ZyXEL Communications 5 Series User Manual

 Chapter 9 WAN Screens

ZyWALL 5/35/70 Series User’s Guide

The following table describes the labels in this screen.

Table 35   NETWORK > WAN > General

Active/Passive 
(Fail Over) Mode

Select the Active/Passive (fail over) operation mode to have the ZyWALL use the 
second highest priority WAN interface as a back up. This means that the ZyWALL 
will normally use the highest priority (primary) WAN interface (depending on the 
priorities you configure in the Route Priority fields). The ZyWALL will switch to the 
secondary (second highest priority) WAN interface when the primary WAN 
interface's connection fails.

Fall Back to 
Primary WAN 
When Possible

This field determines the action the ZyWALL takes after the primary WAN interface 
fails and the ZyWALL starts using the secondary WAN interface.
Select this check box to have the ZyWALL change back to using the primary WAN 
interface when the ZyWALL can connect through the primary WAN interface again.
Clear this check box to have the ZyWALL continue using the secondary WAN 
interface, even after the ZyWALL can connect through the primary WAN interface 
again. The ZyWALL continues to use the secondary WAN interface until it's 
connection fails (at which time it will change back to using the primary WAN 
interface if its connection is up.

Active/Active 
Mode

Select Active/Active Mode to have the ZyWALL use both of the WAN interfaces at 
the same time and allow you to enable load balancing. 

Load Balancing 
Algorithm

Select Least Load First, Weighted Round Robin or Spillover to activate load 
balancing and set the related fields. Otherwise, select None.
Refer to 

 for load balancing configuration.

WAN Interface to 
Local Host 
Mapping Timeout 

Select this option to have the ZyWALL send all of a local computer’s traffic through 
the same WAN interface for the period of time that you specify (1 to 600 seconds). 
This is useful when a redirect server forwards a local user’s request for a file and 
informs the file server that a particular WAN IP address is requesting the file. If the 
user’s subsequent sessions came from a different WAN IP address, the file server 
would deny the request. 
This field is configurable only when you select Active/Active Mode and enable 
load balancing.

Route Priority

WAN1
WAN2
Traffic Redirect
Dial Backup

The default WAN connection is "1' as your broadband connection via the WAN 
interface should always be your preferred method of accessing the WAN. The 
ZyWALL switches from WAN interface 1 to WAN interface 2 if WAN interface 1's 
connection fails and then back to WAN interface 1 when WAN interface 1's 
connection comes back up. The default priority of the routes is WAN 1, WAN 2, 
Traffic Redirect and then Dial Backup: 
You have three choices for an auxiliary connection (WAN 2, Traffic Redirect and 
Dial Backup) in the event that your regular WAN connection goes down. If Dial 
Backup is preferred to Traffic Redirect, then type "14" in the Dial Backup 
Priority (metric) field (and leave the Traffic Redirect Priority (metric) at the 
default of "15").
The Dial Backup field is available only when you enable the corresponding dial 
backup feature in the Dial Backup screen. 

Connectivity 
Check

Check Period

The ZyWALL tests a WAN connection by periodically sending a ping to either the 
default gateway or the address in the Ping this Address field.
Type a number of seconds (5 to 300) to set the time interval between checks. Allow 
more time if your destination IP address handles lots of traffic.

Check Timeout

Type the number of seconds (1 to 10) for your ZyWALL to wait for a response to 
the ping before considering the check to have failed. This setting must be less than 
the Check Period. Use a higher value in this field if your network is busy or 
congested.