Combine bandwidth

[Ekkas]

Hi,
I've got two dual-channel 128k (64kX2) connections with two 128k dialup accounts from the same ISP.

Is it possible to combine these into a 256k connection with Wingate (or other means)

Thank you
Ekkas

[Pascal]

Hi Ekkas,

I'm not sure about combining them, perhaps somebody else has some ideas there. However, with 6.0 RC2 you can now specify gateways and how they will be used per service. It should be possible to round robin these two connections, which will split client sessions between them.

[Ekkas]

'round robin ?' huh ? :-/
I'm just a technician, not network expert. Can you please give bit more help or example? I'll use 6.0 RC2...

Ekkas

[Pascal]

Sure. There are three modes for gateway handling. The first, and default mode, simply sends out the systems default gateway.

The second mode is "Round Robin". In this case, a incoming connection from a client is sent off to one interface (One DSL link, for example). The next incoming connection from a client is sent to the next interface on the list. So, as an example, if I have a machine with two DSL modems in it (Call them DSL1 and DSL2 for lack of imagination at this time)

Client 1 opens IE. HTTP Service in WinGate sends that connection out through DSL1.

Client 2 opens IE. HTTP Service in WinGate sends that connection out through DSL2.

Client 3 opens IE. HTTP Service in WinGate sends that connection out through DSL1.

Client 1 opens another IE Window. HTTP Service in WinGate sends that connection out through DSL2.

etc.

The third mode is to use those gateways in priority mode. In this case, the first connection is given preference, and only when it becomes unavailable does it switch to the next one on the list. (I think, I'll double check the exact behaviour with Adrien tomorrow when I'm back in the office)

This will not 'combine' all your connections into a single, higher bandwidth connection. Each single session will still be limited by the speed of one link. But, by splitting traffic between multiple connections you'll have the appearance of more bandwidth to your users.

I think the OS itself has a way to combine adapters, but that's a pure guess based on something heard at the release of 95.

Actually, not quite. Refer to the following KB article on Microsoft's site. It's for XP, but a search for MultiLink should find you the info for other OSs.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... -us;307849

[n0ticer]

why is my gateway's ip marked [dead]? is this normal?

[Pascal]

Not quite normal. Gateways are marked as dead when they do not respond to an ARP request. They are granted a certain amount of time before being marked as unresponsive. Also, the IP must be reachable.

Can you describe the scenario a bit, please ? (Network setup, etc.)

[n0ticer]

Not quite normal. Gateways are marked as dead when they do not respond to an ARP request. They are granted a certain amount of time before being marked as unresponsive. Also, the IP must be reachable.

Can you describe the scenario a bit, please ? (Network setup, etc.)

if my gateway doesnt respond to ARP request, shud i tell my ISP about it? is that a critical issue?

the ip gateway seems reachable, pingable too.

im on dsl (always on), nt4 w/s with static ip & gateway provided by my ISP, 3com etherlink pci card.