RV325 load balancing not working properly

[malletfils]

Hello,

I have a Cisco RV325 (firmware 1.2.1.13) connected to our network, with which we intend to do some load balancing on 2 DSL lines from 2 different ISP (both are only about 2Mbit/s so we need some bandwidth).

I launch a download from PC #1. WAN1 gets full at about 230 KiB/s. No traffic on WAN2. No acceleration thanks to load balancing, even with multi-threaded downloads.

Now, I launch a download from another PC (#2). At least, I expected the download to go through WAN2 (in fact, when I checked the public IP of PC #2, it has the WAN2 public IP). Instead, the download from PC #1 slows down. And the 2 downloads go through WAN1 at a maximum speed of 230 KiB/s, i.e. the speed we get with only 1 DSL line.

In system statistics, I see the downstream bandwidth for WAN1 being used at 95%, and only 1 or 2% for WAN2, whereas upstream bandwidth is really shared between WAN1 and WAN2 when I start an upload.

All our traffic goes through an OpenVPN. I've tried to stop the VPN, with no luck.

Is there something I am missing in the setup of the RV325 to get real load balancing ?

Thanks for your help.

[paul driver · Accepted solution]

Hello

Can you post your configuration please

res

Paul

[malletfils]

Hello.

The RV325 is in a small office with 10 PC. All the PC are connected throught 3 D-link DGS-1008P switches, and these 3 switches are connected to the RV325.
WAN connections of the RV325 are made by 2 Zyxel VMG1312 modems in bridge mode, on 2 different ISP.
There is also a Wifi network with 3 Cisco WAP321 (one on each switch).
Directly connected to the RV325, there is a small NAS (Synology DS415+) which serves as central storage + backup to the main office (through VPN) and a femtocell (because they don't receive 3G either)

The configuration of the RV325 is pretty basic at the moment, it's almost in default configuration : Gateway mode, IPv4 only, no VLAN, no NAT or PAT rules, default Firewall options (Firewall Enabled, SPI, DoS, Block WAN request, HTTPS, UPnP - I've also tried with firewall disabled with no luck)

The only setup I have made so far is to upgrade the router firmware and to populate some static IP for every device in the office, and blocking unknown mac adresses on the DHCP server.

The PC are connecting through a VPN, but as far as our previous router didn't manage it, every PC has the VPN client installed on it, and there is no VPN setup on the RV325.

Dual WAN is set to Load Balance, auto mode on WAN1 & WAN2.

I've tried to get some results through Bandwidth Management. In rate control mode, with no rules set, all the traffic is going through WAN1. I've tried priority mode. With no rules, doesn't change anything. I've set rules to prioritize traffic on FTP to WAN1 and HTTP to WAN2. This way, I managed to get full speed download when I launched a FTP download on PC#1 and a HTTP download on PC#2 _BUT_ only when PC#1 and PC#2 were on different switches. The same test on two PCs on the same switch got the traffic only on the same WAN. This is not want we want, because mostly traffic is from the same port, but at least, it proves me that the two DSL lines are working.

Funky now, I've deleted all bandwidth management rules back to default (rate control mode), restarted the router, and now all the downstream traffic is going through WAN2, can't get WAN1 over 1 or 2% (whereas upstream traffic works on both WAN1 and WAN2). I've attached a screenshot of system statistics.

EDIT : Another funky test : the NAS has an upload in progress through WAN2 for a backup, using 100% of WAN2 upstream . I launch a download on a PC to fill 100% of downstream on WAN1. Then I launch another download on the NAS... and it goes only through WAN1, even if the NAS is already using WAN2 for upload :(

Any idea would be very much appreciated ;).

[malletfils]

Hello,

Any chance to get help on this ? At the moment, this router is almost unusable for us. I've set it to priority mode which, sometimes, offers the ability to use the two lines at the same time, but it's completely random. With a FTP transfer using 100% of the bandwidth of WAN1, and asking for a HTTP connection (on the same PC, on another PC, on another switch...), it sometimes go through WAN2, sometimes through WAN1 (leaving WAN2 at 1%), and our users are stuck.

Other RV325 owners, what is your setup for bandwidth management ? Are you getting real load balancing ?

Thanks for your help.

[Stephane1971]

Hi,

I have the same problem.

For be able to use multi-threading downloads, the RV325 need to be configured in "load-balancing per packets", but it works only in "load-balancing per destination"

I cannot connect by Telnet for change it as some other CISCO router like this:

hw-module slotnumber ip load-sharing per-packet

Any solution ?

Thanks

(sorry for my English, i'm french ...)