Re: [cobalt-users] OT - Broadband Bridge?

[elmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

On Thu, 8 Feb 2001, Craig Napier so wrote:

} On a home system with ADSL <1.5>, is it possilbe via software or hardware to
} bridge another broadband connection <cable 1.5> into one macine <W2k>..? I'm
} with Mindspring <now Earthlink> DSL, but the last few weeks have been a
} little hairy <sometimes outages for the whole day>... Currently I can't even
} stay connected for more than a min before being dropped.. So I'm thinking of
} a backup with ATT Cable and would like to bridge the two into 300K... Would
} Sygate be what I'm looking for..?

	Yes, indeed it is if you can afford the toy, if you can talk
your providers into letting you run BGP, if both providers support
DSL bonding via Multilink PPP or DSLAM-based DSL bonding, there is
even a couple of software solutions that will work if you're willing
to run NAT on the server and put a multihomed Windows boxen between
it and the circuits. The following links will take you to pages
which detail the options mentioned above, in the order they were
mentioned:

http://www.fatpipeinc.com/
http://www.netaxs.com/~freedman/
http://www.netopia.com/equipment/solutions/bonding.html
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/bizdsl

	The first option is about the only one you're going to have
any luck with at this point in time. Got 10K? The third option is a
very real possibility though. If it's not available there now it
probably will be soon.

	However, assuming neither provider filters, there is nothing
to prevent you from dropping both circuits into one hub or switch
and cranking out a simple script which will add a route for the
second gateway. Thus if the primary gateway goes down traffic would
flow out the secondary. Inbound traffic to the server would still be
a problem but there are ways of making it work fairly good if you're
serious about pursuing this and willing to run multiple name
servers.

	Your best choice, IMO, is to get yourself a Netopia R9100 or
R7100, add a V90 or ISDN backup card and find yourself a DSL
provider that will support OSPF (many business orientated provider's
will do this). This is simple, clean and very reliable. Essentaully,
both inbound and outbound traffic will be routed via the V90 or ISDN
connection in the event the DSL fails. That, combined with the
option detailed in the previous paragraph rocks - big time.

	While I don't posses a great deal of expertise with BGP, I'm
pretty darn handy with the other options. No, I'm not selling
anything, our hosting business takes all my time these days, but
feel free to contact me off list if you're serious but only if
you have specific questions about one of the options that I am handy
with.

	Have fun :-)