Loading ...Dual-Wan routers for ISP failover and loadbalancing
We are working on a project to implement ISP failover and loadbalancing for a corporate office. So far, we have looked over some hardware solutions but also software linux based ones. VPN is not a must, but it would be nice to have it also on the same device. Here are the best choices we looked so far:
A. Hardware solutions:
1. PePLink Balance 20L/200/300
2. Netgear FVX538
3. Linksys RV042/RV082
4. Xincom Twin WAN Router XC-DPG502
5. ZyXEL ZyWALL 35 UTM
B. Software solutions:
1. Vyatta: http://www.vyatta.org/
2. Endian: http://www.endian.com/en/community/
If you have a better experience on this we would love to hear your suggestions or previous experiences with such devices and your opinion on what is the best way to implement ISP failover and loadbalancing.
Tags: failover, load_balancing, router
4th November 2008, 12:15
How about the Firebrick
http://www.firebrick.co.uk
4th November 2008, 12:23
@Alastair Battrick: Firebrick seems to support only one WAN port. Or?
4th November 2008, 13:44
Any machine with Linux and vrrpd/ucarp? I would look at this option first.
4th November 2008, 13:50
ZyXEL ZyWALL 35 UTM works great, we use one here and it works as expected. (be carful when upgrading firmware, last update brick the device, and i had to hard reset it)
4th November 2008, 14:03
I use Juniper Netscreen SSG5s for my end-point solutions, but I’ve also had tremendous success with the Netgear FVS336G, which provides IPSEC ***AND*** SSL VPNs. My users adored me the day we started phasing out the need for buggy client VPN software.
4th November 2008, 14:57
@Matt: do you know if the Netgear device will detect a failures on the WAN link if running in “Load Balancing” mode? as this is not clear in the documentation and only for Auto-Rollover it seems to check the active connection.
Thanks,
- Marius -
4th November 2008, 15:24
I have been using the Peplink balance 300 for over a year now. The device is just rock solid. No reboots, no corrupt firmware, and it has extremely granular controls over the inbound and outbound traffic. This may be a little pricier than other solutions, but as usual, you get what you pay for.
4th November 2008, 15:53
@Marius
According to the help text for that configuration, you should be ok. Here is the direct quote:
“When the router is configured in Load Balancing Mode, it checks the connection of both the links at regular intervals to detect its status. “
4th November 2008, 16:58
The Xincom Twin WAN Router XC-DPG502 and other routers by Xincom are junk. I had 3 of them deployed to branch offices, and have had nothing but problems.
4th November 2008, 19:16
Two other options are m0n0wall and pfSense, the latter being my preference.
4th November 2008, 19:23
You may want to look at the MBR1000 by CradlePoint. It uses a failover to 3G Cellular. A primary ISP, cable, DSL, etc., come is with several ports for USB or ExpressCard modems. If the primary ISP goes down the 3G Cellular modems take over automatically, when the Primary ISP comes back up the unit failsback. Also does loadbalancing.
4th November 2008, 19:35
@Matt: thank you! that’s good to know. The docs don’t explain that very well.
@Don: thanks for your suggestion, but we need this to loadbalance also the traffic not only to failover.
5th November 2008, 00:59
How about a low cost DDWRT device? There are plenty of forum posts on setting up dual WAN connectivity, and it would be cheaper then building a linux box for it. It’s definitely the cheap way out so it may not be ideal for a company, but it’s worth looking in to.
6th November 2008, 19:51
Thank you all for your suggestions and comments on this! We have decided to order a Netgear FVS336G (thanks Matt for your insights on this) because it has also a good VPN solution. Even if I would have loved to work on a PePLink Balance device the fact that it has no VPN server and we had to get another box for this was a big disadvantage after all. Hopefully this was a good decision and I promise I will post a review of the Netgear FVS336G after we have it running for a while.
Thanks,
- Marius -
6th November 2008, 20:00
@Marius
Glad I could help. I’m really looking forward to hearing what you think of it.
