Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of cb_it
cb_itFlag for United States of America

asked on

Wan and Ethernet routing help

We have 5 offices. A main office and 4 branch offices. We are all conected via a MPLS Wan provided by Verizon, running BGP. Last year we added a Ethernet line from branch A to the main office. Router at the main office and at the branch have a static route pointing to each other. Problem is the other branches see that static route and are sending traffic to the main office via the Ethernet line, and not the wan. Ethernet line goes down, everything goes down basically. Ethernet line is supposed to be used for disaster recovery, replication of servers from main office to branch A, not "regular" day-to-day traffic.

Any way to set this up so that only certain traffic goes through the Ethernet line?
Avatar of andrew1812
andrew1812
Flag of India image

Setup a floating static route. You are having two paths to the same network. The route corresponding to the ethernet line might be having a lower metric value than the WAN.

Setup the route corresponding to the ethernet link with a higher metric value than the route corresponding to the WAN. So packets would be forwarded through the link with the lower metric value.
Avatar of cb_it

ASKER

I agree with this. But would this mean that my replication traffic going from the main office to branch A would also use the wan, and not the Ethernet line. Ethernet line would kick in if the wan goes down?? I'm not a router guy at all, but is there a way so that certain servers can send traffic using the Ethernet line?

A separate side question. I have a basic ping tool to let me know when routers or servers go down, or the wan is down. Any specific way to monitor both the wan and Ethernet lines. If I add in the static route with a higher metric and the wan goes down how would I ever know?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of hypercube
hypercube
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of cb_it

ASKER

Each site has it's own subnet.
1 router at each site. Main office and branch a routers both have additional ethernet wic.
Yes, there is 2 links now between main office and branch A, MPLS wan and Ethernet.
Static route setup on branch A router. Points traffic to main office.
Someone told me that branch A router is advertising this static route to other branches.
Branch B wants to send data to main office and sends it to branch A, then off to main office. Routes at branch A below. Anything destined for the main office (.156) will go through the Ethernet interface.

S       10.100.156.0/24 [1/0] via 172.16.1.2

B       10.100.153.0/24 [20/0] via 152.176.74.100
B       10.100.154.0/24 [20/0] via 152.176.74.100
B       10.100.157.0/24 [20/0] via 152.176.74.100
B       10.100.158.0/25 [20/0] via 152.176.74.100
Avatar of cb_it

ASKER

To add some more info that maybe wasn't too clear.

I'd like branch A (.155) to use the Ethernet as it's primary link to the main office, and the other branch offices to use the wan as it's primary link to the main office.

If the wan goes down, then the branches would switch over to the Ethernet line. If the Ethernet goes down then branch A could use the wan. Not sure if this is even possible.

I've read about distance, metrics, floating static routes, and more recently IP SLA that will ping each route and switch them if one goes down. I'm not sure what to do, thanks.
Well, it appears that you have something like RIP turned on.  In such a simple case like this I'd not think that you'd need it.  And, you surely don't want it because you want more control over the routes.
Avatar of cb_it

ASKER

How do I know if RIP is turned on?
I didn't notice the MPLS router model number.  So, I'm not sure where you might look.  

And, rather than RIP, maybe it's part of your BGP implementation.