[cobalt-users] [OT] Dual Homing... How?

[<rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I know this isn't Cobalt, but I need quick help and you guys/gals are it...
(thanks in advance, too!)

I'm getting my little hosting business off the ground, and I've contracted
two totally independent links to the Internet. Totally independent means
different providers, routes, fiber, and even different satellites, which
makes me happy. Of course, each 256 Kbps link is going to cost me $650 per
month, so I need to make the best of them.

Now the problem: I need the two links to give me redundancy (and ideally
load-balancing), but how the heck do I do that?

I *think* I need the following:

* Buy a router
* Contact ??? and get my own block of IP addresses
* Contact ??? and register as an Autonomous System
* Inform both ISP's of my addresses and set up routes
* Use BGP or ??? to route and load-balance

Could someone please help me figure out what goes in the ??? spaces? As I've
said before, I start out stupid but learn quickly...

Also, since I'm going to have two (maybe three) links to the Internet and
one internal network, could someone recommend a router and supplier?

I know this is indeed truly basic for some of you, but darned if I haven't
spent *two days* already looking for answers on my own.

Thanks,

--
Rodolfo J. Paiz
rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>