Multi-link Frame Relay OR Load Balancing

Thu Sep 16 22:11:55 UTC 2004

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004, Bryce Enevoldson wrote:

>
> We are in the process of updating our internet connection to 8 t1's bound
> together.  Due to price, our options have been narrowed to AT&T and MCI.
> I have two questions:
> 1.  Which technology is better for binding t1's:  multi link frame relay
> (mci's) or load balancing (att's)

It depends on what you mean by better.  Multilink is more CPU-intensive
but is nicer to such things as voice that don't deal well with packets
arriving out of order.  Load balancing can be per packet or per destination
(or flow).  Per-packet allows for aggregation of the multiple paths for a
large flow between two specific points but can give voice and similar
services problems with reassembly.

So "better" will depend on the nature of your traffic.

At that speed I would highly recommend a DS-3 instead of either of the above.

--
Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Administration - jay at west.net
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