[TriLUG] BSD/Linux firewall with multiple ISP and failover?

Ken Mink ken.mink at gmail.com
Mon Jan 30 12:20:53 EST 2006


On 1/27/06, Greg Brown <gwbrown1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hey all.  I think I finally hit a dead-end with M0n0wall.  My outer banks
> client now requires fail over from the DSL Internet connection to a 2nd
> ISP,
> probably a cable modem.  My research indicates that M0n0 doesn't support
> this yet.
>
> What are my options here besides something like a Cisco 2621xm (WAY too
> expensive for this client)?  Does anyone know of an inexpensive appliance
> that they have tested for fail over Internet?  Or can a BSD/Linux box be
> built for this purpose?
>
> Greg
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Hey Greg,
   I know I coming in late on this thread, but I want to clarify what you're
after. You have a M0n0wall box that has 3 connections; 1 to the internal
network and 1 each to two ISPs? You would like to use one of the external
connections as the primary ISP connection and if fails, route all traffic
through the second? You are not looking to fail over the MOn0wall box,
correct?

  Admittedly, I don't know much, actually anything, about MOn0wall. However,
If my assessment of the setup is correct, I would think some home grown
scripts could handle this. Make sure there is no route for the secondary ISP
connection. Once the primary fails, you remove it's route as the default
route, add a route for the secondary connection as the default route, and
go. It's obviously more complex than that, but you get the idea. Plus, how
to monitor the primary connection is a good one unto itself.

  I'm sure I'm off base and others will torpedo this idea, but it seems
sound to me.

Ken

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