4th May 2009, 13:29
how did you ever make out with the Netgear FVS336G, i am currently suing a linksys/cisco RV082 and have had to reset it 2 time this year all ready and am looking into replacing it.
6th May 2009, 07:54
@Nick: it has served us good so far. Only one time we had it partially locked (vpn no longer working) and had to reboot it to fix the issue. Besides that, it works great, we are using intensively the vpn (from macosx clients) and the loadbalancing.
Let me know if you have any particular questions that I might help you before getting this.
- Marius -
9th June 2009, 20:00
We are proud to be on this list! In addition to multi-wan routing and ISP failover, Endian offers a significant amount of features that make it the best open source UTM on the market.
http://www.endian.com/en/products/features/
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Brandon Bain
Director, Business Development
Endian U.S.
Brandon@Endian.com
713.855.6022
25th November 2009, 06:19
We have been using Linksys RV016 for last 3 years, no issues but only problem if one WAN is failed (connected but ISP is not) the system does not know.
We too have Endian appliance and we are very happy with it. It has only failover and no load balancing.
25th November 2009, 13:52
Cool Ahmed. Keep in mind that Endian does offer load balancing. We recently released v2.3 so check it out!
25th November 2009, 16:55
We have been using a Linksys RV082 in load balance mode with great success. Great router for the price. Doesn’t have the granular control like the Peplink, but you get what you pay for as stated earlier. Tested Endian a couple of years ago and didn’t like it, perhaps the new version is better. I prefer to stay away from Netgear products as we had several of their routers die for no reason years ago, perhaps their quality control is better now. Can’t speak for Zyxel or Xincom.
Cheers, J
25th November 2009, 17:02
If you’d like to see the online demo, contact me and I’ll provide you with the credentials! We’ve recently added a significant upgrade in terms of functionality and feature enhancements.
8th December 2009, 16:14
I think simple solution is bash script daemon pinging on each interface some internet host and switching lines by setting correct routing table( 10- lines of code) would be best for You.
The optimal load-balancing on two lines basing on load estimation You can find here
14th February 2010, 08:30
Xincom is a bad product. I bought a couple of the 603s and the interface will show that VPN is connected when in fact it isn’t.
I’m also in the market for an easy to configure but rock solid dual WAN router, used for failover. It would also need to have VPN.
I’m thinking the Netgear FVX538. There will be a 100MB connection, with quite a bit of activity. Any suggestions? anyone work with the FVX538?
my concern is if it can handle the workload.
17th February 2010, 19:54
Oh, too bad the choise has already been made, but I would have suggeted you a Elfiq Link Load Balancer (http://www.elfiq.com). Great line of products, and very dependable. We use them at work since 2006, and are very satisfied.
18th February 2010, 02:05
Oups, invalid link in the previous comment because of the parenthesis. Here it is again:
http://www.elfiq.com
Thanks!
18th May 2010, 07:15
Hi gays this is srinivas from hyderabad india . am looking for dual wan port with wireless-N sires router .please let me know if any one knows
my mail Id – CNUS01@Gmail.com
thanks in advance
srinivashan
29th May 2010, 11:23
I ‘m looking for a dual WAN router with load balance + failover and url filtering.
3rd June 2010, 08:03
what will happen to the IP Addresses Provided by your 2 ISP Provider? If you have 2 plans by different ISP Provider and they gave you different IP address how will you configure this? I mean if I’m gonna use only IP addresses from one of my ISP Provider how will the other ISP Provider recognize this IP Addresses? I’m having trouble on how to configure my Server IP Addresses now that I’m planning to implement a DUAL WAN in our Company.
3rd May 2011, 04:28
I am runng pfsense with 5 ISPs, and its working fine for me, pfsense works excellent.
if the cost is an issue then you can go for pfsense option.
3rd May 2011, 04:46
saad,
Is there any problem in https (ssl) session handling with pfsense?
Application level filtering like URL, file types, content available ?
How is the Inbound connection (Port Forwading) configured ?
Biju.