hello is thier any policy base mutli wan router around? which model and brand thats good?

i want to be able to use my 2 internet connection at the same time not load balance, like i would like my wan 1 to do all the downloading and streams on it and use wan 2 for gaming only thanks in advance

 

[L&LD]

Use two routers. Create two networks.

If you want to download and stream while gaming on the same computer to two ISP services, I don't think that is possible. Like 'at all'.

 

[Trip]

Using two separate routers may be simplest, but if you want all hosts on one LAN, and/or minimal hardware, then policy-based multi-WAN is the way to go. Just be prepared for at least a moderately technical setup.

If you need something more turn-key, you could look at either a Cisco RV or Peplink Balance, or a community distro like pfSense or Untangle running on x86 hardware. Alternatively, if you have the skill set and can self-support, also look at Mikrotik RB/CCR or Ubiquiti EdgeRouter.

 

[L&LD]

@Trip does that mean what is being asked is possible? I thought that using two ISP services on a single client device was effectively impossible (unless the ISP provided the 'bonding' between the two)? Please correct my erroneous thinking!

 

[jlodvo]

@ Trip thanks for the info i'll look into that

@L&LD yes its posible to do that with a policy base multi-wan , i just need to see what people recommend to use so i dont waste time on buying and testing muli-wan routers

 

[ColinTaylor]

@Trip does that mean what is being asked is possible? I thought that using two ISP services on a single client device was effectively impossible (unless the ISP provided the 'bonding' between the two)? Please correct my erroneous thinking!

Yes it's possible. This is similar to how connection-based load balancing works. I've not come across any consumer products that have that level of flexibility, hence @Trip's suggestion of business/enterprise kit.

EDIT: Oops. Just seen that @jlodvo already said this.

 

[Trip]

@L&LD - Per the others' comments, yes, it is. Policy-based routing ("PBR", and no, not Pabst Blue Ribbon beer ) allows you to selectively route certain traffic via criteria such as IP address, MAC ID, port number and/or TCP/UDP traffic type, and send that traffic over a specific WAN. On the more advanced platforms (Mikrotik being a prime example), you can selectively distribute (load-balance) and/or fail-over that traffic in any number of ways -- by overflow order, strict percentage, lowest-latency, etc.

But, as @ColinTaylor stated, it's something that, as far as I'm aware of, is not available in any consumer-class firmware (nor Merlin, or any of its extension scripts... thus far anyways), so you need to look to community, SMB and/or enterprise firewall distro's for PBR support.

@all - Here's a great write up on Peplink's forum KB as to how they offer it in their firmware, the options they offer, and just a generally good grounding in what can be done with PBR -- besides drinking one.

 

[L&LD]

Thank you all for the corrections.

But, I think I am still missing something? I thought that packets can't be split between two ISP's (a connection is for both up and down)?

@jlodvo seems to be asking how to disconnect the 'downloads' from the gaming side.

Apologies in advance if I'm just confused.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thank you all for the corrections.

But, I think I am still missing something? I thought that packets can't be split between two ISP's (a connection is for both up and down)?

@jlodvo seems to be asking how to disconnect the 'downloads' from the gaming side.

Apologies in advance if I'm just confused.

Look at the "Persistence" mode in the link that @Trip provided. Now think about Merlin's "Policy based routing" for OpenVPN. They're basically doing the same thing. In the case of the OpenVPN rules the two "internet" connections are "WAN" and "VPN" (or more with multiple VPN clients).

So you're defining dedicated routes between specific hosts. Now refine that so that instead of just specifying all traffic to/from a host you restrict it to a port(s) or protocol (like HTTP). This is the same as Policy based Port routing on Merlin for OpenVPN.

This mostly works OK but not always. Some services open multiple connections which can cause them to fail if they are routed across different internet links.

What you can't do is arbitrarily split packets between links. It has to be done at the connection level or by protocol.

 

[L&LD]

Thank you @ColinTaylor, your last point is what I thought @jlodvo seemed to need. (I stand corrected).