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Obsolete Releases => SME Server 9.x => Topic started by: ylluminate on August 22, 2014, 01:23:10 AM

Title: Bonding Internet Connections?
Post by: ylluminate on August 22, 2014, 01:23:10 AM

I have two Internet connections that I'd like to bond a la what Speedify channel bonding (http://speedify.com/features/channel-bonding/) claims to offer.  How would I accomplish this on SME Server 9 vs having to go to some proprietary paid (subscription) solution as they offer?

I also have a VPN in the mix and so I was hoping to obviate some of the problems of a server on the other end with this, but I also can provide a fairly fast server on the other side that should have enough bandwidth if essential.

Title: Re: Bonding Internet Connections?
Post by: Stefano on August 22, 2014, 10:28:33 AM

SME doesn't have such a feature..

you need to put something in front of it like pfSense, m0n0wall ecc and setup your SME in server-only mode

Title: Re: Bonding Internet Connections?
Post by: DanB35 on August 22, 2014, 01:32:16 PM

I was also going to suggest pfSense.  It'll mean more hardware, but that's a one-time cost--no recurring costs with that.  Though I myself am wondering how to best go about keeping the public-facing side of my SME server (web and mail server) public when behind the pfSense firewall.  Not sure if it's a simple matter of port forwarding, or if there's more to it.

Title: Re: Bonding Internet Connections?
Post by: Stefano on August 22, 2014, 01:51:52 PM

Quote from: DanB35 on August 22, 2014, 01:32:16 PM

Though I myself am wondering how to best go about keeping the public-facing side of my SME server (web and mail server) public when behind the pfSense firewall.  Not sure if it's a simple matter of port forwarding, or if there's more to it.

that's it, nothing more, nothing less.. I have many server setup like this..

Title: Re: Bonding Internet Connections?
Post by: smeghead on August 23, 2014, 09:50:24 AM

I often use something like:  http://www.tp-link.com.au/products/details/?categoryid=1678&model=TL-ER6120 or similar.

Small, uses little power, can provide DMZ if req, easy to manage especially if only used for link aggregation/failover, can terminate VPN or pass it through.

Avoids endless subscription costs.

Consider, many ISP's have a true bonding solution that is provided to you on a single cable, here in Oz is is called Midband by some ISP's.  They do the bonding for you so it's transparent to the end user & any external services, no new hardware or config changes required.