Core switch - Load balancing across default gateways

[AlanD]

Ok...so given you are where you are....you will need to transport your internet connection from Crawford around to the smoothwall at Hatcham using a Vlan. Don’t know what your raw internet connection is at Crawford...but you may need to insert a router between it and smoothwall and use either NAT or routing (wih DMZ ) to separate incoming ip ranges into two subjects one for crawford router the other for Hatcham. Creare an LB pool on both smooth walls.

 

Do same at Hatchford splitting incoming IP range into two sub nets with a router and create another VLan to bring one of the sub nets back to Crawford on incoming side of smoothwall there...so everything is mirrored.

 

It then doesn’t really matter which smoothwall clients are pointing too...I assume you will use a proxy setting. You will probably point them at nearest one. The smoothwall boxes won’t be redundant...but you would be protected against losing an internet connection...and it would load balance automatically....

 

But it does seem a clumsy solution .but it should work. Oh..and your reporting would not be collated if that matters.

[AlanD]

Smoothwall boxes will work as a redundant pair...usually this is at the same location..but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work at different locations...but I’ve no idea how this is set up. It might even be cheaper than two separate smoothwall licences. All your reporting would then be centralised. You still need to pipe both internet connections via vlans between the boxes to a load balancing pool on input to sw boxes. If either sw box fails...or an internet connection goes down no one would then notice. Be aware that depending on which boxes you have smoothwall maxes out around 300mb/s unless you have their very latest high end boxes...and lots of schools seem to be going for gigabit connections now.

 

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