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What device can I use to load balance two ISP's
We currently have a network of about 50 devices, we have a Juniper SSG5 firewall connected to a Cable ISP Router providing our connection. We want to introduce another ISP and purchase a Cisco device that will load balance the two connection and provide failover, we also need VPN capabilities. We can replace the Juniper firewall if need be. Any suggestions as to what device will fit the bill?
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We were looking at an ASA 5510. We have about 45 workstations, 1 SBS 2008 server which we use as a DC and for mail, no web server and one 2008 app server. We currently have a cable connection with 30 down and 15 up and want to add Verizon with 50/30. Each ISP has it's own router with an ethernet handoff, will the ASA be able to load balance both connections?
We use SonicWALL firewall/routers to do this... they have High Availability / Load Balancing which has worked great for us in the past. We've been using Pro5060 devices but we're about to go to a newer model, but still retains the same functionality.
It's also hard to go wrong with Cisco equipment.. it's rock solid, but we found them to be too complex for day to day administration without calling Cisco all the time.
It's also hard to go wrong with Cisco equipment.. it's rock solid, but we found them to be too complex for day to day administration without calling Cisco all the time.
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I personally am leaning towards using the failover links using the ASA but they are asking for a load balancing scenario as well. What will that scenario look like?
If a Cisco rotuer has equal costs routes it will switch every other request. This can cause unbalanced load balancing since some machines will use more bandwidth. There there is per pack load sharing which is easily configured again this is not perfect either since some packets are larger. The final option is to create a virtual interface that both connections are in and the router will handle the rest, this also gurantees packet order which is a must have for VOIP.
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In terms of future growth what would be the best option?
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Will an older 2600 router be able to handle the 50mbit bandwith?
That is a good question I was actually for this the other day since I use a 2621 at home and my cable company is upgrading to 60Mb in a few months. Here is what I found.
http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/downloads/765/tools/quickreference/routerperformance.pdf
That is right from Cisco showing for example my 2621 can only do about 12mbps which suc since I jsut moved and got a 25mbps line that will soon be 60mbps down. For what you need you are looking at somthing like a 2811 but a 2821 would give you some room without taxing the hardware too much. If you are still running and original 2621 like I am you will be doing what I am doing, shopping for a new router.
http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/downloads/765/tools/quickreference/routerperformance.pdf
That is right from Cisco showing for example my 2621 can only do about 12mbps which suc since I jsut moved and got a 25mbps line that will soon be 60mbps down. For what you need you are looking at somthing like a 2811 but a 2821 would give you some room without taxing the hardware too much. If you are still running and original 2621 like I am you will be doing what I am doing, shopping for a new router.
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This company will have a 50mbps pipe which I think is plenty for them and should not have to worry about load balancing, I think this complicates things. I would much rather install the ASA with the failover. I just wanted to be prepared to defend my position when I get the barage of questions.
Which you will and the easiest one I can think of is streaming, if you are sending packets out multiple IPs there is a good chance anything streamed is going to get busted when some of the packets go out the other interface. Give the same position I would also recommnd the ASA.
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Can you think of any other pros about having failover vs load balancing?
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This has assisted in my decision to go with the fail over as opposed to the load balance scenario.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk365/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094820.shtml