Leathal
Premium
join:2002-02-09
Toronto, ON
| reply to Huligan
Re: Best Dual Wan Router
You are missing the point of what Anav is getting across, what happens if Comcast blow a router that connects them to their upstream and their redundant system can't handle the extra load are you really safe? It's always best practice when you are going for a dual WAN setup no matter what it's for to use two different ISP's that way if one has technically problems your second one can pickup the load.
Putting eggs all in one basket because you haven't had any problems in the past 2 years is simply mental! 
As for dual WAN I would suggest the Xincom, Linksys and Dlink, and I am not sure about the Edimax do not lock the sessions into their WAN ports when you are network load balancing which can be a serious issue when it comes to accessing sites that use HTTPS (SSL Certs) as almost all of the them don't allow you two come in two separate IP addresses.
Leathal |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN
| reply to Huligan
I reviewed every dual wan I could find on the internet in my internship over the summer. Based on online reviews and features, a draytek vigor2910 seemed like a really good router. »www.draytek.com/product/Dual_Wan···2910.php
Definitely do not go with a hotbrick(My fraternity used one and after 3 years it still doesn't handle arp correctly), and from what I read xincom had next to no customer support. Other than the draytek I think the d-link and the linksys were the other two I felt would have been decent and also had acceptable customer support, but the linksys was hit or miss on hardware problems. |
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pende_tim
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Andover, NJ
 ·ProLog
 ·ViaTalk
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| I have just read the specs on the Draytek 2910 VG router. Sure reads nice, it looks like it does everything except take out the trash.
Has anyone used one of these and have any up close and personal stories?
Tim
--
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. |
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jinjimbob
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13 | reply to Huligan
I couldn't find any reviews about the Draytek 2910, some on usenet liked their products though. |
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pende_tim
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Andover, NJ
·ProLog
·ViaTalk
·Verizon Online DSL
2 edits | reply to Huligan
If all you want is load balancing and do not care about fail over, then you do not need a dual wan router.
Lets say you want 8 machines on Connection A and 7 machines on connection B.
Assume that Connection A has a LAN address of 192.168.1.1 and connection B has a LAN of 192.168.1.2.
Go to TCP/IP properties on the client machines and set up PC 1-8 to use 192.168.1.1 as it's gateway and PC 9-15 to use 192.168.1.2 as it's gateway.
Since you are manually setting TCP/IP properties, you will also have to manually assign each PC a static TCP/IP address in the 192.168.1.3->192.168.1.18 range and well as a DNS server. (Most modems let you specify the modem as the DNS server) If this function works on your modems you could use 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 as primary and secondary DNS servers. Other wise manually assign the DNS your ISP provides or use something like 4.2.2.X
If you are running a server on the network, you can assign all this using the DHCP service and assigning configurations by MAC address.
This will not give you fail over or true load balancing but it does work to balance the load between 2 connections and will allow you to share files between PCs.
--
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. |
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margioa
Premium
join:2007-04-06
Nicaragua
·deltathree
| reply to Huligan
My recommendation for you is to use the Zywall 35 for Duo WAN administration(load balancing).
»www.zywall.com/web/product_famil···725A2764
Regards,
Margio |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN | reply to pende_tim
I was on the tail end of an internship, so I was only able to play with it for a week. In my limited testing, I found no issues. Load balancing and fail-over seemed to work well. |
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pende_tim
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Andover, NJ | Did fail-back also work well? |
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Freezone
join:2000-09-29
Southfield, MI
| reply to pende_tim
Not as elegant a solution as true load balancing which will allow for one machine to use all available bandwidth. Also failover is easy to add to that setup by simply adding the second gateways with a higher metric. To get around dns issues just use opendns.com |
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lingyun
@hinet.net
| reply to Huligan
I suggest you Netwalker Agile F-500
I like it because of its high performance but cheaper price. It also has other models with VPN and inbound load balance feature.
»www.netwalker.com.tw/product_lis···view.htm |
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jinjimbob
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
3 edits | reply to Huligan
Just got the Zyxel Zywall 35. I'm using it with two Qwest DSL lines at the moment, two Actiontec GT701R modems, both at 1.5Mbps/896Kbps speeds. Using the DSL modems in the transparent bridged mode, so the Zywall is doing the PPPoE.
I will be changing one of the Qwest lines to another ISP soon for failover.
Regular web pages and ftp works very well, when having the load balance in round robin weighted mode, haven't fully understood the modes yet. To test the speed, I downloaded two large files from different sites, almost get 3Mbps. Bit torrent works very well both up and down.
I have to set some rules so secure banking and vpn client software works.
The only downfalls of this router are that there are not 'sticky' port settings like in the Xincom, have to force a tcp/ip port connection onto a specific WAN port, although it will failover to the other WAN port if needed.
Having the sticky/persistent secure ports (or any ports) would make this router perfect.
In the manual it states that each of the two ISPs must be on a different subnet, I can't verify this, as both my qwest isps are already on different nets. It is easy to get by this though with dsl, by setting one of the modems to do the PPPoE and by port forwarding, a hassle but it will work.
The graphing capabilities or 'ok', just not as nice the graphs in the WRT54G tomato firmware.
I have contacted Zyxel support via their website and sent a few questions, have yet to even get any response. Maybe the phone is all they respond to. I would expect more from them.
The firmware listed on the website is very out of date for the Zywall 35, I think the Zywall 35 UTM uses the same firmware, but I'm not sure, their website is messed up in the download area.
