Multi-Homed on a Single Link: Using Multiple IPv6 Access Networks

Small companies and branch offices often have bandwidth demands and redundancy needs that go beyond the commercially available Internet access products in their price range. One way to overcome this problem is to bundle existing Internet access products. In effect, they become multi-homed often without running BGP or even getting an AS number. Currently, these users rely on proprietary L4 load balancing routers, proprietary multi-channel VPN routers, or sometimes LISP, to bundle their "cheaper" Internet access network links, e.g., via (v)DSL, DOCSIS, HSDPA, or LTE. While most products claim transport-layer transparency they add complexity via middleboxes, map each TCP connection to a single interface, and have limited application support. Thus, in this paper we propose an alternative: Auto configuration of multiple IPv6 prefixes on a single L2 link We discuss how this enables applications to take advantage of combining multiple access networks at with minimal system changes.