Connection Teaming

Hello

I am not sure of this is possible but this is what i want to do:

I have 4 ADSL connections each running at 1mbs dowb 256k up.
I want to team these to create a single 4mb down 1mb up so both
internal network sees better performance and more importantly
teleworkers accessing over the internet see much improved speeds.

Can good old Linux do this ?

many thanks

Pom

pom wrote:

> Hello
>
> I am not sure of this is possible but this is what i want to do:
>
> I have 4 ADSL connections each running at 1mbs dowb 256k up.
> I want to team these to create a single 4mb down 1mb up so both
> internal network sees better performance and more importantly
> teleworkers accessing over the internet see much improved speeds.
>
> Can good old Linux do this ?

You'd also need cooperation from your ADSL provider. Can't you get a
faster connection?

there is no faster upstream connection available unless spending £700+
per month which is not an option.

There are hardware solutions like this
http://www.xrio.co.uk/product-c1000.asp bu I really would like a linux
solution. Of coure it may not be technically possible with linux ?

Pom

pom wrote:

> there is no faster upstream connection available unless spending £700+
> per month which is not an option.
>
> There are hardware solutions like this
> http://www.xrio.co.uk/product-c1000.asp bu I really would like a linux
> solution. Of coure it may not be technically possible with linux ?
>
> Pom
This still needs the active cooperation of the ISP, they would have
to support such a device.

David
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pom wrote:
> there is no faster upstream connection available unless spending
£700+
> per month which is not an option.
>
> There are hardware solutions like this
> http://www.xrio.co.uk/product-c1000.asp bu I really would like a
linux
> solution. Of coure it may not be technically possible with linux ?

This is not really combining (more accurately "bonding/aggregating")
the link.

[q]
Does the Cyclone give me a single "fat pipe" of the combined bandwidth?
No, this is "bonding" and due to the nature of TCP/IP, this is not
possible. The Cyclone will distribute traffic across all available
Internet connections which will achieve the increased bandwidth offered
to clients.
[eq]

See:
http://linux-ip.net/html/ether-bonding.html

Ie., they are offering connection/route based redistribution of the
load, not really load balancing.

And despite what they imply, it _is_ possible, _if_ both ends of the
link are set up for it, at the _link_ level. ISPs don't have an
incentive to do so -- that's why they sell a fatter pipe connection
(for more $, ayk). In fact they use it as an example of combined VPN
pipe between two sites:

[q]
Cyclone 800 with VPN Load Balancing.

The Cyclone 800 can be used to add resilience and increased bandwidth
to Virtual Private Networks between 2 locations. ***Each*** site has 2
Internet connections ***and a Cyclone 800***. A mesh of VPN tunnels are
created ***between the two Cyclones***, thus seeming to the LAN as one
virtual tunnel. If a link is to go down, even at both sides of the VPN,
traffic can still pass over the VPN. Traffic is load balanced on a
"per-packet" basis and so a single connection can achieve a faster
download than a single line. This is a unique feature and is a great
solution for VPN's across ADSL links where the upload speed is limited.
[eq] ***emphasis added***

You would need similar link level cooperation from your ISP, as others
have said, in order to achieve "real, transparent" load balancing.

You might be able to achieve "connection" based "balancing", but it's
effect is _very_ dependent on traffic profile and provides no failover.
In fact, with all lines going to one ISP (and one ISP router) if the
ISP's net goes down you lose connectivity in either case. Your only
failover protection would be for modem failure on your end.

You can look at these and decide if you really want to diy rather than
using a hosting provider for your offered (uploaded, eg., httpd)
services and use your ISP connection(s) for your network's "download"
use.

http://lartc.org/howto/lartc.rpdb.multiple-links.html
http://linux-ip.net/html/adv-multi-internet.html

There are some additional approaches you can use that will redistribute
(spread) the load but they involve similar setup and maintainence
efforts as the above.

hth,
prg
email above disabled

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pom wrote:
> Hello
>
> I am not sure of this is possible but this is what i want to do:
>
> I have 4 ADSL connections each running at 1mbs dowb 256k up.
> I want to team these to create a single 4mb down 1mb up so both
> internal network sees better performance and more importantly
> teleworkers accessing over the internet see much improved speeds.
>
> Can good old Linux do this ?
>
> many thanks
>
> Pom

Hi

This is only possible if your ISP is playing with you. You might be
interested in the LATRC-Howto (http://latrc.org) chapter 10 "Load
sharing over multiple interfaces"
(http://lartc.org/howto/lartc.loadshare.html). There you'll see why both
sides of the bridge must have a special setup.

I suppose the HOWTO isn't very useful in your case, where you don't have
access to the other end of the ''line'', but anyway...

Regards
Bram4
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pom wrote:

> Hello
>
> I am not sure of this is possible but this is what i want to do:
>
> I have 4 ADSL connections each running at 1mbs dowb 256k up.
> I want to team these to create a single 4mb down 1mb up so both
> internal network sees better performance and more importantly
> teleworkers accessing over the internet see much improved speeds.

One other possibility is a crude form of load balancing. Have one dhcp
server for each ADSL., with each one providing appropriate gateway info.
This will require dividing the network into multiple segments, connected by
a switch. Each ADSL connection connects directly to one segment. With the
way dhcp works, a client will connect to the server that responds first,
which will likely be the one connected to the same segment. You'll have to
ensure that the dhcp servers do not have overlapping address ranges, though
all should be on the same subnet. This will also provide some redundancy,
should one ADSL line fail. You will have to be careful with how incoming
connections are handled.

a difficult but excellent solution is to create qdiscs load-balancing
and QoS rules with IProute2 and some nasty iptables rules, you create a
floating route with 4 providers, also you might need to learn a little
bit of routing...

you can use EQL too, but ISP might complain.

by the way, if you get into q-discs with iproute2 watch very careful
the routing table...

some other thing... this kind of stuff is called "bonding"...

On 6 May 2005 02:45:23 -0700, pom wrote:

> Hello
>
> I am not sure of this is possible but this is what i want to do:
>
> I have 4 ADSL connections each running at 1mbs dowb 256k up.
> I want to team these to create a single 4mb down 1mb up so both
> internal network sees better performance and more importantly
> teleworkers accessing over the internet see much improved speeds.
>
> Can good old Linux do this ?
>
> many thanks
>
> Pom


load balancing is the only solution if yours icp doesn't allow bonding.
my doesn't so i have 4 dsl working in load balance/failover mode...
mail for further advice
regards
branimir borovac