Backup for WAN Connections

[Patrick McHenry]

Hi,

just starting to think about a backup plan for our remote sites.At present we are using T1s as our backup solution. When our main connection go down the T1s are used and we lose the IP phones and the other traffic just crawls. And to top it off these T1s are very expensive. Our primary WAN connections from the remote sites use 100Mbs circuit into the MPLS cloud using BGP and our main site uses a 1Gbs circuit into the MPLS cloud using BGP.

We were thinking we could get a 50 or 100Mbs Internet connection to each remote site and get a 600Mbs or 1Gbs Internet connection to our main site and create VPNs from the remote site to the main site for our backup solution.

Does anyone have any docs on setting this up or experience with this type of backup solution/best practices? I'd appreciate any opinions/input.

Thank you, Pat

[Ajay Raj]

Its possible, you can get Internet connection for both the side, then make a tunnel for both the side

[Patrick McHenry]

Yes, I'm aware that it is possible but, I'm looking for documentation/best practices for such a design.

Thank you. Pat.

[mfurnival]

Pat,

It really depends on what you are planning to use at the head office to terminate the VPNs. Are you planning to use a Cisco router or a firewall of some sort?

If you are planning on using a Cisco router then DMVPN ( http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6658/index.html ) could be a solution that would work for you.

[Patrick McHenry]

Thank for the response -

The headend will be a 1006 and the branches will be 1002Xs

Not sure if DMVPN is the right fit. I'm looking for a backup link that is always up...as if it were another link with a higher cost. Then, when the Primary link fails the VPN path is used. I could also create IP SLAs so when the Primary path is dropping packets of becomes slow, it could use the VPN path. I would have to create a GRE tunnel for the EIGRP. Not sure what I would gain by using a DMVPN. Correct me if I am wrong but, the benefit of the DMVPN is the dynamic nature of deployment and that it can route through the Internet to other remote sights?

.

Thank you.