double/triple network question

Forum: Networking
Topic: double/triple network question
started by: curaga

Posted by curaga on Sep. 03 2007,11:12

Say I have 2 wired networks connected, and one wireless. Each has it's own line to internet. Is there a way to use them at the same time, to archieve triple speed?

I think probably not, but then, could I get some sort of load-balancing, like if one line's busy, new network apps would use the second?

Third, what would happen if I tried this manually: let one of them be the default route, start a download, then change the default route to another and start a web browser..?

Posted by tinker on Sep. 03 2007,12:28

You have that many Internet accounts? Or, did you mean all connecting to the same account? If so, does your ISP allow multiple connections, all from different IP addresses or were you expecting the NIC's to use the same one? If your ISP allows multiple connections, does it limit the overall bandwidth available to the account or would they want to give you three times the bandwidth you are paying for? Are you going to be trying this through a router with only one connection to the Internet?

These questions probably give you some things to think about.

Posted by curaga on Sep. 03 2007,14:21

I've already thought about those ;)
No, I have only one net account. But I have access to two, the third was just a theorethical add to the question.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Sep. 04 2007,00:40

I have had this setup before, and I used metrics to prioritize connections. In other words, I set up my main net connection on a low metric which every application would use by default. For the rest, you'd have to specify which interface to use. Note that I only did this kind of setup on 1 windows machine, so terms may vary.

I suppose other methods could be the use of a router/NAT, or proxy (I've used a loopback before for this).

Posted by tinker on Sep. 04 2007,16:38

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Posted by curaga on Sep. 05 2007,15:33

Aha. At which point was I dumb?

Posted by curaga on Sep. 05 2007,18:41

d'oh. Should've consulted the kernel docs, as usual! The bonding driver. Has both combining into a high-speed one, and a failback mode.

Posted by tinker on Sep. 06 2007,04:31

I didn't mean to insinuate that you were dumb and I realise that it is a fairly long document to have to read. I think it includes some good advice regarding how to structure a question to get the most helpful answers from the most knowledgeable persons.