I might have to ask for a demo, as others here are gravely concerned that if I do install it (for testing) I might not be able to un-install it cleanly afterwards. ________________________________ From: Thomas W Shinder [mailto:tshinder@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 16:37 To: [ISAserver.org Discussion List] Subject: [isalist] RE: Multiple external Networks... http://www.ISAserver.org Hi Dan, RainConnect does WAY more than what the cheapo device does. I've used it and its quite cool, as it provides granular control over which traffic should go through which link, or what percentage of that traffic should do through which link, and forget about publishing anything with any of the routers that support multiple interfaces. Ask Rainfinity for a demo and I know you'll be very impressed. HTH, Tom www.isaserver.org/shinder <http://www.isaserver.org/shinder> Tom and Deb Shinder's Configuring ISA Server 2004 http://tinyurl.com/3xqb7 <http://tinyurl.com/3xqb7> MVP -- ISA Firewalls ________________________________ From: Ball, Dan [mailto:DBall@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 2:28 PM To: [ISAserver.org Discussion List] Subject: [isalist] Multiple external Networks... http://www.ISAserver.org Okay, looking for input from you guys, on our favorite topic, multiple external Networks! (I can hear Jim groaning already...) The specifics: ISA 2004 (SE) Windows 2003 Server (SE) 1 external 1.5Mbps Network (NIC) connected to main ISP 1 external 4.5Mbps Network (NIC) connected to secondary ISP Each ISP has a separate domain name, and I can use either one to access the ISA server from the outside, works great. The problems: 1. In the current configuration, ALL outbound traffic is routed through our main ISP, leaving the other one pretty much idle. Basically, we're wasting money on this connection. 2. Due to a contract signed before I arrived, we're stuck with paying for this secondary ISP connection until the contract runs out in 2007. 3. Although this secondary ISP is a 4.5Mbps connection (this summer it will be bumped to 7.5Mbps), it is shared by many other schools in the general area, and it turns out that our 1.5Mbps connection has a much better response rate. 4. I attempted to redirect subnets to use the secondary ISP through the ROUTE command, but found that only works with outbound connections. For example, I cannot redirect all outbound requests to CNN's website using a broad subnet, and still have anyone else on the 64.x.x.x subnet to be able to reach us on inbound connections. Thus, I'd have to specify specific IP addresses to be routed to do a manual version of load balancing, instead of an entire subnet. This is doable, but is a very tedious process. 5. About the only thing I can use this secondary ISP for right now is as a fail-over device. But even then I'd have to go in and make all the changes to redirect traffic through the other NIC by hand, not practical for short-term outages. Then enters RainConnect. I've looked at this program a bit, but find the information on it a bit confusing. Supposedly it will do what I need, which is load-balancing between multiple ISPs. However, the descriptions of how it works shows a single NIC, with multiple virtual IPs connected to a switch, that is connected to the multiple ISPs. If this is the case, I have a $69 hardware device sitting here that does pretty much the same thing but for far less than the cost of RainConnect (especially since it was donated). My question is: Has anyone actually used RainConnect, how does it work, and how well does it work? I think the cost of the program isn't as big of an issue as the fact that we have a cheap device sitting here that will essentially do the same thing, albeit not as gracefully. ------------------------------------------------------ List Archives: http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=isalist ISA Server Newsletter: http://www.isaserver.org/pages/newsletter.asp ISA Server FAQ: http://www.isaserver.org/pages/larticle.asp?type=FAQ ------------------------------------------------------ Other Internet Software Marketing Sites: World of Windows Networking: http://www.windowsnetworking.com Leading Network Software Directory: http://www.serverfiles.com No.1 Exchange Server Resource Site: http://www.msexchange.org Windows Security Resource Site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/ Network Security Library: http://www.secinf.net/ Windows 2000/NT Fax Solutions: http://www.ntfaxfaq.com ------------------------------------------------------ You are currently subscribed to this ISAserver.org Discussion List as: tshinder@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe visit http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=isalist Report abuse to listadmin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------------------------------ List Archives: http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=isalist ISA Server Newsletter: http://www.isaserver.org/pages/newsletter.asp ISA Server FAQ: http://www.isaserver.org/pages/larticle.asp?type=FAQ ------------------------------------------------------ Other Internet Software Marketing Sites: World of Windows Networking: http://www.windowsnetworking.com Leading Network Software Directory: http://www.serverfiles.com No.1 Exchange Server Resource Site: http://www.msexchange.org Windows Security Resource Site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/ Network Security Library: http://www.secinf.net/ Windows 2000/NT Fax Solutions: http://www.ntfaxfaq.com ------------------------------------------------------ You are currently subscribed to this ISAserver.org Discussion List as: dball@xxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe visit http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=isalist Report abuse to listadmin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx