Grandstream GWN Multi-WAN Routers: The simplest automatic failover

November 21, 2023
Johan Koekemoer
Technical Tips & Guides
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We were curious to see how the automatic failover between multiple WAN links works on the Grandstream Range of GWN700# routers.

For those of us who are familiar with other brands of routers, multi-wan links are not a new concept, and you can also configure automatic failover between the WAN links, however, based on our experience, none are as simple as the GWN range.

The network layout and test:

Testing two WAN uplinks to the GWN network from different providers on Port 1 and Port 2 respectively and LAN DHCP on Port 3 and checking the configuration of automatic failover between the two WAN uplinks as well as how quickly the changeover happens between the two WAN uplinks.

To connect to the GWN. Router, we connected to Port 4 of the router and changed the PC’s IP address range to 192.168.80.222 as the default IP address of the GWN router is 192.168.80.1. To access the router, in your browser, you can type 192.168.80.1 and once on the login screen, you will be prompted to enter the username and password. Leave the username portion empty and enter the password that is located at the bottom of the router. You will be immediately prompted to change the default password of the router. From here, you can navigate to Network Settings > WAN:

WAN 1 is already preconfigured, and you can simply connect to the first uplink. To create the second WAN port, simply click on Add:

Change the Status to Enabled, name your WAN, and select the port that you will be connecting the second uplink to. From here you change the IPv4 setting accordingly and once completed simply click Save and connect the second uplink.

The next step is to create the LAN network that connects to the PC. While still on Network Settings navigate to LAN

First, add a VLAN ID, add a name, and configure your IPv4, Subnet settings accordingly. You can also enable the DHCP service and set the range. Once completed, simply click on Save.

Please note that VLAN1 is the native VLAN and is automatically tagged on all ports. If you don’t want VLAN 1 tagged on your LAN port, click on the VLAN Port Settings and on Port 3 click on the edit button and remove VLAN 1 as the allowed VLAN.

A confirmation of the IP address received from LAN 3

The WAN failover is automatic, there is no additional configuration required on the router. To test this, we disconnected WAN 2 while running a continuous ping test to Google:

WAN 2 was restored and WAN 1 was disconnected:

As there are a lot more features on the GWN router to explore, in our humble opinion, the automatic WAN failover is almost instantaneous and the simplest configuration we have done. If you pair this with the fact that you can remotely manage your GWN router through the GWN cloud makes the GWN range of multi-WAN routers a serious contender in virtually any networking space.

Should you need more information or assistance, why not get in touch with us at 012 657 0960 or purchase your GWN router online.