Question

Multilink T1 and Cable in office

Asked by: PeterZog

We have a T1 and Comcast Cable internet coming into our office with a Watchguard Firebox firewall and a Windows Server 2003 environment.  Is it possible to combine these two connections for a bigger pipeline?  Do I have to buy extra gear?

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Asked On
2007-09-10 at 14:20:23ID22819007
Tags

t1

,

cable

,

combine

,

multilink

Topics

Watchguard Firewall

,

Miscellaneous Networking

,

Networking Hardware Firewalls

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: rsivanandanPosted on 2007-09-10 at 19:20:58ID: 19865555

2 different types of connections from 2 different vendors. You won't be able to combine them.

What you can do is to load balance traffic between them (Like send one connection through T1 and send the other one through cable).

But I'm not sure if your watchguard would do it, check the manuals. Otherwise if you have a cisco router, you can do this.

Cheers,
Rajesh

 

by: hstilesPosted on 2007-09-11 at 05:13:10ID: 19867794

If you are running a Watchguard Firebox X Core or X e-series, you can upgrade to Fireware Pro, which adds multi-WAN capabilities.  You can then manage traffic through the two links using one of the Multi-WAN methods below.  Interface Overflow control and Multi-Wan routing are new additions to Fireware Pro v.9.

Multi-WAN with interface overflow control
Select this option if you want to configure each WAN interface with a bandwidth threshold. You must have a Fireware Pro license to use this multi-WAN option.

Multi-WAN failover
If you select this option, the lowest number external interface configured in your list becomes the default primary external interface. All other external interfaces are backup external interfaces.

Multi-WAN in round robin order
If you select this option, the Firebox uses the routes set in its internal routing table to send packets through the correct external interface. If there is no specific route for a packet, the Firebox distributes the load of outgoing traffic among external interfaces.

Multi-WAN with the routing table
If you select this option, the Firebox uses the routes set in its internal routing table to send packets through the correct external interface. If there is no specific route for a packet, the Firebox uses ECMP (Equal-Cost-Multi-Path) routing algorithms to find the best path.

 

by: dpk_walPosted on 2007-09-11 at 09:27:41ID: 19870004

What is the model of WG FB you have?

 

by: PeterZogPosted on 2007-09-11 at 09:31:36ID: 19870027

Firebox III/4500.  There is only one external WAN port.

 

by: dpk_walPosted on 2007-09-11 at 09:45:36ID: 19870144

Sorry but Fireware is only supported on firebox X core or firebox X peak series [series starting FBX500 or FBX550e].

In your case you can either swap out the WG with a newer FBX Core or Peak series or put an external load balancer as suggested by Rajesh.

Thank you.

 

by: jetnetPosted on 2007-09-11 at 19:57:43ID: 19873603

There is no way to do multiwan anything when you only have 1 wan port.  You are going to have to find something that supports multiple WAN ports and from what your wanting, I would suggest something like the xcore -e with fireware pro upgrade.

That being said, it all depends on how many people you have behind that thing, and how much bandwidth you really need to push, and if you really need both pipes at the same time, or if you want a fail over.  If you only have 10 - 20 people behind it, and your just looking for failover, just get an edge 20e or edge 55e.  

 

by: hstilesPosted on 2007-09-11 at 22:49:50ID: 19874111

The 4500 was the top of the Firebox II range.  We used to have one here and in all honesty, it was overkill for our environment.   How many IPSec tunnels do you have to support?

I ask, because if the Firebox III 4500 is still under support, you would probably get a good trade in price from your Watchguard reseller and could replace it with a X750e or X1250e.  The 1250e has greater VPN throughput,

See comparison chart below.

http://www.watchguard.com/products/compare_results.asp?p1=fb4500&p2=x1250e&p3=

If you're really not in the position to upgrade firewall,then have a look at Stonesoft's Stonewall.  However,my advice would be that purchasing an external device rather than a current firebox to perform link aggregation on only two interfaces is not a cost effective decision.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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