We have a similar arrangement ... half a T1 for data originally, the other half voice. We added a Comcast Business connection. Turns out that setting up a gateway to use both is not always as easy as it might seem.
First - two postings from the net that can help out... 1) http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20047171-2-Gateways-2-ISPs-2-Routers-1-Network 2) http://www.pfsense.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=43 It *seems* from my research that the key will be to use a pfSense firewall instead of Smoothwall (We use IPCop, but same diff). The Smoothwall/IPcop setup can't really handle two outgoing connections, but apparently pfSense can. We've gotten as far as installing pfSense, but not configuring it totally. It turns out that we took the cheap and easy way out... we simply default to having all workstations in the office get the Comcast gateway from dhcp as their default gateway. Servers use the T1 instead. We have two IPCop firewalls, one for each internet connection. Most users are happy with the Comcast arrangement for their internet, and it keeps the theoretically more stable T1 bandwidth available for our internet servers (web, email, dns, etc.) This arrangement has some gotcha's but it works for our needs - and because it works, pfSense as the ultimate solution has been back-burnered. We have one case where the T1 went down but Comcast did not - it was easy to change the machines using the T1 as a gateway to use the Comcast line until the T1 came backup - fairly minimal downtime. Anyway... if you figure out the best setup or arrangement, or someone else knows, PLEASE SHARE - we would still love to more to an ideal arrangement with no manual configuration of gateways when one of the lines goes down... -Nick --- Nicholas Floersch (pr. Floor-sh) Stone Environmental, Inc. From: Vermont Area Group of Unix Enthusiasts [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rene Churchill Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 4:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Router recommendations Hey gang, I'm looking for some pointers/recommendations on how to setup a router for an office to split/share bandwidth between two sources. I know enough about networking to keep my internal network up but I'm getting into deeper waters here. Here's the scenario. I'm in an office with a split T1 currently. Half phone, half data. The office is growing, so the number of times the pipe gets clogged during the day is increasing and it's getting annoying. I've got to keep the static IP as we've got email, ftp and a couple of minor web servers running. The current firewall is a SmoothWall Express v2 that Stan setup several years ago for us. What I'd like to go is get a cable modem tied into the office to provide some cheap bandwidth for the majority of our data needs during the day. The servers have static internal IPs, the desktop PCs have dynamic IPs, so they're easy to tell apart. So, any suggestions on how to setup a firewall/router that will send the traffic from the desktops out over the cable modem while letting the servers have the T1 bandwidth? Many thanks, Rene -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= René Churchill [email protected] Geek Two 802-244-7880 x527 Your Source for Local Information http://www.wherezit.com This communication, including any attachments, is solely for the confidential use of the person(s) named above. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete/destroy the original. Any reader other than the intended recipient is hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited.
