Multiple Internet Connection Firewall/Router - 1 Server 4 NICs
 

This may have been thrown up here - or something similar - but I couldn't find it if it has.

I have a box - 2 onboard NIC's, 2 PCI 3Com NIC's. The onboard of course are identical. The PCI NIC's are identical. ('cept for the MAC addresses ;) )

With these 4 NIC's I want to plug in 3 ISP provided cable modems. I want the 4th NIC to offer the traffic from the server to a content filter, which then plugs into a router.

All 3 of the cable modems are dynamically assigned IP addresses.

Load balancing across the NIC interfaces is desirable. I know it won't increase my speed....yada yada yada....but in centrally managing the modems - I want "Building 1" to get "Cable Modem 1" b/w allocation, etc. etc.

Looking for free and easy. What's the best distro out there with a gui? I can navigate command line well enough, but I have to make this project so that others in my absense can administrate and I don't get called in from vacation and whatnot. :D

Thanks,
luke1_28

Hi, Welcome to LQ!

LQ has a fantastic search function that may save you time waiting for an answer to a popular question.

With over 3 million posts to search it's possible the answer has been given. :)

Personally, I have found this site very useful and current....

There is a lot more there than this link.

Hope this helps you get started.

regards Glenn

What's the magic formula then......
 

....to the fantastic search function that will yield the results I need to find out what I initially asked about?

<Rant>
This is what irritates me the most about open source - NOT open source itself - but the indignant arrogance of those in the community who KNOW everything but share nothing. Why even have a site called "Linux Questions"? It would be more appropriate - given the psychology of most in the open source community - to call it "Linux Answers - but you can't access the answers unless you spend loads of time and go gray in searching for the answers yourself. But then - and ohhhh then - we will be complete jerks in giving you the answers we covet so highly that we almost require you to sell your soul to obtain it."

Why has MS and Apple continued to dominate? Grade A software? NO - ITS BECAUSE OF MORE ACCOMMODATING SUPPORT! PERIOD!

So if the information is out there, "why should you use your time and energy to give advice to me, someone who sincerely wants to use an open source solution?" - you may be asking yourself?

Answer:

First off - because it's nice to help someone else in need. Even if you don't get paid - or laid. But most of all, because MS and Apple will continue to kick your open source a$$e$ if you continue to be so uncharitable and stingy with what you know.

I am sorry if I seem a bit 'put off' but after 10 years of being in the open source community - it's always the same old flippin' song and flippin' dance in trying to get an answer. ANDDDDDDD if the search function was so fantastic, I wouldn't have asked the question in the first place. Maybe I won't ever get an answer reacting like this....but I bet ALOT of you know exactly what I mean. For crying out loud, I am not asking you to sell your kids, or come and do it for me - I just want access to the info so I can do it myself.

</RANT>

So then - a bump to those of you who might have an interest in being nice and sharing, what solution is out there that can aggregate the cable modems I have into 1 pipe that will plug into my LAN?

What I have found - but not through here - FreeBSD - Vyatta.

Want something more Linux and less proprietary.

Ok well you want a response? i can only tell you what my experience has taught me:


it has, i guess you didnt search this site?
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ui-use-120549/
you really need to have searched, at least proven to someone that what your asking really hasnt been asked before. if you follow the link above you will see that the people in the community who actually know something, know that the above post exists and that you havent taken the time to look for it. also, this is a networking part of the forum, you should really be asking networking related questions (how to i route to a network? how do i scan for wifi from linux?), not general questions (whats the best distro with a gui?)

i actually typed your statement into google (What's the best distro out there with a gui?) and the first hit was the above link.

why call a site linux questions, you ask? look around and learn something!!!

ok so lets move on..
I have a similar setup: dell server, 4 interfaces, load balancing 3 wan connections..

its easier with static ip's. that being said doesnt mean it cant be done with dynamic ip address's

load balancing internet connections will not gain total bandwidth (you cant tie the connections into 1 big one), unless you are in close communication with your provider(s) and they set up load balancing at their end too (originating ip's will come from different mac's and will confuse the router, which may end up dropping packets or do something you dont want)

You can, however, load balance routes. this means you if you have 3 1meg connections, you will never be able to reach 3meg from one external host, but a file sharing application like a torrent may reach the 3meg, becuase it connects to many hosts.

I use centos its free, they say its based on rhel which isnt. i used to use fedora, but i found cent to have better networking which is most of what my machine does. trixbox is based on centos, and since we had both fedora and trixbox (its a free pbx) for a while i was able to compare the two. the trixbox was more stable more network responsive. after comparing the two i migrated all our machines to cent. since then most of my problems have gone away. (no i am not affiliated with centos - i just work in a networking world!)

if you want to make it 'user friendly' then write some scripts so that everything is looked after on its own. on my server i do nothing. it just works, and continues to do so. i havent had a 'serious' (touch wood) problem in the past year or so..

if you really need a gui, take a look at zebra - apparently its a gui based 'networking' until or something like that (does bgp, ospf, etc). i have a customized kernel on my machine - because of missing network stuff i use - its only command line, even at the console - its a server after all.. sometimes its better not to have a gui, becuase those who dont know, wont even know where to begin and they probably shouldnt be there to begin with.

hope that helps and good luck.. theres probably 1000 different distributions of linux. I'd start with the main ones, then go from there. download a live cd, give it a go. its not windows, so dont expect it too be.

..and remember.. google is always your friend!
http://www.google.com/search?q=What%...ient=firefox-a

maybe your better off in a windows/apple world.. i mean you need a gui and all..

in my first post on this website i got many responses, and very quickly. the people here are helpful.. you just started in the wrong place.

you should be the one giving advice.

Hi, too bad you're in such a rush, I didn't mean to antagonise you, honest!

I troll the "zero reply posts" and when I see a newbie (1st post) I give a standard welcome.
It's meant to help you get an answer faster!

If your not willing to read, you need to pay for support, many distributions have paid support. It's up to you!

The link I gave you has many pages, but you need to look for yourself first, then ask questions.

This is a community, we help each other. If you'd like my phone number and bank acc details, I'll be happy to be at your beck and call, but it'll cost ya!

By the way, I'm on top!

You may ask more questions here about this, But I'm not too sure who will be bothered to reply after your ranting.

Cheers, and all the best. Glenn

If you have BGP connections with your neighbors, you can pretty easy have a load balancing and channel reserving. Look at this: BGP incoming and outgoing traffic balancing with three uplinks.