Load Balancing requires static IPs?

djc6 · Nov 18, 2009, 6:48 AM

I'm trying to understand these two links:

http://blog.mischel.com/2007/08/31/multi-wan-routing-with-pfsense/

http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Multi_WAN_/Load_Balancing#Setting_up_your_modems.2F_routers

They both state/imply that I need to have a static IP from my DSL and Cable modem providers in order for round-robin load balancing to work - is this true? I've not been able to find a good reason WHY however.

I'm a home user who lives very far from civilization, and I have both DSL and Cable Modem internet at home. I'm trying to find a way to make the best use of them - not just a simple failover scenario.

Thanks!

GruensFroeschli · Nov 18, 2009, 7:15 AM

No you dont need static IPs on your WANs.
However what you need is different gateways on the different WANs.

One common setup is to have a modem-routers in front of the pfSense which do NAT.
Then have static (private) IPs on the pfSense.

djc6 · Nov 18, 2009, 6:59 PM

@GruensFroeschli:

No you dont need static IPs on your WANs.
However what you need is different gateways on the different WANs.

Is this so you can ping the two gateways to see which link is up? My Time Warner Cable and Verizon DSL gateways would always be different, since they own different IP spaces. However, my gateway COULD change and my Dynamic IP changes - do you have to manually tell pfsense what gateway to check, or does it just automatically check the gateway that is handed down via DHCP?

@GruensFroeschli:

One common setup is to have a modem-routers in front of the pfSense which do NAT.
Then have static (private) IPs on the pfSense.

Wouldn't this lead to double-NAT'ing?

Thanks for the reply!

GruensFroeschli · Nov 18, 2009, 9:23 PM

@djc6:

@GruensFroeschli:

No you dont need static IPs on your WANs.
However what you need is different gateways on the different WANs.

Is this so you can ping the two gateways to see which link is up? My Time Warner Cable and Verizon DSL gateways would always be different, since they own different IP spaces. However, my gateway COULD change and my Dynamic IP changes - do you have to manually tell pfsense what gateway to check, or does it just automatically check the gateway that is handed down via DHCP?

This is to be able to differentiate between different WANs.
You can only have one gateway per interface.
And the interfaces need to have different subnets.
(Otherwise you cannot route)

@GruensFroeschli:

One common setup is to have a modem-routers in front of the pfSense which do NAT.
Then have static (private) IPs on the pfSense.

Wouldn't this lead to double-NAT'ing?

Thanks for the reply!

Yes this would lead to double NATing.
But this shouldnt be a problem since in most modem routers today you can define a "DMZ-host" to which all ports will be forwarded.