Multiple routes to same destination

[fbagard]

Hi everyone,

I have a ProCurve switch 5308xl.

I would like to know if it is possible to have more than one route to one destination. My case is :

I have my main network (A) with the 5308, connected to another network (B) via a MPLS tunnel. I want to set up an IPSec (or whatever else) backup tunnel.

If the MPLS tunnel fails, I have to change the configuration on my 5308, to route all traffic from A to B via the IPSec box.

Would it be possible to have something like this :

routing table on my 5308 :

route to B via MPLS box weight 1

route to B via IPSEC box weight 2

That way, in case of failure of my MPLS box, the route with weight 2 will automagically be used for all traffic from A to B, without any human intervention.

Other solution, is there a way to script the deletion of 1st route and addition of 2nd route ? The script would be fired by, for example, any monitoring solution ASAP route 1 is seen as dead.

Thank you for any help

Fabien Bagard

[Peter_Debruyne]

Hi Fabien,

I am afraid the 5308xl is a pretty old routing switch, with a limited routing feature set. So there is no route tracking or policy based routing available on this platform (and no more development, so do not wait for it to come ...)

If you can install a Comware routing switch (5500/5800) or a simple Comware router (MSR20-xx, depends on bandwidth expectations) between the 5308 and the 2 external routing points, you can use the Comware router to do these fuctions:

* it can do policy based routing (send some traffic left, rest of traffic right, use the other in case of failure of 1 link)

* it can use uplink tracking with e.g. ping tests. So it can ping a remote destination, if the ping fails, the route using that link will be removed as well, so traffic would use the other path.

Best regards,Peter