Multi WAN Routers: behaviour load-balacing / link backup (TL-R480T+)
Are the features load-balancing and link backup (mode: fail over) possible at the same time ?
Or it is better to disable load-balancing when using the fail over mode of link backup ?
In more detail the question is coming up, what is the router behaviour when the load-balancing feature is disabled ? We are using a dual WAN configuration without any priority for one of the WAN ports. So what is the routing policy, when there a two equitable WAN ports?
Regards Rainer
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Load-balancing algorithms on Multi-WAN routers usually include fail-over, too. Would make we wonder if the TL-R480T+ behaves otherwise.
It would not make much sense to balance the load if half of your users go off-line when a single WAN link fails (except for previously established sessions - those will be dropped then).
Just test it - if you can select link backup in addition to load-balancing, then maybe fail-over can even be disabled explicitly when doing load balancing.
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The TL-R480T+ is in a production environment, so testing is difficult.
The other problem is, how can the test be done ?
When load-balancing is enabled and one of the WAN channels is disconnected, what does a successful test of one or more LAN-WAN connections state?
Maybe these connections are fortunately routed to the connected WAN. So how can this be tested in a deterministic manner ?
It is a little bit disappointing to riddle about the settings of a Multi WAN router, instead of reading a manual which gives the information.
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Pulsar07 wrote
The other problem is, how can the test be done ?
When load-balancing is enabled and one of the WAN channels is disconnected, what does a successful test of one or more LAN-WAN connections state?
The TL-R480+ shows the rate per WAN in the Interface Traffic Statistics. As soon as you pull the plug of a WAN connection, statistics should show increasing traffic on the other WAN line. If it doesn't fail-over, I'm sure you will note it by phone calls of angry users immediately, that would be the most trustworthy proof.
Of course you are right, that behavior of the load-balancing algorithm should be documented in the manual, but often it is not. It would be easy to document this using just one word in the web UI: if rather than "link backup/fail-over" it would read "link backup/fail-over only", everything would be crystal-clear.
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