Application requirements of broadband access methods

Currently, there are many types of broadband access methods. ADSL is a common one. According to current market demands, wireless access has become a mainstream technology. So I have studied the Load Balancing Problem in the broadband access mode. I will share it with you here, hoping it will be useful to you. ADSL and other broadband access methods are favored by many small and medium-sized enterprises for their economic and sufficient cost-effectiveness advantages. With the development of enterprise services, especially medium-sized enterprises and enterprises that are highly dependent on the network, bandwidth expansion or planning of large bandwidth access methods will be considered. Multi-line broadband access is often the first choice, and some enterprises will choose "Optical Fiber + ADSL" and other modes, regardless of the bandwidth access method, most enterprise users choose multi-Wan Port Routers for their use from the perspective of cost of ownership and O & M.

However, when purchasing a multi-Wan port router, what kind of function products can meet your own needs is almost a question raised by every Network Device Manager. After communicating with the first-line sales engineers, I summarized the problems that customers often encounter: matching the requirements and functions is a standard.

No Server Load balancer: not suitable for any user

Some vendors directly modify the hardware functions of a single WAN router to become a dual-WAN router. These routers do not make too many changes in the software, but simply allocate Internet access requirements to different WAN ports. That is to say, the vro does not make a judgment and assigns user needs randomly based on simple principles, such as randomly assigning to different WAN ports or at different times to different WAN ports. From practical experience, it is found that such load balancing often suffers from a line congestion, while the other line is idle, and the bandwidth is not well utilized.

These products can only be called vrouters with multiple WAN ports, but do not have the Server Load balancer function. Instead, they cannot take advantage of multiple WAN ports. As a matter of fact, some cheaper dual-WAN routers still adopt this design. As a whole, this type of router is not very helpful to users, but may waste the cost of users' broadband lines. We do not recommend that you purchase this type of router product. Users should be careful not to purchase such products.

Simple Server Load balancer: Applicable to multiple lines of a single carrier

The multi-WAN router product originated from foreign countries and mainly serves as a bandwidth expansion or backup function. Therefore, the load balancing function mainly considers how to evenly allocate bandwidth to different WAN ports. Common allocation methods can be divided into allocation by Intranet IP address, allocation by number of connections, and allocation by bandwidth usage ratio. According to the order of the Internet access, the Intranet IP addresses are allocated to different WAN ports in order to balance the traffic, the bandwidth is allocated to different WAN ports. The bandwidth usage ratio is based on the bandwidth usage of different WAN ports, and new network packets are allocated in sequence to avoid first-line congestion and idle first-line traffic.

These allocation methods have been recognized by foreign applications because there is no bottleneck in bandwidth between different carriers in foreign countries, and the response speed is equivalent for delivery to different WAN ports. In China, bandwidth is insufficient between networks of different telecom operators, which may cause some problems. When a user requests the service of the telecommunication server, if the router is transferred to the Netcom line, the response will be slow. That is to say, the Server Load balancer function is applicable to Internet cafes or enterprise users who intend to apply for multiple lines of the same carrier.

Policy Routing Server Load balancer: Applicable to two lines of different carriers

Policy routing is a load balancing function with Chinese characteristics. It takes into account the bandwidth shortage between different carriers in China. The Router does not decide to forward the WAN Port Based on the bandwidth, but considers the response speed, forward the network packet to the WAN port with fast response speed. This method is based on the destination IP address of the network package to determine the WAN port to forward the user's Internet requirements to the WAN port of the carrier with the same destination IP address to ensure better response speed.

For vrouters with policy routing, the destination IP address segment and the carrier table must be built in. In the initial stage, the table must be self-typed by the user. Later, it is developed into a built-in table to simplify user configuration, it is also called the second-generation policy routing. For general users, the latter is relatively easy to manage configurations. For applications that emphasize the response speed in cross-network environments, such as Internet cafes and online games, Enterprise Access to ERP servers, enterprises that build cross-network VPNs, or education organizations that need to access education networks and public networks, this type of functional router should be selected.

Bandwidth Management Policy Routing: Suitable for multiple lines of different carriers

For some lines of the same operator besides two ISP lines, for example, one optical fiber and one ADSL, the operators in some regions will send one ADSL to the optical fiber users free of charge) (Two optical fiber cables have low cost in some regions), or multiple ADSL Broadband Access methods. Some users use multiple ADSL cables to save costs ), the second generation of policy routing is often used with the following problems:

(1) When the second-generation Policy Routing faces multiple lines of the same carrier, it will randomly issue network packets from different lines. Because some online game software requires continuous delivery of network packages for the same purpose, although it is the same operator, changing the WAN port often leads to online game disconnection.

(2) download software such as BT often occupies a large amount of bandwidth and affects other applications. Although the vro provides the BT prevention function, some internet cafe owners hope to provide better services to customers and do not want to restrict or block the BT file. For example, when an internet cafe connects to China Telecom through an optical fiber or an ADSL Broadband Access Mode and an ADSL connection to China Netcom, the network administrator wants to allow the network administrator to send packets of all online Telecom games to the ADSL line, however, because the bandwidth occupied by the online gaming network package is very small, a Telecom ADSL can support many users, even if a user uses BT, online games are not limited at all. Of course, the Netcom package is sent to the China Netcom line.

(3) Some Community businesses will use multiple ADSL Broadband Access methods to Replace optical fiber cables and provide them to customers. For example, five ADSL lines are used, four of which are China Netcom and one is China Telecom. Because the community service providers hope to provide Differentiated Services, those with higher monthly fees can provide ample bandwidth, so users need to be diverted. Users want to be able to divide high-monthly users into the same group. Generally, users are grouped into another group. High-monthly users can share three Netcom ADSL instances, while general paying users share one Netcom ADSL instance, in this way, the differential service function can be achieved.

The latest load balancing function is added with the third-generation policy routing function. The third-generation Policy Routing supports load balancing and line designation for multiple carrier lines, and further optimizes bandwidth usage, the above problems can be solved. For vrouters over three WAN, you need to connect to different carriers at the same time. Each carrier may have multiple lines, or the vro used when you want to provide area-based services through user bandwidth management, this function is required. This is the latest function of the Multi-WAN router. Qno's g0000500, FVR420, and QVM1000 all have this function. Although the development of technology continues, it is not the more advanced the better for users, and must be selected based on the situation of the application. The preceding description is helpful to users who select multi-WAN routers.