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sa_noviceFlag for South Africa

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Need to add static routes in Windows

Hi guys,

I have a question regarding static routes and I need some assistance.

We have 2 sites (A and B)... and between the 2 sites we have 2 links, one is via a Diginet Link and the other via a Wireless link. We use the Diginet as our PRIMARY link between the to sites, and the Wireless as a SECONDARY, as a fail over incase th Diginet goes down (lately this happens often).

Site A is our HQ, and site B users connect over these links to access our ERP system.

Now we have added a script to add a static route for ALL our users at site B to access the ERP system over the PRIMARY Diginet link

This is an example:

route add 192.168.1.251 mask 255.255.255.255 192.168.2.254 -p

We also added a Batch File on the desktops to delete the route mentioned above, when the PRIMARY link goes down, to add a route so that all traffic route over the SECONDARY link.

This is the example:

route delete 192.168.1.251

route add 192.168.1.251 mask 255.255.55.255 192.168.2.253 -p


My question is the following...

How can we add both these static routes, and specify which one as the PRIMARY route, and as soon as that line goes down, that it route all traffic over the SECONDARY link... and then when the PRIMARY link is restored, traffic must then again go over the PRIMARY link.

All users are running Windows 7.

Can someone please help me?
Avatar of Ashok Dewan
Ashok Dewan
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You can try one thing , just assign metric value 1 to primary and 2 to secondary.
I am not confirmed about windows static route. But I read distance metric in cisco.  go to Network properties and then go to tcp/ip v4 properties , then advanced , disable autometic assign metric value.  then assign metric value to both

route -p add 192.168.1.251 mask 255.255.255.255 192.168.2.254 metric 1

route -p add 192.168.1.251 mask 255.255.55.255 192.168.2.253 metric 2
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sa_novice
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I am afraid to give you bad news but in my opinion it does not work the way you describe. The route with metric 1 does not disappear as long as the interface of the Win7 machine stays up (Ethernet connection). The PC does not notice that your Diginet link is down.

The only way I see is to use a dynamic routing protocol that is able to identify a failed link. What devices do you have to control the Diginet link and the Wireless connection? You might be able to implement it there.
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Hi Mat1458,

Thanks for the reply... you know what... I think you are right.

It sounds like it will work, but it doesnt... I added those 2 routes, and thenI did a test... I swtiched off the Diginet, the link were broken immediatly, only after a couple of seconds it went over to the other link.

I dont want that... i dont want one package to drop.

To answer your question...

Diginet Link - Cisco Routers at each end
Wireless Link - MikroTik Routers at Router each end


See attached file
diagram.jpg
Haven't ever played with Mikrotik but from the manual a possible configuration of OSPF could look like that:

Mikrotik Routers:
/routing ospf instance> add name=default
/routing ospf instance> set 0 router-id=172.16.61.253    (or 172.16.62.254)
/routing ospf network> add network=172.16.61.0/24 area=backbone       (or 172.16.62.0)
/routing ospf network> add network=<wimax sunet/wimax prefix length> area=backbone

Cisco Routers:
router ospf 1
 network 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 area 0

You might need to play with the cost settings on either the WAN interfaces of the Mikrotik's or the Cisco's to prefer the primary WAN path. Other than that it should work.

To add some more reliablity you could also think of configuring VRRP between Mikrotik and Cisco for the access of the clients to the routers. But do the OSPF stuff first, that's what really matters.
Smooth automatic fail-over is just a Star Trek Fantasy,...it just is not going to happen the way you want.

Looks like the Diginet line is a waste of time.  You could do everything through the MPLS if you work out the details with the MPLS provider.  The primary first and foremost goal is to have WAN lines just not go down in the first place,...that is the main selling point made by any provider.  And when they do go down they get fixed quickly.

Your MPLS is 4mb and the Diginet is only 192kb,...so that is just a no-brainer to me.
Thanks windell!!!

Will have a chat with them :)
Managed to resolve my own problem.