RE: [FW1] Multiple WAN Links.

["Mark L. Decker" <mdecker@FW1-NOSPAMrainfinity.com>]

> The only point that I would make is that you have to have a
> router for connectivity -- so the only price increase is the additional
> RAM, and if you are upgrading from a 26XX series to a 36XX series router
> (which is not inexpensive, granted).

True. Upgrading from the default 32M DRAM to 128M DRAM on a 3640 will "only"
cost $5,760 per router. ;-) But that assumes you already have two 3640s.
Most people who have T1 internet access have a single lower-end router like
a 2600 or 1700 series Cisco.  For them, a move to fully-redundant routers
running BGP/HSRP means buying two brand new routers.  And, that only
addresses the ISP link and router redundancy.  They still haven't eliminated
the firewall as a single point of failure.  If you want to protect all
three, you're looking at some sort of firewall HA solution anyway.

So, let's look at total purchase price for a fully redundant setup with
BGP/HSRP vs. a fully redundant setup using RainWall:

Secure, fully redundant T1 access with BGP/HSRP
pair of 3640 routers: $30,920 ($15,460 x 2, includes T1 CSU/DSUs)
firewall HA solution: $12,000 (based on RainWall with LB)
TOTAL LIST PRICE:     $42,920 (does not include firewalls themselves)

Secure, fully redundant T1 access with RainWall
pair of 1720 routers: $ 4,390 ($2,195 x 2, includes T1 CSU/DSUs)
firewall HA solution: $12,000 (based on RainWall with LB)
TOTAL LIST PRICE:     $16,390 (does not include firewalls themselves)

That's a big price difference.  Plus, if you already have a T1 router, you
can subtract another $2,195 from the cost of the RainWall solution. If
transparent failover for inbound connections is worth $28,725 to you (and it
may be if you're hosting an e-commerce website internally), then BGP is
still the best answer.  But if you just want increased capacity and
automatic failover for regular outbound browsing and email, RainWall can be
a useful, less-expensive alternative.

While we're on the subject of cost, consider this: How much could you save
on access costs by replacing your T1 with DSL?  Most people wouldn't dare,
because DSL is typically not quite as fast or reliable as a T1.  But if you
had multiple redundant DSL links...  Something to think about, anyway.  ;-)



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