[plug] Fast net access via Linux server question

[John Summerfield]

> > > 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;-)
> 
> Thanks for the link and the information John.  I dunno if I'd really like to
> play with that kind of setup in front of a customer !  The idea of 2 modems
> and the kernel doing the balancing sounds pretty good though.

I should have pointed out....

Someone suggested several accounts at different IAPs.

That has the problem of balancing load; each modem has its own IP address. 
You can only have one default route. To direct traffic through other 
modems, you have to set explicit routes.

Whenever the usage patterns change, you need to change the routes again; 
this may happen within a few minutes of last time.

With this setup, the modems are treated as a single device; if you are 
retrieving a file by ftp, you get the combined data rate of two modems.


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