Load Balancing On Multiple Links and BGP

[raosuryadevara]

Hi,

We have 7507 router and running BGP with two providers.We have two E1's from one providers and Ethernet connectivity from another Provider.

My requests are:

1.Configuring load balancing(packet / traffic based) on two E1s from a single provider.

2.Load balancing Between 2 E1's and an ethernet connectivity.(that is load balancing on EBGP having two AS;s)

Suggetions/solutions are highly appreciated.

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

you might want to check this document:

Load Sharing with BGP in Single and Multihomed Environments: Sample Configurations

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/459/40.html

Regards,

GP

[vcjones]

You don't state what useful bandwidth you have with your Ethernet ISP connection, nor whether you are trying to load balance traffic coming in to you or traffic you are sending out. Consequently, it is impossible to give you definitive advice. However, I can mention a few rules of thumb you can consider:

1 - Load balancing with BGP is doing good if you can get within a two to one ratio of load between two equal links. If your links have different bandwidths, consider what happens if your 2:1 is in favor of the slower link.

2 - If you links have widely different bandwidths, consider using the fast link as your primary link and only use the slow link for production traffic if the primary link fails.

3 - Consider using MLPPP on your two E1's if the same router terminates both lines at each end. That will give you "perfect" load balancing between the two E1 links. You can then attempt BGP load balancing between the MLPPP bundle and your Ethernet link.

Good luck and have fun!

Vincent C Jones

www.networkingunlimited.com

[raosuryadevara]

HI,

We have 2 E1's full capacity from One ISP and Ethernet with 4Mbps from another ISP.

We are an ISP.

Any how BGP is taking care of redundancy.My plan is that, if one ISP link getting chocked or reached maximum available capacity, traffic which goes through that ISP should be diverted to another ISP.

Thanks for MLPPP sugession.

Hope im clear this time.

[vcjones]

>> My plan is that, if one ISP link getting chocked or reached maximum available capacity, traffic which goes through that ISP should be diverted to another ISP.

BGP does not support your desired mode of operation. There are, however, load balancing appliances available from vendors other than Cisco which claim to be able do so. Depending upon your applications and budget, they may or may not provide an adequate solution. You may also be able to generate a Cisco based solution using the response time recorder facility.

Good luck and have fun!

Vincent C Jones

www.networkingunlimited.com