ADSL Load Balancing Routers

[Nick_Parker]

Hi All,

 

Does anybody know anything about Load Balancing 2x ADSL Lines?

 

We currently have a 1MB ADSL line for Internet & a 512K ADSL line for EMail.

 

I'm thinking about getting the 512K line increased to a 1MB line and then using some sort of load balancing router to link the 2 lines.

I understand that this won't give me a 2MB line, but it will balance the load across the 2 lines as well as provide a fail-safe should one line go down.

 

I've been looking at 2 Edimax Routers:

 

EDIMAX Technology

 

EDIMAX Technology

 

Does anybody have any experience with load balancing ADSL lines? Or any better ideas/suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[john]

I'd personally look at Draytek rather than Edimax, Edimax is a value line and as such I wouldn't use it in a school for anything mission critical like Internet or Email service, may use there print servers for smaller department printers, but nothing key like IT room printers.

 

Draytek make allsorts of routers, they are more costly than Edimax but you do get what you pay for, i've had an ADSL and ISDN combined one and thats great, if the ADSL doesn't resume within 90 seconds of going down ISDN auto dials and kicks in, and once it sees the ADSL has been live and stable for a set period of time it switches back.

[OutToLunch]

We are in a very similar situation to you and arrived at the same conclusion. Load balancing is a godsend! I'd heartily recommend the Draytek load balancing ADSL routers - with one proviso... Make sure you get a couple of upstream routers you can put into true PPPoE bridge mode to do the dialing. If you have to mess around doing half bridge it gets extremely messy and quite unreliable.

 

DrayTek Vigor2910 Series Router Firewall

 

We have 2 x 512k ADSL lines (stuck out in the sticks, fastest we can get) and a Vigor 2910 doing the balancing. It can do PPPoE dialling, but not PPPoA (ie you have to connect an ethernet ADSL modem to it, not 2 x wires directly from your ADSL filters) - using a pair of DLink DSL G604T modem/routers as the modems but in bridge mode, absolutely rock solid even our bad lines. Before that I had a pair for Linksys in half bridge mode and they were terrible! They were responsible for the dial up then I had to put the router into the DMZ, double NAT everything etc. Not good. You can pick up the G604T's for next to nothing on ebay or you could try and find a couple of true ethernet/ADSL modems.

 

If there's anything else you want to know about how it works out give me a shout.

[CyberNerd]

Nildram do this:

Nildram UK - Load Balanced Broadband

Nildram recommend Cisco 1841 and 2811 routers

[OutToLunch]

£10 a month + £35 setup for something that basically runs itself? That's an odd concept!

[CyberNerd]

£10 a month + £35 setup for something that basically runs itself? That's an odd concept!

 

I think it's because they need to keep another bonded dsl router at their end in addition to one at the customers end.

[OutToLunch]

Doesn't look like it? They're just offering a load balanced service (ie 2x lines through 1 router, max speed per connection same as 1 line) not a bonded (2x lines make 1 connection with max speed of 2 lines combined)...

 

The balancing works on a per-flow basis, where connections, or flows, are shared between users. The result is that, whilst a single flow cannot use more bandwidth than that provided by a single line, multiple users balance across multiple lines

 

Probably good for small businesses with no techy but with a Draytek at the £120 mark and setup a no brainer it's no hassle to get it up and running yourself. Nildram route would also require an ISP switch.

[CyberNerd]

I must have sent the wrong link, I was certain that Nildram offered a bonded solution.

I googled and found this link:

Nildram UK - Oakham School case study

[Naz]

The problem with load-balancers I have encountered is that it will not bond the DSL lines and your performance is not good if you don't have equal speed lines. Here is a router I have installed in a few customer locations and it indeed provides what the company claims - true http bonding of internet lines: Mushroom Networks, Inc. or google "broadband bonding" for their routers. I'm not a big fan of their mushroom based branding of their products, but I have to give it to them, their bonding routers sure work...

[Nick_Parker]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

 

I've had to go with the Edimax purely cause I'm in ZA and haven't been able to get anything else - alot of suppliers will not ship to ZA anymore, they say too many shipments go "missing".

 

However, I am coming over the UK in a few months time and will see if I can pick myself up one of the Draytek ones you mentioned.

 

Thanks again!

[KObus]

HI there Nic

i must do the same, how did hour balancing go

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/images/smilies/smilies/troll.gif

[Chillibear]

Just for the record and future readers... I've been very happy with a solution from Peplink (purchased via Claritas Solutions). Only other thing to consider is if your *DSL lines end up at the same exchange you've potentially got some contention there.