Combining 2 seperate DSL connections.

nambi

We are limited by our connection options where I am

Currently the most cost effective solution is DSL, my ISP claims I can get 2 DSL connections then use an AEON device to connect the two and output into the router,

OR

I could have 2 separate connections, I would then need to add another NIC into my PFSENSE and figure a way to have PF sense manage the 2 DSL connections.

I'm wondering if anyone have used PFSense to Bond 2 connections together and how was the end result

chpalmer

@nambi

Yes we did.

MLPPP on our first connection..

Bonded service with the modem in bridge mode the last half of our time on DSL.

Works well. I liked the modem doing the bonding over having two modems into the pfSense box doing MLPPP.

With both instances we only had one "WAN" address and could download a single file at full speed. Having two WANs that are not bonded does not give you that ability. You can only download a single file at the fastest speed of one of your connections. Might not be an issue with you.

SteveITS

@nambi said in Combining 2 seperate DSL connections.:

anyone have used PFSense to Bond 2 connections together

You are probably looking at (describing, thinking of) SD-WAN for this. Typically used with different ISPs. They route traffic over either or both ISPs.

nambi

@chpalmer Thanks this makes sense,

I'm using the same provider and they will setup the bonding.

With One connection into the pfsense box, the only issue I have doing it this way is all my IPS change and therefore I have some work re configuring the static IP addresses and the VLANS

but in the long run I assume it will be less headache.

stephenw10

Doing this in pfSense is always something at layer3 which means that, although traffic can be shared between WANs, a single connection will always be limited to one.
If you want to be able to download a file at the combined speeds of both WANs you need some bonding upstream at layer2.

Steve

netblues

@stephenw10
If the isp is willing to provide multilink ppp for pppoe at their end, then it will be a layer 2 solution at the pf level
It will have. a single ip and use both lines

I wouldnt like a modem doing mlppp on front of pf as this would most probably mean double nat, unless of course isp is willing to route an ip behind that box too andt the box is a router.

stephenw10

Mmm, I've never used (or even seen) an MLPPP connection but my understanding is that it does not provide a connection that can, for example, split a single TCP session across both lines.
There are things that can do that though.

Steve

netblues

mlppp does just that, by forwarding ppp frames across both connections and reassembling them at the other end.
So yes, it WILL support a single tcp connection.
Back in the days of ISDN dialup, it was the norm to bond two 64k channels to get a single 128Kbit channel.
It could also work with more channels, however after 10-12 members cpu issues and ppp frames reassembly was an issue.
With todays equipment its quite possible at higher speeds.

Isps do this nowdays, by getting 2 gpon interfaces with say 200/20 mbits and bond it together as one 400/40 connection.
Using plain old ml-ppp.

It does require mlppp config from the isp side too though.
And if ppp sessions terminate to different concetrators, this must also needs to be taken care, but it can be done.

chpalmer

Yup.. MLPPP is a single WAN solution. The MLPPP instance happens on your pfSense box so all of your modems (up to 8) would be in bridge mode. No double NAT.

The trick is to get an ISP to handle the other end for you. I gave my ISP at the time some documents and they took it on. (charged way to much but I digress..)

Very easy to setup on the pfSense end-

stephenw10

Hmm, and you can get the combined bandwidth for a single connection? That's fun if so.

chpalmer

@stephenw10 said in Combining 2 seperate DSL connections.:

Hmm, and you can get the combined bandwidth for a single connection? That's fun if so.

Yup. https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/multiwan/mlppp.html

nambi

@stephenw10

According to the ISP I should get 2x the download speed.

I needed the 2nd connection for voice, so I'll prioritize the voice traffic, this was the initial intent.

stephenw10

Ah, well to do that you might actually be better using two separate connections. You can route VoIP traffic via one exclusively and have no chance of other traffic ever causing a problem.
And you can still setup both as failover to give some redundancy.

Steve