[ale] OT: Business ISP

[Michael Trausch]

I can do a more detailed write-up later, perhaps, but here's the 30,000
foot overview for a "simple" setup:

   - You have a single Linode ("BISP"), which has at least 2 IP addresses
   (and a pool of routed IPv6 doesn't hurt—Linode does that for you for free,
   but in blocks smaller than /64).
   - You have an edge router which is attached to two separate "real" ISPs
   ("BER"). Ideally, the ISPs have static IP addresses.  If you don't, you'll
   need to add some machinery to ensure that the tunnel endpoints stay
   up-to-date. I don't consider this problem since I don't have dynamic
   addresses.
   - You configure the BISP system to have two virtual (layer 2) interfaces
   which will talk to BER, one for each "real" ISP.
   - You configure the BER system to have two virtual (layer 2) interfaces
   that talk to the Linode. This is where it starts to get interesting.  You
   need to configure the system so that there is one route to the Linode IPv4
   #1 over ISP 1, and one route to the Linode IPv4 #2 over ISP 2. Then ensure
   that BER and BISP are both routers (kernel forwarding is turned on).
   Establish the tunnels and test them individually.  If at this point you're
   working, you can continue.
   - Now, create a bonding interface on both BER and BISP. Configure them
   using the same parameters, and add the two tunnel interfaces to the bond
   point in same manner as you would with Ethernet cards. At this point,
   perform link testing and ensure that you're using both connections between
   yourself and the Linode.  You should at this point be able to transfer data
   between yourself and Linode faster than with a single connection alone.
   - Configure your network to use BER as a network gateway, and enjoy a
   faster connection!

Now, there are some caveats:

   - You might want to configure very-high bandwidth things of
   not-terribly-high import to simply use your faster leg.  For example,
   Netflix.  You don't want all that crap going through your Linode.
   - There are plenty of opportunities for traffic management, depending on
   the needs for your own network.

However, at this point, your network should remain online as long as it has
power and at least one of the ISP links is working and active. You can add
extra IP addresses e.g., at Linode and route them to your network (using
Proxy ARP in order to chain-route; like any ISP, Linode assumes that
they're the "last hop", meaning that if you need to relocate the IP address
or use it e.g., for dial-up or other PPP links, you're going to need to
have a suitably-configured proxy ARP config on BISP).

Hope this helps. It's lacking in tons of detail, but it should have enough
to get you going—or at least give you an idea.


On Sat, Jul 12, 2014 at 2:00 PM, Phil Turmel <philip at turmel.org> wrote:

> On 07/12/2014 11:46 AM, Michael Trausch wrote:
> > Stacked and bonded connections.
> >
> > E.g., comcast and att, with bonding interfaces at a linode for bandwidth
> aggregation and failover.
> >
> > More expensive than "simple" internet, but cheaper than leased lines and
> more flexible, too.
>
> I've been considering this in the near future...  At the moment, only
> Comcast serves my office complex at >8mb/s, unfortunately.  But AT&T has
> indicated they are working to bring U-Verse to the party.  U-Verse
> (internet only) has been rock solid at my home.  Comcast Business at the
> office, not so much.
>
> Can you share details of your routing/bonding configuration?  Or point
> to a howto you recommend?  I'm familiar with layer 2 bonding between
> switch and server, not with remote links.
>
> Phil
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