Is what i want to do possible?
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pfSense is a great loadbalancer, there is no need to buy anything else to do the job.
Since you are dealing with many 2Mbps connections it should be no problem that you cannot get a single large 20Mbps connection.
The only caveat is that there is a routing problem if both WAN connections are given the same gateway. I don't have that problem as I'm using two ISPs but you need to be sure this isn't a problem for you before you order new connections.
You should check that you can't get an ML-PPP connection because if you can it will work a lot better.Steve
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Sorry, but what is an ML-PPP connection?
Also, you say that there is no need to buy anything else as pfSense can do this.. which is good news.. but as my server only has 1 WAN NIC and i cant add another.. is this possible with my current WAN NIC plugged into a small managed switch and have the 2 modems plugged into the switch? can pfsense then still do load balancing? or do i HAVE to have a seperate NIC for each?
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ML-PPP is multi-link PPP. Same as T1 bonding. The ISP bonds the DSL connections for you and you get a link that is capable of the aggregate on a single connection.
You can use a single NIC, but you are going to have to do VLANs. I don't think you have have PPP from 2 separate links on the same WAN. You can have the modems do the authentication and then use the pfsense to setup multiple gateways. Then you will use each connection as a load balance configuration. You will not be able to attain the full aggregate bandwidth unless you are using multi-threaded applications … like torrents. Since you are also have multiple 2MBit/s connections, you might be able to attain higher speeds since it will inherently be multi-threaded.
You don't have to have physically separated NIC, you can do logically separated links like the others have suggested.
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Sorry, but what is an ML-PPP connection?
Also, you say that there is no need to buy anything else as pfSense can do this.. which is good news.. but as my server only has 1 WAN NIC and i cant add another.. is this possible with my current WAN NIC plugged into a small managed switch and have the 2 modems plugged into the switch? can pfsense then still do load balancing? or do i HAVE to have a seperate NIC for each?
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first modem 192.168.1.1
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second modem 192.168.1.2
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pfsense at 192.168.1.3
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first modem 192.168.1.1 on WAN
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second modem 192.168.2.1 on OPT1
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You can do it with a non vlan switch but the 2 modems cannot be in bridge mode.
for example-
first modem 192.168.1.1
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second modem 192.168.1.2
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pfsense at 192.168.1.3
That would also negate the unique gateway problem if you are using the same ISP.
Steve
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I would prefer the VLANs approach, also i will use the modems Bridged, remember that in 2.0.1, you can use PPPoE with same GW without problem.
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@ptt:
remember that in 2.0.1, you can use PPPoE with same GW without problem.
Really? How did I miss that.
Ok well in that case yes, avoiding double NAT is a good plan.Steve
Edit: Ah yes.
@http://blog.pfsense.org/?p=633:Added patch to mpd to allow multiple PPPoE connections with the same remote gateway
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Great news! I also thought that it might be a nightmare here in Brasil to get Oi to do anything at all beyond their normal duty for me marcelloc..
Lastly.. if i have 2 links at the location 4km away and want them combined at that end before connected to the PTP that will interface into my server here.. will a switch be enough to do that? or am i going to need another pfsense box at that end?
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@ptt:
remember that in 2.0.1, you can use PPPoE with same GW without problem.
Really? How did I miss that.
Ok well in that case yes, avoiding double NAT is a good plan.Steve
http://blog.pfsense.org/?p=633
» Added patch to mpd to allow multiple PPPoE connections with the same remote gateway
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Great news! I also thought that it might be a nightmare here in Brasil to get Oi to do anything at all beyond their normal duty for me marcelloc..
Lastly.. if i have 2 links at the location 4km away and want them combined at that end before connected to the PTP that will interface into my server here.. will a switch be enough to do that? or am i going to need another pfsense box at that end?
What kind of "links" are ?
With VLANs you can have as many as you want…. each remote "link" will be a WAN....
Your pfSense ( 1 interface configured as "trunk" ) <---> PowerBridge ( AP WDS ) < - - - - - 4Km - - - - > PowerBridge ( STA WDS ) <--> VLAN Capable SW---> Your provider connections
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2 ADLS 5mb links.. so 2 ADSL modems that will need to be connected somehow so i can get 10mb of total bandwidth
And just so i understand.. as i have never played with vlan's before.. to do that, the switch HAS to be vlan capable as well as creating the vlan's in pfsense?
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Great news! I also thought that it might be a nightmare here in Brasil to get Oi to do anything at all beyond their normal duty for me marcelloc..
Move your servers to somewhere you can get datalinks from other provider(gvt or net for example), OI is one of the worst providers we can get in Brazil. :(
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2 ADLS 5mb links.. so 2 ADSL modems that will need to be connected somehow so i can get 10mb of total bandwidth
And just so i understand.. as i have never played with vlan's before.. to do that, the switch HAS to be vlan capable as well as creating the vlan's in pfsense?
Yes. I believe that you have to have a VLAN capable switch if you want to maintain the VLAN across switches.
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I think we had this discussion before but theoretically you could have VLAN capable modem/routers that could read and write the tagged packets directly. However it's likely to be a PITA to set up and a small VLAN capable switch is quite cheap.
Steve
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Great news! I also thought that it might be a nightmare here in Brasil to get Oi to do anything at all beyond their normal duty for me marcelloc..
Move your servers to somewhere you can get datalinks from other provider(gvt or net for example), OI is one of the worst providers we can get in Brazil. :(
Without going into detail its not possible.. also here, there is only the option of Oi or Embratel.. gvt and net arent available here.
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I think we had this discussion before but theoretically you could have VLAN capable modem/routers that could read and write the tagged packets directly. However it's likely to be a PITA to set up and a small VLAN capable switch is quite cheap.
Steve
Thanks Steve.. :).. Here in Brasil, nothing to do with electronics is "quite cheap" unfortunately. Makes me miss home sometimes when i have to buy stuff here for double the normal price!
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That sucks. Hopefully there is a lightly used market where you can get one a little cheaper.
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Yeah unfortunately its either spend alot, or get it from China/Paraguay and hope the tax isnt too high. I actually just priced a basic 24 port Gigabit managed switch (the lsat one i got in the US for $179) here it will cost around $700.
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