[H-GEN] Load balancing ADSL links

[David Jericho]

David Findlay wrote:
> Is there a good way under Linux to load balance multiple ADSL links? 

RFC 1925[1]. Memorise it. Learn it. Repeat it as your mantra. In 
particular, chant the truth 7a.

Good, fast, cheap: Pick any two (you can't have all three).

Stuart Longland wrote:
> Are the ADSL lines using PPPoE?  If so, the following may be of some 
> help... (I wouldn't know, I've never tried)

Using multilink would require your provider to be willing to do it at 
the aggregator and via their AAA settings. I very highly doubt any of 
them would be friendly to the idea. ADSL is capable of megabits in both 
directions and it's simply easier to use more bandwidth over the same 
line, rather than waste effort by aggregating multiple links.

The question really comes down to what exactly is David trying to do? If 
he's just trying to get more bandwidth on the cheap, the policy routing 
combined with NAT that comes with iproute2 might just be what he's 
looking for.

If David is looking to get more outbound bandwidth, I highly suggest he 
forget the ADSL path and investigate SHDSL or SDSL if cheap bandwidth to 
a location is the goal. Unless he has a particular need for pipes to a 
certain location, a colocated server maybe a better choice.

Load balancing over a low cost last mile technology just isn't worth the 
pain, let alone the hassle of weird router configurations.[2]

[1] http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/rfc/rfc1925.txt
[2] If I weren't heading upto the beach for New Years with four gorgeous 
women[3], I'd have a rant about how putrid and revolting Linux/BSD based 
routers really are.[4]
[3] And three mates, but that's hardly conducive to bragging rights.
[4] Footnote heaven. Contrary to popular belief, the wonders of Cisco 
comes from the software, and not the hardware.

-- 
David Jericho
Senior Systems Administrator, Plugged In Software