Citrix SD-WAN

Enable Edge Mode High Availability Using Fiber Optic Y-Cable

Note: In release 10.2 version 2, this functionality is applicable to the 1100 SE/PE appliance only.

The following procedure describes the steps to enable High Availability (HA) on 1100 SE/PE appliances deployed in Edge Mode where the handoffs from the WAN link service providers are fiber optic. The available Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) ports on 1100 appliances can be used with fiber optic Y-Cables to enable high availability feature for Edge Mode deployment. On the 1100 SE/PE appliance the splitter cable split end connects to fiber ports of two 1100 appliances that are configured in HA pair. The fiber optic Y-Cable has three ends. One end connects to the fiber handoff of the provider and the other two ends connect to SFP ports configured for that WAN link on two 1100 SE/PE appliances deployed in HA pair. The splitter cable is used to divide one incoming signal into multiple signals.

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Pre-requisites:

  1. On the 1100 SE/PE appliance the ports 1/5 and 1/6 are SFP ports. Connect the splitter ends of the Y cable to any one of these ports on both the appliances in HA pair, see 1100 SE for more information.

  2. Add SFP ports to the SD-WAN appliance configuration. Configuring the SFP ports is the same as configuring any network interface ports. For more information, see How to configure interface groups. Adding 1/5 or 1/6 ports to the configuration allows you to enable Y-cable support feature.

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To enable High Availability using Y-cable:

  1. In the 1100 SE/PE appliance GUI, navigate to Configuration > Virtual WAN > Configuration Editor > Sites. Click Enable High Availability.

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  2. Click Enable Y-Cable Support.
  3. Add HA IP Interfaces utilizing any other interface besides the interfaces connected to the Y-Cables (e.g. 1/1 LAN facing interface, or 1/2 directly connected interfaces). When the Y-cable feature is enabled, SFP ports cannot be used for the HA IP interfaces.

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  4. Apply, Stage, and Activate the configuration.

Limitations:

  • HA Fail-to-Wire Mode configuration using Y-cable is not supported.
  • The SFPs connected to the Y-cable, cannot be used as HA IP interface tracking.
  • Software release 10.2.2 or greater, and 11.0 or greater is required to support this deployment.
Enable Edge Mode High Availability Using Fiber Optic Y-Cable