[plug] Fast net access via Linux server question

[John Summerfield]

> I've got a client who wants to connect their internal network to the
> Internet via a Linux box. Attaching a modem, arranging for dialup, sorting
> out Masquerade and so on is OK, but they've decided that they want 5-8 of
> the available Win-9x machines to be able to surf at the same time with
> acceptable response times.
> 
> It seems to me that they're going to need more than a 56k modem to achieve
> this and I'd appreciate any advice or experience from those in plug who've
> taken 'the next step'.
> 
> One suggestion that's been made is to buy 3 different internet accounts,
> attach 3 modems to the Linux box and use them all simultaneously - viola !
> 150k or there abouts.  I can think of a couple of advantages of this
> approach (mainly, you can use different ISPs and get resilience of a sort)
> but I've never seriously considered it as a solution to needing more
> bandwidth.  Anyone done this and feel able to comment?

Amisoft (http://www.ami.com.au/) has a client with a fulltime connexion 
using two modems and line balancing - there's a kernel option to support 
it. One of the nice features is that if a modem drops out (or the phone 
line's needed for something else), the connexion continues with the 
remaining modem.

Whether you can use more than two modems in parallel, I'll leave you to 
explore;-)


-- 
Cheers
John Summerfield
http://os2.ami.com.au/os2/ for OS/2 support.
Configuration, networking, combined IBM ftpsites index.