Dummynet, routing and firewalls - crazy idea

[Joachim Dagerot]

Problem: When downloading huge files from the server we can't use the
client webbrowser.

Setup: One firewall/DHCP/Gateway which all clients and the server
routes through. The clients goes via no router when connecting to the
server. The server is equipped with double NIC, however only one is
used. The firewall is a hardware box meaning no software can be
altered.


Crazy idea: I have an idea about routing traffic through the server
and then to the firewall. This would make it possible for the server
to see that there's traffic on port 80 which should be prioritized
over traffic on port 21, this part shouldn't be too hard I guess -
lots of how-tos on the net for this.

BUT, I would like the clients to go directly to the firewall without
passing the server if they want to, this will mostly be the case when
the server is down for maintenance or similar.

This must mean that the servers both NICs actually must be on the same
network, is that possible at all and how do I setup such an
environment?


It's 10:45pm and this idea just came out of my tired brain, if someone
can give a better solution to the problem I would be very glad.