Member Avatar for patelrg

Hello,
I am a beginner at this networking stuff and am dealing with a problem. I work at a doctor's office and we have been having problems with our internet connection being too slow and the programs that we use (CernerWorks) are timing out. I have attempted to download a few registry edits that make changes to the TCP to better utilize the internet connection, but it seems that it doesn't help that much. I have been told to purchase a Load balancing router and that way I can use both my fractional T3 internet connection, as well as, the ADSL. I want to know if there is any way to route the traffic using maybe QoS and/or the Load balancing router to better utilize both internet connections and so that priority will be given to specific programs and/or machines. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by RLHennig

Dani AI

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Quick practical plan before buying hardware. Timeouts usually come from latency, packet loss, NAT or session-affinity issues rather than raw Mbps. Collect facts first: run per-link speed/latency tests, traceroute/MTR to the Cerner endpoint during a timeout, and test the app with one WAN disconnected so you know whether the problem follows a link or stays on-site. Ask how many concurrent users and what the Cerner vendor says about required ports, IPs, and latency targets — that info makes QoS workable. ( raised the right question about user counts and capacity.)

If you do add a dual-WAN device, pick one for policy-based routing and true session persistence (not per-packet striping). Important capabilities to verify with vendors: flow/session affinity, application or IP-based classification, DSCP/marking plus class-based queuing, active health checks for failover, and enough NAT/connection table capacity for your user count. ’s point about load distribution is a start; the extra detail is that single TCP sessions must be kept on one path, so balance by session/source or by policy, not by chopping packets.

Configuration checklist you can apply right away:

  • Get Cerner’s server IPs/ports and create a high-priority class for that traffic; mark it and give it a guaranteed minimum uplink share during business hours.
  • Put lower-priority traffic (email, updates, web) into a best-effort queue.
  • Use health checks so failover only occurs after repeated failures, and test failover during a maintenance window.
  • Check MTU/MSS if you use PPPoE or tunnels (fragmentation can produce timeouts).
  • Monitor with SNMP/NetFlow and run periodic MTRs to detect intermittent loss.

If troubleshooting shows local LAN, server, or DNS issues, address those first — new routers and QoS won’t fix a congested switch, saturated Wi-Fi, or an overloaded office server. If a purchase is needed, ask prospective vendors to show a working config that enforces session affinity and Cerner prioritization before you buy.

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Member Avatar for zeroth

A load balancing router simply routes packets using RIP or similar using available multiple paths if the routing table has them.

You can usually set load balancing to work for a particular destination or on a per-packet basis and the router must "learn" the optimum pathways...which it will execute in learned priority.

There are many options for this in the marketplace and I suggest you do the due diligence with several companies you evaluate rather than rely on brand suggestions from users as their experience probably will not meet your requirements for this essential piece of the puzzle.

commented: good explanation +4
Member Avatar for meksikatsi

Cisco/Linksys makes several like RV082 - so does Barracuda

commented: right... +8
Member Avatar for RLHennig

How many computers do you have, and what kind of bandwidth are you using/needing? You may very well have a fine connection, as in the fractional T3 is more than sufficient to carry your network, so the problem may be elsewhere, and not an issue of inefficient packet routing.

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