Dual-WAN load balacing

[virgile3D]

Hi there!

Does someone know if there is a router in the 800 series that could allow me to balance 2 ISPs. I m sorry I couldn't find a clear information about this on the website. It is clear that some could do dual-WAN fail-over but that's not what I'm looking for.

Thanks

Virgil

[Pawan Sharma · Accepted solution]

Hi,

You can configure PfR (Performance Routing) to do advance load balancing on 2 ISPs. Below is the link to guide you thru the configuration process -

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-8353

Regards,

Pawan Sharma

http://www.ebrahma.com

[virgile3D]

Thanks for your very quick reply.

I don't usually do load-balancing with Cisco routers, so this document will certainly help me to anderstand the howtos.

I m wondering how the load-balancing is done. How can I be sure that the same user on the same website will not be balanced from WAN1 to WAN2 and get authentication errors for exemple...

Also I just saw that the BR and the MC can be part of the same router box for a small office configuration. But I can't find if a 800 series router can do the job ! I got an old document from 2008 that said it starts from the 1800 series router but this document might be outdated now...

Edit : it seems to start with the 890 series.

[cadet alain · Accepted solution]

Hi,

if you want to do load-balancing letting CEF do its job whatever the conditions on the links are  then just create 2 static default routes with same AD and then CEF will load-balance per src-dst IP pair or per flow depending upon platform.

Regards.

Alain.

[virgile3D]

Hi Alain,

Thanks for the reply, this solution seems cost effective and good enough for a SOHO.

The 870 IOS series seems to have CEF implemented, so I suppose it is possible to use one of the 4 LAN ports as a WAN port, in addition of the dedicated WAN port ? Does this function need the advanced IP iOS ?

Thanks

[cadet alain]

Hi,

the lan ports are L2 ports so to make it work you should use a L3 interface and maybe it would work with a vlan interface and if not then just buy a Fastethernet or Gig ethernet module to insert in the router if you've got a free slot.

Regards.

Alain