Increase bandwidth usage in partial-mesh network?

Wed Oct 13 22:46:56 UTC 2021

Hah, no not your client 🙂.  Their existing network is actually surprisingly stable, but it is bandwidth-constrained.  As well as the various other replies I've seen here and off-list (THANKS!), the only commercial product I've found so far that might have a hope of handling this is HPE/Aruba's Silverpeak line.  We'll see what else comes out of the woodwork, though - if nothing else, it's a very interesting exercise!

Adam Thompson
Consultant, Infrastructure Services
[1593169877849]
100 - 135 Innovation Drive
Winnipeg, MB, R3T 6A8
(204) 977-6824 or 1-800-430-6404 (MB only)
athompson at merlin.mb.ca<mailto:athompson at merlin.mb.ca>
www.merlin.mb.ca<http://www.merlin.mb.ca/>
________________________________
From: Fletcher Kittredge <fkittred at gwi.net>
Sent: October 13, 2021 12:59
To: Adam Thompson <athompson at merlin.mb.ca>
Cc: nanog <nanog at nanog.org>
Subject: Re: Increase bandwidth usage in partial-mesh network?

Hey! From the description it must be one of our clients!

Just beware if you go this route, a network that is probably already unstable and unreliable will become at least an order of magnitude worse. You can't fix ten lbs of stuff into a 4 lb stuff bag. The internet protocols do not tolerate congestion well.

On Wed, Oct 13, 2021 at 1:31 PM Adam Thompson <athompson at merlin.mb.ca<mailto:athompson at merlin.mb.ca>> wrote:
Looking for recommendtions or suggestions...

I've got a downstream customer asking for help;  they have a private internal network that I've taken to calling the "partial-mesh network from hell": it's got two partially-overlapping radio networks, mixed with islands of isolated fiber connectivity.
Dynamic routing protocols (IS-IS, OSPF, EIGRP, etc.) generally will only select the _best_ path, they won't spread the load unless all paths are equal - and they are very unequal in this network, ECMP would likely fail horribly.
The network is becoming bandwidth-limited, so they're wanting to make use of all available paths, not just the single "best" path.  It's also remote and spread out, so adding new links or upgrading existing links is difficult and expensive.
Oh, and their routers are overdue for a refresh, so acquiring replacement h/w is now possible.

Has anyone come across any product or technology that can handle the multi-path-ness and the private-network-ness like a regular router, but also provides the intelligent per-flow path steering based on e.g. latency, like an SD-WAN device (and/or some firewalls)?

Here's hoping,
-Adam

Adam Thompson
Consultant, Infrastructure Services
[1593169877849]
100 - 135 Innovation Drive
Winnipeg, MB, R3T 6A8
(204) 977-6824 or 1-800-430-6404 (MB only)
athompson at merlin.mb.ca<mailto:athompson at merlin.mb.ca>
www.merlin.mb.ca<http://www.merlin.mb.ca/>

--
Fletcher Kittredge
GWI
207-602-1134
www.gwi.net<http://www.gwi.net>
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