Justinaquino: Created page with "NOTOC
'''Netgate pfSense Plus Fundamentals — Section 8: Multi-WAN'''
Overview, redundancy, load balancing, gateway groups, and best practices for multiple Internet connections.
== Multi-WAN Overview == Use of multiple Internet connections for: * '''Redundancy''' (common) * '''Bandwidth aggregation''' * '''Load balancing''' == Multi-WAN Best Practices ==..."

2026-04-23T07:06:59Z

Created page with "__NOTOC__ <div style="background:#e6f3ff;border:1px solid #0066cc;padding:10px;margin-bottom:15px;"> '''Netgate pfSense Plus Fundamentals — Section 8: Multi-WAN'''<br/> <i>Overview, redundancy, load balancing, gateway groups, and best practices for multiple Internet connections.</i> </div> == Multi-WAN Overview == Use of multiple Internet connections for: * '''Redundancy''' (common) * '''Bandwidth aggregation''' * '''Load balancing''' == Multi-WAN Best Practices ==..."

New page

__NOTOC__

<div style="background:#e6f3ff;border:1px solid #0066cc;padding:10px;margin-bottom:15px;">
'''Netgate pfSense Plus Fundamentals — Section 8: Multi-WAN'''<br/>
<i>Overview, redundancy, load balancing, gateway groups, and best practices for multiple Internet connections.</i>
</div>

== Multi-WAN Overview ==

Use of multiple Internet connections for:
* '''Redundancy''' (common)
* '''Bandwidth aggregation'''
* '''Load balancing'''

== Multi-WAN Best Practices ==

Internet connectivity selection considerations:

{| class="wikitable"
! Consideration !! Description
|-
| Performance || Evaluate throughput, latency, and reliability of each link.
|-
| Cable path || Use physically diverse paths to avoid single points of failure.
|-
| Disparate ISP networks || Use different ISPs to reduce the risk of a common outage.
|-
| Plan for failure! || Always design with failure scenarios in mind.
|-
| Usage scenarios for load balancing || Understand traffic patterns before implementing load balancing.
|}

== Multi-WAN Gateways ==

Each gateway defines an Internet connection.

* Monitor IP can be changed.
* Advanced parameters available (latency and packet loss thresholds).

== Multi-WAN Gateway Groups ==

Gateway groups are containers of gateways (Internet connections).

{| class="wikitable"
! Attribute !! Description
|-
| Tiers 1-5 || Lowest tier number is highest priority.
|-
| One or more gateways per tier || Multiple gateways can share a tier.
|-
| Usage || Applied via policy routing, IPsec, OpenVPN, Dynamic DNS.
|}

== Multi-WAN Outbound Traffic ==

Controlled via '''policy routing''':

* Firewall rules specifying a gateway.
* Matching traffic is forced to the specified gateway.
* Overrides routing table in all circumstances.

== Multi-WAN Inbound Traffic ==

* Port forwards and 1:1 NAT are specific to one WAN.
* Duplicate port forwards for additional WANs.
* Add 1:1 NAT entries for additional WANs.
* Update how traffic comes in (DNS updates).
* Dynamic DNS on gateway group.
* Multiple inbound options always live (e.g., email — one MX record per WAN).

== Section 8 Summary ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Key Point !! Detail
|-
| Rule ordering || First match wins.
|-
| Bypass rule || A bypass rule may be required.
|-
| Gateway forcing || Matching traffic is forced to gateway.
|-
| Monitor IP || Use appropriate monitor IP per WAN.
|-
| Load balancing || Load-balance over equal-size links.
|-
| Per-flow balancing || Load-balancing is per-flow, not per-packet.
|-
| Reference || Check the Multi-WAN section of the book!
|}

----

<div style="background:#f0f0f0;border:1px solid #ccc;padding:8px;">
'''Source:''' Netgate pfSense Plus Fundamentals and Practical Application — Section 8 (Multi-WAN).<br/>
© 2017 Rubicon Communications, LLC dba Netgate.
</div>

'''Next Module:''' [[Training_Lab_8:_Multi-WAN|Training Lab 8: Multi-WAN]]

Training: Multi-WAN - Revision history