Configuring Failover and LB Groups

Topics:
• General Tab
• Probing Tab

General Tab
To configure the Group settings:
1 Click the Configure icon of the Group you wish to configure on the Network > Failover & LB page. The Edit LB Group dialog displays.

2 On the General tab, edit the display name of the Group in the Name field. The name of the default group cannot be changed.
3 From the Type drop-down menu, choose the type (or method) of LB; options change depending on the type selected:
• Basic Failover—The four WAN interfaces use rank to determine the order of preemption when the Preempt checkbox
has been enabled. Only a higher-ranked interface can preempt an Active WAN interface. This is selected by default.
• Round Robin—This option now allows you to re-order the WAN interfaces for Round Robin selection. The default order
is:
• Primary WAN
• Alternate WAN #1
• Alternate WAN #2
• Alternate WAN #3
The Round Robin then returns to the Primary WAN to continue the order.
• Spill-over—The bandwidth threshold applies to the Primary WAN. When the threshold is exceeded, new traffic flows
are allocated to the Alternates in a Round Robin manner. If the Primary WAN bandwidth goes below the configured
threshold, Round Robin stops, and outbound new flows will again be sent out only through the Primary WAN.
NOTE: Existing flows remain associated with the Alternates (as they are already cached) until they
  time out normally.

• Ratio—A percentages can be set for each WAN in the LB group. To avoid problems associated with configuration errors,
ensure that the percentage corresponds correctly to the WAN interface it indicates.
 4 Depending on what you selected from the Type drop-down menu, one of these options display:

Type
Option
selection

Basic Preempt and failback to preferred interfaces when possible

Failover Select to enable rank to determine the order of preemption. Selected by default.

Spill-over When bandwidth exceeds BandwidthLimit Kbit/s on PrimaryInterface, new flows will go to the
alternate group members in Round Robin manner
Specify the bandwidth for the Primary in the field. If this value is exceeded, new flows are then sent
to alternate group members according to the order listed in the Selected column.
The default value is 0.

Round Use Source and Destination IP Address binding

Robin, The option is especially useful when using HTTP/HTTPS redirection or in a similar situation. For
Spill- example, connection A and connection B need to be on the same WAN interface, the source and
over, and destination IP addresses in Connection A are the same as those for connection B, but a different
Ratio service is being used. In this case, source and destination IP address binding is required to keep both
the connections on the same WAN interface so that the transactions do not fail.
This option is not selected by default.

5 Add, delete, and order member interfaces in the Group Members: Select here:/Selected lists. The use of the selected members in the
Selected list depends on the Type selected:
• Basic Failover: Interface Ordering:
• Round Robin: Interface Pool:
• Spill-over: Primary/Alt. Pool:
• Ratio: Interface Distribution:
6 Add members by selecting a displayed interface from the Group Members: column, and then clicking the Add>> button.
7 You can order the entries in the Selected column by:
a Selecting an entry.
b Clicking an Up/Down button.
If you selected Ratio, instead of ordering the entries, you can specify the ratio of bandwidth for each interface. See
Configuring Bandwidth as a Ratio .
IMPORTANT: To avoid problems associated with configuration errors, ensure that the percentage corresponds
  correctly to the WAN interface it indicates.

a Enter a percentage of bandwidth to be assigned to an interface in the percent (%) field. The total bandwidth for all interfaces should
add up to 100%. The total percentage of bandwidth allocated is displayed.
You can modify the ratio by clicking the Modify Ratio button or have the ratios adjusted automatically by clicking the Auto
Adjust button.
Delete members from the Selected: column by:
a Selecting the displayed interface,
b Clicking the <<Remove button.
NOTE: The interface at the top of the list is the Primary.
 
The Interface Rank does not specify the operation performed on the individual member. The operation that is
performed is specified by the Group Type.

8 Optionally, enter this setting:

• Final Back-Up—An entry in this setting is an interface of “last resort,” that is, an interface that is used only when all
other interfaces in the Selected: group are either unavailable or unusable. To specify a Final Back-Up interface, select
an entry in the Group Members list, and then click the double right arrow button. To remove a Final Back-Up
interface, click the double left arrow button.
9 Click OK.

Configuring Bandwidth as a Ratio

If Ratio is selected, the Add >> button is replaced by a percent (%) field and a Double Right Arrow button, and the Up/Down Arrow
buttons are replaced with the Auto Adjust button.
Enter a percentage of bandwidth to be assigned to the interface. The total percentage of bandwidth allocated is displayed.
IMPORTANT: To avoid problems associated with configuration errors, ensure that the percentage corresponds correctly
 
 to the WAN interface it indicates.

If multiple interfaces are selected, you can either:

• Click the Auto Adjust button to distribute the bandwidth equally among the interfaces.
• Enter a percentage of bandwidth to be assigned to each interface.

To modify the bandwidth percentage for an interface:

1 Select the interface in the Selected column.
2 Click the Modify Ratio button.
3 Enter a new percentage in the percent (%) field.
4 Click the Modify Ratio button again. The percentage for the bandwidth and the total bandwidth allocated are updated.

Probing Tab
When Logical probing is enabled, test packets can be sent to remote probe targets to verify WAN path availability. A new option has
been provided to allow probing through the additional WAN interfaces: Alternate WAN #3 and Alternate WAN #4.
NOTE: VLANs for alternate WANs do not support QoS or VPN termination.
 

To configure the probing options for a specific Group:

1 Click the Configure icon of the Group you wish to configure on the Network > Failover & LB page. the Edit LB Group dialog displays.

2 Click the Probing tab.

3 Modify the following settings:

• Check Interface every: n sec —The interval of health checks in units of seconds. The default value is 5 seconds.
• Deactivate Interface after: n missed intervals—The number of failed health checks after which the interface sets to
 Failover. The default value is 6 seconds.
• Reactivate Interface after: n successful intervals—The number of successful health checks after which the interface
sets to Available. The default value is 3 seconds.
• Probe responder.global.sonicwall.com on all interfaces in this group—Enable this checkbox to automatically set
Logical/Probe Monitoring on all interfaces in the Group. When enabled, TCP probe packets are sent to the global SNWL
host that responds to SNWL TCP packets, responder.global.sonicwall.com, using a target probe destination
address of 204.212.170.23:50000. When this checkbox is selected, the rest of the probe configuration enables
built-in settings automatically. The same probe will be applied to all four WAN Ethernet interfaces.
NOTE: The Dialup WAN probe setting also defaults to the built-in settings.
 

4 Click OK.