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Elfiq networks is a leading manufacturer of link balancing equipment, bringing to the market the ability to manage multiple ISP and private links to ensure and optimize business continuity simply and securely.
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Connecting multiple ISPs with only 4 ports Ethernet (how to)
Tue, 09/01/2009 - 23:44 — JP Hebert
We often get the question of how to connect 4 or more ISPs to a 4-port balancer. Normally it does not sound possible, as one port is typically connected to the firewall and one is the unit's management port, leaving two for your ISPs.
When designing the products years ago, the issue was (and still is) that multi-port appliances are expensive as the type of platform we build on has one network controller for each port to ensure we deliver the advertised capacity.
So the Elfiq R&D folks came up with a simple solution: let's add a switch to the mix! We we have 4 ways of connecting ISPs in this context and of all these the "Mixed mode" is the most popular as it provides support for as many ISPs an organization may require while maintaining the LAN Failsafe feature.
In mixed mode, the common implementation is (see diagram on the right):
- Management port: it should remain as is
- Port 3: to the firewall
- Port 2: to the primary link
- Port 1: this is where you put the switch
As for the switch the recommendation is to use what you have on hand but make sure it supports VLANs, if you plan to use multiple DHCP/PPPoE links you should have one per VLAN. If you do not have a switch handy, the basic "off the shelf" models from a reputable brand will do fine, as long as VLANs are supported.
If you have any questions or comments, please add them to this blog entry!
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