Digi WAN Bonding is a solution that goes beyond traditional failover strategies. This value-added service, accessible through Digi Remote Manager®, introduces a technique that optimizes connectivity by aggregating multiple connections, ensuring enhanced speed, reduced latency, and improved reliability. This blog explores the intricacies of Digi WAN Bonding, shedding light on how it works and its diverse applications across various industries.
Understanding Digi WAN Bonding
Digi WAN Bonding leverages the power of Bondix Simple Aggregation of Networks (S.A.NE), comprising two programs — one embedded in the Digi device and another on an external virtual private server (VPS). The client program intelligently divides outgoing traffic based on factors such as latency, consistency, and user-assigned priorities. The VPS then reconstitutes and forwards the divided traffic, ensuring optimal performance by considering the strengths of each interface.
Key Features:
- Hot failover: Ensures uninterrupted connectivity with no packet loss or failover wait time.
- WAN aggregation: Combines multiple WAN links to increase speed and bandwidth, reaching up to 1 Gbps.
- WAN smoothing: Minimizes latency and jitter by simultaneously sending data through multiple channels.
- WAN prioritization: Automatically selects or allows manual setting of the best active WAN link, balancing traffic accordingly.
- Packet duplication: Replicates packets on multiple WAN links to guarantee the delivery of mission-critical data.
- Simple integration: Easy deployment on a range of Digi routers in diverse environments via Digi Remote Manager.
- Increased throughput: Offers subscription options for 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps, and 1 Gbps maximum throughput.
WAN Bonding Modes
Digi WAN Bonding provides various modes, including automatic, cellular-optimized for speed or latency, Ethernet, low latency, and TCP mode, catering to different network requirements and scenarios. But what do these mean exactly?
- 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 reducing 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.
Components of Digi WAN Bonding
- WAN Bonding Client (Bondix S.A.NE client): Included in DAL OS firmware and enabled via Digi Remote Manager, it sets up a tunnel with the server, breaks down data traffic into packages, and ensures the best-possible performance with a built-in bonding proxy.
- WAN Bonding Tunnel: The logical connection that bonds multiple WAN links, transporting data packages and offering multiple methods for sending traffic, such as WAN priority, WAN smoothing, and packet redundancy.
- WAN Bonding Server: Acts as the endpoint for the tunnel, can be hosted on a Linux VM or cloud infrastructure without a license cost, and supports single and multi-instance servers for scalability.
WAN Bonding Applications and Benefits
Digi WAN Bonding is instrumental in scenarios requiring increased throughput or availability of remote applications. By utilizing multiple connections — whether fixed network or wireless — users can enhance bandwidth and uptime, effectively avoiding issues related to line failures or network problems. Here are just a few examples of some use cases for Digi WAN Bonding:
- Cellular Resiliency for Vehicles:
In the realm of public transit, uptime is paramount for both passengers and operators. Consider the scenario of a Digi TX64 5G cellular router in a transit vehicle equipped with two cellular modems (WWAN1 and WWAN2) connected to different providers. While Digi Surelink® provides failover capability, Digi WAN Bonding intelligently balances the two cellular connections based on quality metrics. As one connection gradually degrades, it is used only when the most effective connection has been saturated. This ensures continuous, reliable connectivity during the vehicle’s journey. - More Bandwidth in Office Environments:
For an office user relying on a symmetric 100 Mbps copper line, large file transfers often lead to congestion and slowdowns in the network. Digi WAN Bonding transforms this scenario by combining the symmetric wired connection with an asymmetric cellular connection. This dynamic pairing significantly increases throughput without compromising the low latency of fiber, even under heavy loads. The result is a streamlined network experience, especially beneficial for remote workers requiring VPN access to the office network. - Protecting Mission-Critical Data in Remote Locations:
Digi WAN Bonding introduces packet duplication as a safeguard for mission-critical data in remote locations. By simultaneously sending packets through all available Internet connections and transmitting only the first packet received on either end of the bonded connection, this use case prioritizes data certainty over increased throughput. It ensures that data transmissions are delivered with 100% certainty, even in scenarios involving high-latency or intermittent connections.
Why Choose Digi WAN Bonding?
Digi WAN Bonding, powered by Bondix S.A.NE, is a versatile and cost-effective solution for optimizing connectivity in diverse environments. Its robust features, simplified pricing, and seamless integration make it a compelling choice for businesses seeking enhanced speed, reliability, and resilience in their network infrastructure. Whether in transportation, retail, or other enterprise and industrial applications, Digi WAN Bonding paves the way for a future where connectivity is both efficient and steadfast.
Contact the 5Gstore team to learn more about Digi WAN Bonding today!