WAN Failover, Load Balancing and Port Remapping on UniFi Gateways

Ensuring a stable internet connection is crucial, and UniFi Gateways offer both WAN Failover and WAN Load Balancing to keep your network running smoothly. These features help prevent downtime by either switching to a backup connection or distributing traffic across multiple connections.

Starting with UniFi Network 9.1, UniFi Gateways now support more than two WAN connections—up to one less than the total number of ports on the device. This allows you to establish several internet connections and configure a hierarchy of WAN failovers, or use them simultaneously for load balancing.

To support flexible WAN configurations, UniFi also allows you to remap WAN and LAN ports on your gateway. This gives you control over which physical ports (RJ45 or SFP+) are used for your internet uplinks, letting you match your setup to your cabling or preferred hardware layout.

WAN Failover

WAN Failover allows you to connect a secondary internet connection to your UniFi Gateway as a backup. If the primary internet service goes down, the system automatically switches to the secondary connection, minimizing disruptions. Once the primary connection is restored, the system switches back.

The UniFi LTE Backup can also serve as a failover connection. It connects via a LAN port—not a WAN port—so it doesn’t count against your console’s WAN limit. This means you can add UniFi LTE to any compatible console (like the Express 7 or UXG Lite), even if all WAN ports are already in use. Because it uses a LAN port, you can install it wherever the LTE signal is strongest. Learn how to set up UniFi LTE Backup.

WAN Load Balancing

WAN Load Balancing, unlike failover, utilizes multiple internet connections simultaneously to improve performance and redundancy. Instead of activating a secondary connection only when the primary fails, this feature distributes traffic across both.

This is supported on:

• UXG Pro (Firmware version 1.13+)
• UDM Pro, UDM SE, and other dual-WAN UniFi Consoles (UniFi Console version 2.5+)

Remapping WAN and LAN Ports

UniFi lets you remap WAN and LAN interfaces on supported Gateways, giving you the flexibility to match your cabling setup.

To remap ports:

1. Navigate to Settings > Internet.
2. Ensure your new WAN port has an active connection to avoid losing internet access.
3. Assign the new port.
   • If swapping WAN1 and WAN2, temporarily assign a third port to avoid conflicts.
4. Apply the changes.

If a WAN interface appears offline or doesn’t receive an IP address, verify that its settings match those provided by your ISP.

Note:

• Link Aggregation (LAG) is not available on UniFi Cloud Gateway LAN ports.
• Multi-WAN is supported on all UniFi Gateways except UX, UX7, and UXG Lite.

Troubleshooting WAN Failover

UniFi Gateways continuously monitor your internet connection using three checks: pinging the Internet Verification Server and testing DNS resolution with your two configured DNS servers. If two of these three checks fail, failover is triggered.

If your ISP’s DNS is unreliable, consider switching to Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) or Google (8.8.8.8) to reduce false positives.

To change DNS servers:

1. In Site Manager, go to Network Settings > Internet and click your WAN.
2. Under IPv4, uncheck Auto under DNS Server.
3. Enter your preferred Primary and Secondary DNS addresses.

To adjust verification settings:

1. Go to Network > UniFi Devices and open your Gateway’s device panel.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Adjust Internet Verification Server and DNS Verification as needed.