[c-nsp] PPPoE scaling / redundancy

[Kristofer Sigurdsson]

Hi,

We are currently running a PPPoE server for DSL
clients, a 7301 box (IOS 12.3(3)B).  This does not scale infinitely
and we are hitting the point where we have to start
planning for this thing, what to do when, or, preferably,
before, we run out of resources on this box.

What we'd like to do is simply add another box with
the exact same configuration and put it on the same segment.
That way, they would probably get roughly 50 percent of
the PPPoE sessions each, and if one of them goes out,
at least the other one will still work and probably
take at least a part of the users the other one was
serving.  Also, this way makes it easy to add more boxes in
the future...

We do have some questions, though;

1. If two (or more) PPPoE servers are on the same segment,
   do they load balance properly?  Is it like DHCP, where
   the client simply chooses the first reply?

2. Our clients all have static IP addresses.  We're not very
   keen on having a host route for each customer, pointing at
   the box he's currently on.  Any ideas?

How are people generally solving this?

Thanks in advance,

-- 
Kristófer Sigurðsson