Hope this helps someone, as this Dual WAN router is very good, and it looks like the other cheaper ones out there aren't as reliable. |
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Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS
| There is really only one firmware stream to use and that is the ZyWALL UTM firmare, which is the only one that is kept current. Ignore the older ones.
Phone support is usually better yes!
As far as "sticky", use Policy routes to delineate specific users or services or combo that you want to ensure uses the wan port of your choosing!
There is lots more you can do with "graphing" with other utilities!.
--
Ain't nuthin but the blues! "Albert Collins".
Leave your troubles at the door! "Pepe Peregil" De Sevilla. Just Don't Wifi without WPA, "Yul Brenner"
LlamaWorks Equipment |
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jinjimbob
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
1 edit | Looks like the latest firmware fixed the same subnet problem for both WAN isps.
This is a very good router! |
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Bradenton
join:2006-11-23
York, ON
| reply to SterlingJ85
I've purchased a new HotBrick LB-2 and a HotBrick VPN1400/2 from Gabby in Canada and the most recent firmware works very, very well. It seems that most or all of the remaining bugs have been worked out. Load-balancing (at least at the session level) works well, the dynamic DNS now works well, and the IPSec VPN works like a charm. Gabby was very helpful in the original set up. See »www.redundantinternet.com |
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fkd6tg
@videotron.ca
 from:
Cabal 
| reply to Huligan
The guy asked for the best dual-wan router not your opinions on his setup... Don't waste your money on fancy pos dual-wan routers. Find a unused computer with 4 nics and away you go. »www.pfsense.com I run 4 wan on this solution and it never failed me. It is constantly updated, free and great support forum. Pfsense in itself is probably more advanced than any other router anyway. Did I told you it was FREE? |
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daveinpoway
Premium
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA | Using a PC as a router can involve issues such as size, power consumption and cooling fan noise. |
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Freezone
join:2000-09-29
Southfield, MI
| said by daveinpoway :Using a PC as a router can involve issues such as size, power consumption and cooling fan noise. I agree that is why i chose to do a vmware install. It is not like many of use are using the full power of our quad and dual core machines anyway.
Also with a vmware install the machine can be used for other things besides just running it as a router.
Pfsense is not for everyone. There is a learning curve that a novice may find hard to overcome. It is no where near as simple as many of the dual wan router solutions out there. But it is worth a try before you drop $500+ for a good multiwan router.
One huge issue that you will need to watch when buying a router is through-put. The lower end routers will not be able to handle a fios connection with a highspeed cable combined. So you may buy a router that works for you today only to find that it has no future. A pfsense setup should be able to handle the stress of the higher connections that the future may bring. |
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jinjimbob
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
1 edit | reply to Huligan
As a follow up to my Zywall 35 experience, tried to contact tech support 3 times. I'm taking a loss on returning this router, as it fails with simultaneous PPPoE connections. The WAN1 port hangs every day.
Its a shame when a $50 Linksys router can run for months with PPPoE, but a $500+ router can not run for 12 hours. I expected more. |
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mozerd
Light Will Pierce The Darkness
Premium,MVM
join:2004-04-23
Nepean, ON
1 edit | said by jinjimbob :tried to contact tech support 3 times. How did you try and contact tech support? By phone or email? Best way is by phone and if you're in North America the correct phone number for tech support is
800-255-4101 x510
--
David Mozer
IT-Expert on Call
Information Technology for Home and Business |
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pende_tim
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Andover, NJ
·ProLog
·ViaTalk
·Verizon Online DSL
2 edits | reply to Huligan
I recently purchased a Dual WAN Draytek Vigor 2910VG router and have to say it is a very impressive unit. So far it has been stable and works as advertised.
It cost me about $250 from VoIP supply and was in stock. Link to spec sheet: »www.draytek.com/product/Dual_Wan···10VG.php
Setup went well but it is not for the N00B. The user manual could stand some work and the English is a little rough. It took a few hours to get all the features working.
The unit does dual wan with autoload balance based on connection speeds and % used or a use on demand or it can be set to assign specific lan IP addresses to specific WAN ports.
A really nice feature is that there is a USB port that can support a printer or a 3G USB dongle. In the 3 G mode the USB takes the place of WAN2 and WAN2 becomes a LAN1 port. (Draytek is working on software that will enable the USB port to support a USB HDD for attached storage.)
Port forwarding, DMZ etc all work well.
QoS can be set up based on source IP, Destination IP, destination Port etc. and rules can be applied that reserve a percentage of available bandwidth to user defined rules.
DynDns works and will reassign the DNS registration if the preferred WAN port goes down.
VPN works flawlessly. It supports IPsec and and many other methods.
There is a configurable Firewall .
Wireless logins can be set with radius, wep or wpa and bandwidth can be set by connection... if you want to set up a pay access point this has some possibilities.
Bandwidth limits can be set by time of day and through a bunch of rules ( IP addresses, Ports, etc ) It support
The only weakness I have found is in the VoIP section. The VoIP works well ( I had it set up to work on ViaTAlk ) with the exception of fail over. If you tell it to use WAN2 for VoIP, It will not fail over to WAN1. There is an Auto setting.
Due to the sometimes cryptic documentation I have had to use E-mail support to get a few questions answered. The responses have been very good, but the support is in the Far East, so there is a 12-14 hour time shift, but if I sent a question Monday, the response was in my in box Tuesday AM.
If you look on line at the draytek.com website and the support pages, there is a link to the users guide. This will give you a better idea of the router's capabilities.
--
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. |
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