Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Multi pfSense box load balancing

    Routing and Multi WAN
    1
    1
    1.4k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • J
      jethro
      last edited by

      Hello,

      My current set up

      Firewall:
      1 Atom D510 Intel mother board with two realtek nics.
      1 dual port Intel Pro 1000 card
      4 gig Ram
      pfSense 1.2.3
      A few packages including Squid, Snort, and HAVP (side question, are any of these making my life better?)

      Server
      Dell 1950
      Dual Port Intel Pro 1000
      vmWare ESXi  with a mix of Windows and Linux Virtual Machines

      Location
      A data center
      Bandwidth is as good as it gets
      I can get as many ips as I need / no charge!

      My main concerns
      Eliminate as many single points of failure as I can afford to
      Create a second Firewall exactly like the one above
      Use them to Load Balance EACH OTHER and achieve redundant utopia

      What I mean by load balance EACH OTHER is that they should share the work load. My server is primarily used as a database server with minor web usage. I care about my customers being able to reach their data. I understand fail over and all that but because the limited abilities of my Atom processors I want two boxes or more to function as one and to share the load and enhance throughput.

      I would use one Intel Pro Port for the WAN and one for the LAN. I would use the two on board realteks for the extra nics that pfSense requires. I would then cable each LAN to a separate switch and then run a cable from each switch into the back of the the 1950. I also have a few other servers that are not mission critical that will eventually participate.

      Truthfully, this is probably over kill but it will look good in the brochure.

      Am I on the right track? Any ideas or links? I have the book and am trying to comprehend it's wisdom but I can't seem to confirm that two or more units units can be set up to load balance each other.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • First post
        Last post
      Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.