Multi-gateway routing question

[Rebus]

I have a basic small business routing question I'd like some advice on.
Three office locations separated by many miles are interconnected via wireless bridges. Each location has separate subnets, statically routed. The main office has dual WAN connections on a head end router for failover and serves as the gateway for all three locations. The third (remote) office at the other end of the bridge (second remote office sitting in the middle) has a single WAN connection available, unused. Each office has approximately 50 wireless clients on multiple APs. My goal is to have all three available WAN connections on the network available to all clients regardless of location, providing additional failover redundancy and load balancing.

For this I would need to establish dynamic routing, which I have not had a lot of experience with. Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't this require a link state protocol, such as OSPF or OLSR? My problem is that virtually all off-the-shelf small business router boxes on the market, as well as Windows Server 2008 (I have copies available but not in use), only supports RIPv2.

I'm open to suggestions regarding interoperable router choices for each location, with preference for easy to set up and manage (downtime risk needs to be minimized during the transition) and affordability.

 

[Markwirez]

I have a basic small business routing question I'd like some advice on.
Three office locations separated by many miles are interconnected via wireless bridges. Each location has separate subnets, statically routed. The main office has dual WAN connections on a head end router for failover and serves as the gateway for all three locations. The third (remote) office at the other end of the bridge (second remote office sitting in the middle) has a single WAN connection available, unused. Each office has approximately 50 wireless clients on multiple APs. My goal is to have all three available WAN connections on the network available to all clients regardless of location, providing additional failover redundancy and load balancing.

For this I would need to establish dynamic routing, which I have not had a lot of experience with. Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't this require a link state protocol, such as OSPF or OLSR? My problem is that virtually all off-the-shelf small business router boxes on the market, as well as Windows Server 2008 (I have copies available but not in use), only supports RIPv2.

I'm open to suggestions regarding interoperable router choices for each location, with preference for easy to set up and manage (downtime risk needs to be minimized during the transition) and affordability.

Need to Answer a series of Questions with another set of questions.

1. What Level Of control do you currently have for your wireless transport links?
2. What type of Devices are you currently using and what type of Wireless connections are they Breezenet? Wireless OC Connections? NLOS Wireless etc? Long Range 802.11b/G?
3. What type of throughput are expecting?
4. How many subnets are you using at each site? And are the private/Public?
5. Do you mix your Routable Address spaces into your static routing currently?
6. What type of Services are currently being sent over the Wireless links?
7. What is the 5 Year Goal of throughput for the sites? Continuing to use the Wireless links as primary transport or moving to a Land Based line in the future.
8. Are the Wireless clients at each site currently running under wireless controllers?

Edit. Added Question # 8.

 

[Rebus]

Backhaul links are managed via SSH and monitored primarily via SNMP, mostly StarOS with some UBNT. 802.11a and 802.11n MIMO. Throughput is around 60Mbps. Pretty much all LOS, up to 14 miles per hop.
Each site has one to five primary private subnets, depending on the site. Each subnet has about 30-40 fixed CPEs, with each of those IPs routed and NATed to their own subnets. I'm looking at adding compatible routers at the site level and WAN gateways, replacing the existing mix.
Routable and static address spaces are separate.
Various services are sent over wireless but VPN is probably the biggest concern with some remote access. Traffic is a mix of data, VoIP and video.
Land based lines will never happen. Wireless is where it's at in this rural environment. The remaining 802.11a will migrate to 802.11n eventually.
CPEs are a mix of new and old, so some are managed and some are individually controlled.

Need to Answer a series of Questions with another set of questions.

1. What Level Of control do you currently have for your wireless transport links?
2. What type of Devices are you currently using and what type of Wireless connections are they Breezenet? Wireless OC Connections? NLOS Wireless etc? Long Range 802.11b/G?
3. What type of throughput are expecting?
4. How many subnets are you using at each site? And are the private/Public?
5. Do you mix your Routable Address spaces into your static routing currently?
6. What type of Services are currently being sent over the Wireless links?
7. What is the 5 Year Goal of throughput for the sites? Continuing to use the Wireless links as primary transport or moving to a Land Based line in the future.
8. Are the Wireless clients at each site currently running under wireless controllers?

 

[Markwirez]

Please Correct me if I am wrong but here is what I am taking out of this.

You have Multiple RFC 1918 at each site NAT'd (one to One or Overload?) to Public's and those Publics are what are you wanting to route or is it a Mixed public/private IP range? Are your Wireless Bridge Devices in managed as /32 'loopback" IP settings and added to the route table as well or do you just use single interfaces with alot of secondary Address's.


It Sounds like you could have a rather Simple Configuration With OSPF with Default information originate running on your Edge Devices at Site A (Twin WAN Site) and then Site C as well with a different Default Metric. Then Use the Redistribute Connected inside a single OSPF Area of all three Distro sites. This would work best if you use NAT only at the Network Edge.

I recommend using /30 subnets for the point to Point Links (Site A to B and SITE B to C and SITE C to A). Give these "Distribution/Semi-Access layer" a dedicated /32 Address (Loop back) and then Dish out Your VLAN's according to your Wireless needs whether that be into Subinterfaces or Dedicated Interfaces based off SSID's with multiple Controllers or AP's.


You can get into Network Statements further on Down the Road if this all makes sense.

Is there any BGP Running at your Network Edge right now?

 

[Rebus]

I figured OSPF would do the job but am shopping for suitable products. It looks like Vyatta, pfSense, RouterOS, CheckPoint, and SonicWall do OSPF without spending a fortune. The non-gateway intermediate locations do not have good climate control or large space so need to be compact and not generate much heat. Any recommendations?

 

[Markwirez]

I figured OSPF would do the job but am shopping for suitable products. It looks like Vyatta, pfSense, RouterOS, CheckPoint, and SonicWall do OSPF without spending a fortune. The non-gateway intermediate locations do not have good climate control or large space so need to be compact and not generate much heat. Any recommendations?

Another Quick Question for you. Are you using offset wireless connections for "full Duplex" connectivity on your wireless back haul(one to send and one to receive)? Seeing as you are trying to implement a link state based routing protocol it would be advised to look into things like that. Are you looking for all in one devices or are you more for looking at one or two routers with at each site with a separate detached Switch or two that feed back to the Routers?

 

[Rebus]

Another Quick Question for you. Are you using offset wireless connections for "full Duplex" connectivity on your wireless back haul(one to send and one to receive)? Seeing as you are trying to implement a link state based routing protocol it would be advised to look into things like that. Are you looking for all in one devices or are you more for looking at one or two routers with at each site with a separate detached Switch or two that feed back to the Routers?

All backhaul links are currently half duplex. Future upgrade will focus on bandwidth requirements and consequently will probably first go the path of dual-pol MIMO rather than full duplex.

All-in-one devices are not required.