CARP newbie - physical network incoming to 2x pfSense boxes

[consolibyte]

So I'm looking at this diagram:
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Configuring_pfSense_Hardware_Redundancy_(CARP)

Does this assume that the "DSL Router" at the top of the drawing has two physical RJ45 jacks, or a single one that you're splitting via a switch?

i.e. when I walk into the data center with 2 pfSense boxes, should I be expecting them to give me two separate RJ45 jacks to plug into, or a single one that I'm going to throw a switch in front of the 2 pfSense boxes for?

[podilarius]

That is probably a switch between the devices. Most DSL modems only have one LAN connection. But for things like the comcast modem, it has a 4 port switch that you can utilize. I guess it would depend on the device you have.

[SeventhSon]

Ideally? You would want 2 ports 2 different (redundant/stacked) switches, so that if one of those goes down, it doesn't take down your WAN.

If you "throw one switch in front of the two boxes" your creating another SPOF…