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    PfSense with 2 routers and 1 switch

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    17 Posts 6 Posters 8.4k Views
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    • M
      Metu69salemi
      last edited by

      If you have manageable switches and those or either procurve, catalyst or similar. you can use trunking and lagg between switches, so you can use multiple ports between switches(increasing dataspeed between switches)

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      • D
        DesertPanther
        last edited by

        First of all thank you guys for your replies.

        I will work on minimizing the switches' layers to at most 3 only.

        We currently have 4Mbps connection with supposedly no cap limit, or so the ISP claimed, and we are getting 2Mbps connection from another ISP with no cap too, will be upgraded later to either 8 or 12Mbps but with 400GB cap per month.

        I want to make a balance between those so browsing, IMing, emailing would go through the capped connection, while the unlimited one will be for downloads, software updates, uploads, media streaming etc…

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          @DesertPanther:

          I want to make a balance between those so browsing, IMing, emailing would go through the capped connection, while the unlimited one will be for downloads, software updates, uploads, media streaming etc…

          Layer 7 routing, what you are talking about above, is more complex but certainly possible.
          You may run into problems where one application ends up using both connections, say sending a file through IM. Some servers see that as a potential security breach.

          So a maximum throughput of 16Mbps. Almost any hardware will handle that with ease. Your proposed hardware will have no problem even if you are using all of that for VPN.

          Steve

          Edit: Actually you could probably achieve almost the same result just using port based routing.

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          • D
            DesertPanther
            last edited by

            Will work on the thing once I get the need equipment and will write my results here :)

            Just another quick question, when the final version of 2.0 will be released?

            Thanks guys!

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              @DesertPanther:

              When the final version of 2.0 will be released?

              When it's ready!  ;)

              Which should be very soon.

              See: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,29857.0.html

              Steve

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              • K
                kumarnarain
                last edited by

                @stephenw10:

                @DesertPanther:

                When the final version of 2.0 will be released?

                When it's ready!  ;)

                Which should be very soon.

                See: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,29857.0.html

                Steve

                Hai
                I have an exactly SIMILAR setup in our office already running 1.2.3 and we did a fresh install of 2.0 RC3. I am unable to get load balance up and working.
                Here is how our setup is ISP1 on rl0 marked as WAN (DHCP) gives out a public Ip (dynamic ..changes on reboot) and ISP 2 on
                rl1 (DHCP) but gives a private ip on 192.168.x.y
                Is there a work around to do load balancing here?
                Right now we are using only one ISP of the above. I read somewhere that load balancing will work ONLY with static and public Ip. Is that true?
                Regards
                Kumar

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  @kumarnarain:

                  I read somewhere that load balancing will work ONLY with static and public Ip. Is that true?

                  No.
                  Not for outgoing load balancing anyway.
                  I am using two PPPoE connections here with dynamic IPs.
                  Currently they are both public IPs but I have had it setup with a separate router and hence a private IP before.
                  Both setups worked fine with load balancing.

                  Steve

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                  • K
                    kumarnarain
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10:

                    @kumarnarain:

                    I read somewhere that load balancing will work ONLY with static and public Ip. Is that true?

                    No.
                    Not for outgoing load balancing anyway.
                    I am using two PPPoE connections here with dynamic IPs.
                    Currently they are both public IPs but I have had it setup with a separate router and hence a private IP before.
                    Both setups worked fine with load balancing.

                    Steve

                    So essentially my ISP1 has to be routed to a private Ip space and then fed to PFsense..Am I right?
                    Due to frequent connectivity disruption I am trying to set this up
                    Sorry I am a newbie

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      The best setup is to have both connections pass their public IP to pfSense.
                      That way pfSense can control and monitor the connection.
                      That depends on what sort of connections you are using (cable, adsl etc) and whether you can set whatever modems you have into 'bridge' mode.

                      Steve

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                      • K
                        kumarnarain
                        last edited by

                        @stephenw10:

                        The best setup is to have both connections pass their public IP to pfSense.
                        That way pfSense can control and monitor the connection.
                        That depends on what sort of connections you are using (cable, adsl etc) and whether you can set whatever modems you have into 'bridge' mode.

                        Steve

                        One ISP is already giving public Ip though it changes everytime it is rebooted. I am not sure if ti can be made to bridge mode. I need to check…..
                        All I know is that it is a wimax based connection. What I get from their antenna on the rooftop is an RJ45 jack which I plug to my
                        current 1.2.3 pfsense box and thru the second NIC I hook it to the switch in the office.

                        I have already filed a request with the incoming ISP to give me public IP instaed of the 192..x.x.x their adsl router provides. I will know tomorrow.
                        Will keep this link updated. Thank you for the time and patience

                        Regards

                        Kumar

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                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          @kumarnarain:

                          One ISP is already giving public Ip though it changes every time it is rebooted. I am not sure if ti can be made to bridge mode. I need to check…..

                          No need to adjust anything with that connection. Public IP via dhcp on an RJ-45 is ideal.

                          @kumarnarain:

                          I have already filed a request with the incoming ISP to give me public IP instead of the 192..x.x.x their adsl router provides.

                          Does your ISP have their adsl router locked down? Usually it is this that can be set to bridge mode to pass a public IP through to your pfSense box.

                          Either way you should be able loadbalance the two connections.

                          Steve

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                          • K
                            kumarnarain
                            last edited by

                            @stephenw10:

                            @kumarnarain:

                            One ISP is already giving public Ip though it changes every time it is rebooted. I am not sure if ti can be made to bridge mode. I need to check…..

                            No need to adjust anything with that connection. Public IP via dhcp on an RJ-45 is ideal.

                            @kumarnarain:

                            I have already filed a request with the incoming ISP to give me public IP instead of the 192..x.x.x their adsl router provides.

                            Does your ISP have their adsl router locked down? Usually it is this that can be set to bridge mode to pass a public IP through to your pfSense box.

                            Either way you should be able loadbalance the two connections.

                            Steve

                            They havent locked it. It is set at 192.168.1.1, but connectivity got cut when I changed the mode. So i have filed a request.
                            Right now I am unable to load balance when I tried following the doc given at the site. Is there a good step by step document
                            for this scenario?

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              It's all covered here:
                              http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Multi-WAN_2.0

                              Steve

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                              • W
                                wallabybob
                                last edited by

                                Typically when you change your ADSL modem from router to bridge mode you need to also change the corresponding pfSense interface from DHCP and enable pppoe on it: Interfaces -> (assign), click on PPP tab, add a PPP interface, go back to Interfaces -> (assign), add the ppp interface, assign it to WAN (or whatever) then add the username and password that had previously been configured in the ADSL modem for ppp.

                                I don't know if that applies to your service.

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