Alta Help Center

WAN Failover

Matt Baer
Matt Baer
  • Updated

What is WAN Failover?

WAN failover is a mechanism that ensures continuous internet connectivity by automatically switching traffic to a backup WAN connection if the primary connection fails. It is commonly used in business networks to maintain uptime and prevent disruptions in critical operations.

 

How to Enable WAN Failover?

Technically, WAN failover is enabled by default. However, since the Route10 offers the ability to support up to 5 physical WAN connections, and there are no metrics by default, we recommend manually setting your metrics for each WAN interface. Please note that the lower the metric, the more preferred a particular WAN is. For example, if your primary is 2gbps by 2gbps fiber and your backup is 3mbps by 1mbps DSL, you’ll want the fiber to be a metric of 1 and the DSL can be a metric of 2.

  1. Start on the Network tab at manage.alta.inc
  2. Click the Route10 icon 
  3. Click your preferred WAN interface
  4. Click the Pencil icon next to your WAN drop-down
  5. Expand the Advanced section
  6. For Metric, provide a value of 1
  7. Click Save
  8. Repeat this process for your secondary WAN, ensuring you increment the Metric by at least 1
  9. If applicable, repeat this process for additional WAN connections.

 

 

When will WAN fail over to the next connection?

At the time of this article being published, there are 2 circumstances in which failover will occur:

  1. Loss of layer 1 link (to test, you can simply unplug the cable between the WAN interface on the Route10 and the modem)
  2. The gateway of the WAN stops responding to ARP requests

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