Need model recommendation for Dual WAN rounter

arthurwang2007 · ‎09-11-2007

I am not an expert of routers, our business has a T1 line and a DSL line from different ISP. Our current configuration is Mac users use one of them, and PC users use the other. Since none of the internet service is stable enough for our need. Once a while, one of them is down, we have to manually switch one of the group users to the other.

After searching on google, I found there are so called dual WAN router with failover and load balance functions, this is what I need.

Please look at this article:

"We recently tested five dual-WAN routers - the ZyWall 70 from Zyxel Communications; TZ 170 from SonicWall; XC-DPG602 from Xincom; H2WR54G from Hawking Technologies; and FortiGate-60 from Fortinet - and focused on their ability to control a WAN connection and other features. We also tested the Safe@Office 225 from Check Point, which only offers failover but not concurrent access (see story)."

All above looks like are for consumer user, not for business users. If there is CISCO DUAL WAN router or firewall, or anything like this, I definitely would prefer to choose.

So anyone here can recommend a DUAL WAN router from CISCO with failover and load balance functions? The router can accept service from both T1 and DSL. Does 1800 serials work for my need? is it able to connect T1 line?

thanks for any suggestion.

Arthur

lgijssel · ‎09-11-2007

Looks like you are in fact lookling for a solution to make your Internet access more reliable.

This requires a solution that is tailored to your needs. The solution that I am thinking of would require several routers, one for each WAN-link and a central router to redirect the traffic. You cannot use a PIX as this is just a firewall with few routing capabilities.

You can check wheter your WAN-link is active using so-called reliable static routing:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps5413/products_feature_guide09186a00801d862d.html

Use this to advertise the two routes via EIGRP to a central router using a slightly different metric for each. This will result in a provision that automatically redirects traffic on link failure. You might be able to play a little with the setting to also suit your load balancing requirements.

This would work with 800 series routers for the WAN access and an 1841 as the central router.

regards,

Leo

arthurwang2007 · ‎09-11-2007

Leo,

Thanks for the reply, it does provide me a solution other than those Dual WAN router. however, the reliable static routing backup page looks a little stretch for me. Based on my understanding the diagram of this solution would looks like:

T1---->Router 1 --->|Central Rounter-->LAN switch

DSL --> Router 2 --->|

What I need to do is to configure the central router so that whenever one of it's interface is down, and it can still routing traffic to the other automatically.

Am I right?

lgijssel · ‎09-11-2007

In fact, both WAN routers can be on the same subnet. This can be realized by putting R1 & R2 plus the outside interface for the Central router in a separate vlan.

BTW: In this solution, NAT is performed on R1 & R2.

regards,

Leo

a.cruea1980 · ‎09-12-2007

uh, why not get a 2811 w/ an ADSL and T1 HWIC and let it do load balancing and link detection on it's own?

Less to configure, less to fail, less to troubleshoot.

arthurwang2007 · ‎09-12-2007

I checked the 2811:

"The Cisco 2800 features the ability to deliver multiple high-quality simultaneous services at wire speed up to multiple T1/E1/xDSL connections."

looks good, and the price is 1799.99 from here:

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=699711&cm_sp=Product-_-Overview-_-Main+Tab

however, for those HWIC of T1 and DSL, I have no idea which one to choose, please look at the list:

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/accessories.aspx?EDC=699711&cm_sp=Product-_-Accessories-_-Main+Tab

should I keep the modem of T1 and DSL external or buy those HWIC w/modem? like this one?

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=981625

Sorry to ask this kind of simple question, I really don't have too much experience.

a.cruea1980 · ‎09-12-2007

Well, for the T1 WIC, that depends on what you need. Do you need the voice part? If not, why get a T1 WIC that's capable of data and voice?

The only reason, that I can remember, to keep a modem external is if the telco as given you one. Do you already have the DSL and T1? If so, check your current hardware to find out if you have the modem for DSL and the clocking unit for your T1. If you don't have these lines currently, just my opinion, I'd go with all internal stuff. Your router will be able to sense the line go up and down with an internal DSL modem.

Unfortunately, you'll have to research and figure out what you need with what you have.