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    Multi-wan load balancing does not load balance

    Routing and Multi WAN
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    • H
      hexcentric1
      last edited by

      I just can't figure out why it isn't working. Here's my setup:

      Satellite Modem ====>
                                          > pfSense ====> LAN
      Satellite Modem ====> /

      pfSense 2.0.1 is running on a virtualbox on my laptop with three NICs. One each for the WANs, one for the LAN. Status > Interfaces shows all three working, LAN clients can pull an address via DHCP. Status > Gateways shows WAN1 and WAN2 online. In System > Gateways > Groups I have created a group with both WANs, both Tier 1, called Balancer. In Firewall > Rules under LAN I have the LAN net set to the Balancer gateway group. Neither WAN1 nor WAN2 are defined as the default gateway.

      The problem is that about 95% of traffic is on WAN1. I can see real meaningful traffic on WAN2 via Darkstat, as well as Status > Traffic Graph. But it's a very small amount, while WAN1 is usually at max capacity.

      As an experiment, I changed WAN1 to Tier 2 in the Balancer group I created. This resulted in no change whatsoever; 95% of traffic remains on WAN1.

      Any ideas? Did I miss anything? I'm pretty new to this actually…

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      • N
        Nachtfalke
        last edited by

        you need to set the Gateway Group as Gateway in your firewall rules on LAN interface.
        Further your WAN1 and WAN2 must not have the same Gateway from your ISP!

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        • C
          costasppc
          last edited by

          You also need to have both WANs in Tier 1 in order to round robin between them.

          Best

          Kostas

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          • H
            hexcentric1
            last edited by

            As I stated, I do have the gateway group set as the gateway in firewall rules for LAN interface. Each WAN does have a unique gateway from the ISP.

            I only changed WAN1 to Tier 2 as an experiment. The strange thing, with that setting, WAN2 should get all the traffic, right? But it does not. It doesn't make any difference at all.

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            • M
              Metu69salemi
              last edited by

              Have you rebooted firewall after that change or deleted old tcp sessions?

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              • H
                hexcentric1
                last edited by

                I have tried rebooting the firewall.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • N
                  Nachtfalke
                  last edited by

                  Using squid and Multi-WAN on the same machine needs additional configuration.

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                  • H
                    hexcentric1
                    last edited by

                    @Nachtfalke:

                    Using squid and Multi-WAN on the same machine needs additional configuration.

                    Aha. I will search the forums for such configuration. Thank you.

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