Use Digi Remote Manager to enable and configure WAN bonding on multiple devices

Note support must be enabled in Digi Remote Manager. Contact your Digi sales representative for information.

You must also set up the WAN bonding server. This can be done using one of three mechanisms:

  • Set up a WAN bonding server on physical hardware or a Virtual Private Server (VPS) in your local environment. See Bondix documentation for instructions.
  • Unwired Networks maintains a number of WAN Bonding servers throughout the world, focused mainly on locations in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Contact them for WAN bonding hosting and configuration services.
  • Digi Professional Services can setup, manage, and maintain your WAN bonding servers.

You can also setup a trial server at the Bondix website for testing purposes.

To use Remote Manager to enable and configure WAN bonding on multiple devices:

  1. Add the WAN bonding entitlement to your device in Remote Manager:

    1. Log into Remote Manager.

    2. From the Remote Manager main menu, click Management > Subscriptions.

    3. In the WAN Bonding entitlement card, click and select Assign to Device.

    4. Select the appropriate devices.

  2. In Remote Manager, create a Configuration template. See the Remote Manager User Guide for instructions.

  3. For the Settings step in the configuration:

    1. Click Network > SD-WAN > WAN bonding.
    2. Click the toggle to Enable WAN bonding.
    3. Click to expand Servers.

      1. Click to add a server.

      2. For Hostname, type the hostname or IPv4 address of the external server hosting the WAN bonding server.

      3. (Optional) For Host Port, type the port number that the external server uses for the WAN bonding connection. The default is 443.

      4. (Optional) For Channel UDP Listener Port, type the number of the UDP port for the external hosting server. The default is 44343.

        5. Repeat procedure to add additional servers.

    4. Select Tunnel username and Tunnel password, and set them to Require override. Later in this procedure we will create an override file that includes the username and password that you created when you configure device-specific tunnel settings on the WAN bonding server:

    5. Select Tunnel username.

    6. From the Common value menu, select Require override:

    7. Select for Tunnel password.

    8. From the Common value menu, select Require override:

    9. Configure the device's WAN interfaces that will be bonded:

      1. ClickNetwork > SD-WAN > WAN bonding > Bonding interfaces.

      2. Click to add an interface.

      3. Select Interfaces and select a WAN interface to be bonded.

        4. Note By default, IX30 devices prioritize their WAN Ethernet connection over any WWAN cellular connections. Consider this prioritization if using both wired Ethernet and cellular Internet connections. Make sure to add the highest priority in-use interface(s) to the WAN Bonding settings.

        1. Enable Bonding Proxy to further optimize standard TCP traffic.

        2. Enable Encryption to encrypt the traffic between the client and the WAN bonding server.

        3. Click to expand Client devices.

          1. Click  to add a new device to the bonding proxy.

          2. In the Device list, choose the device that needs to be added.

          3. Add as many devices as needed to the bonding proxy.

        4. You can change the Mode that the interface will use:

        • Automatic: Automatically sets the mode to Cellular Optimized for Speed-mode for cellular, and Ethernet for non-cellular. This is the default mode.

          Cellular Optimized for Speed: A general-purpose configuration suitable for most lines (4G, DSL, etc), with a fair tolerance for packet loss and latency.

        • Cellular Optimized for Latency: Another preset for mobile connections with an even higher focus on latency.

        • Ethernet: A preset for direct Ethernet connections, very sensitive to latency and packet loss.

        • Low Latency: Similar to Ethernet preset, but with higher tolerance for packet loss.

        • TCP Mode: Utilizes TCP instead of UDP. Higher throughput rate at the cost of latency. Useful in scenarios where UDP is throttled or blocked.

        Repeat for additional interfaces.

        For example, if you want to bond a wired WAN Ethernet with a cellular modem, add two bonded interfaces: the ETH1 Ethernet interface and Modem cellular interface.

    10. Click to expand SureLink. You can validate the connection of the WAN Bonding connection by setting up tests, as well as actions to be taken if those tests fail.

      1. Click the toggle to Enable.

      2. (Optional) Change the Test interval (default is every 15 minutes) if you want to change the period of time that occurs between tests.

      3. (Optional) For Success condition, change how many tests must pass for SureLink testing to be considered successful. The default is one test must pass.

      4. (Optional) For Pass threshold, change how many times every test must pass before WAN bonding is connected and working. The default is 1 time per test.

      5. (Optional) For Response timeout, change the maximum allowed time SureLink is to wait for each test response. The default is 15s.

      6. Click to expand Tests to add each test you would like SureLink to run to validate the WAN bonding interface connection. You can test the WAN bonding interface using any of the following types:

        • Ping test

        • DNS test

        • HTTP test

        • Test the DNS servers configured for this interface

        • Test the interface status - this test has already been created by default and is automatically enabled

        • Custom test

        • TCP connection

        • Test another interface's status

        1. To create a new test, click . The new test is enabled by default.

        2. (Optional) Type a Label to identify the test.

        3. (Optional) Enable IPv6 if the test is for this internet protocol.

        4. Choose the Test type.

        5. (Optional) Change the type-specific settings for the option you created.

      7. Click to expand Recovery actions. You can choose to do one or more of these actions if any of the tests fail:

        • Change default gateway - this action is already created by default and is automatically enabled

        • Restart interface - this action is already created by default and is automatically enabled

        • Reset modem

        • Switch to alternate SIM

        • Reboot device

        • Recovery commands

        • Power cycle modem

        1. To create a new recovery action, click . The new test is enabled by default.

        2. (Optional) Type a Label to identify the recovery action.

        3. Choose the Recovery type.

        4. (Optional) Change the SureLink test failures, which is the number of failures that must occur for a particular test before the recovery action begins.

        5. (Optional) Change the type-specific settings for the option you created.

        1. (Optional) For Test interface gateway by pinging, to determine the interface gateway, enter the target IP address to use as the endpoint for traceroute. This is used by the WAN bonding gateway ping test. The default is 8.8.8.8.

      1. Click to expand Advanced settings.

        1. (Optional) For Delayed start, change the maximum amount of time to wait after system start-up for WAN bonding to obtain an IP address before SureLink begins monitoring. The default is 300s.

        2. (Optional) For Test interface gateway by pinging, to determine the interface gateway, enter the target IP address to use as the endpoint for traceroute. This is used by the WAN bonding gateway ping test. The default is 8.8.8.8.

    11. Click Save.

  4. Create a site-specific settings file for the Tunnel username and Tunnel password options:

    1. Click Home.

    2. Click and select Download to download a CSV file to your local filesystem, which you can use to set site-specific settings.

    3. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet editor (such as Excel).

      The file consists key_type and key_value columns, used to identify the device that the site-specific setting applies to, followed by columns for each setting that you designated asRequire site specific settings.

      • key_type is either device_name or device_id.

      • key_value is either the device name, or the device ID, depending on the value of key_type.

    4. Include the username and password in the CSV file:

    5. Save and close the CSV file.

    6. In Remote Manager, click and select Upload. Select the edited CSV file.

    7. Click Continue.

  5. For the Automation step in the configuration:

    1. Toggle on Enable Scanning.

    2. For Action Plan, toggle on Alert and Remediate.

    3. Click Save.

  6. To apply these configuration settings immediately to the devices linked to this configuration template, instead of waiting for the next automated scan and remediation to occur:

    1. From theRemote Manager main menu, click Templates.

    2. Select the configuration.

    3. Click Actions > Scan Now.