What is Same IP Failover?
Same IP Failover automates the switching of traffic from one wide-area network underlay to another, while maintaining the sessions that are active at the time.
What this means is that users and applications won't drop their internal or external connection in the event that one network connection experiences an outage. Same IP Failover provides business continuity for internet connections, VOIP, data transfers, internal and external networks when properly configured and is an essential part of maintaining 100% uptime for business applications and services.
In more technical terms, Same IP Failover is implemented by using software that routes traffic to a single IP at the customer's branch or on the customer's network at a specific location. That IP address is able to float between multiple WAN connections, often more than just two. In the background, the transport layer is abstracted so that any type of WAN connection or internet connection can be used. A single IP address is then able to float from one connection to the next while maintaining continuous sessions at all times.
Who needs Same IP Failover?
Pretty much any business with an office or team that relies on staying connected can benefit from implementing Same IP Failover.
If a company is hosting centralized applications at headquarters, has multiple remote branches that need to communicate with one another or remote workers that need reliable access to services and data, Same IP Failover may be essential.
In particular, when branch offices are using an IPSEC Tunnel or VPN IPSEC tunnel, if those secure connections fail, business productivity can take a big hit. Even if the business operates multiple WAN connections, each WAN will have a separate IP address, so if one drops there will be an interruption and any traffic or applications reliant on the connection will be affected.
Any company that relies heavily on VOIP or VPN services should consider Same IP Failover as part of their networking solution. Also, businesses using secure connections over the internet as their primary mode of connectivity can benefit greatly if those applications need to remain available at all times for users.
How to know if you might benefit from Same IP Failover
If you are a business leader or Network Engineer and getting increasing concerns from the business related to dropped sessions you may need to consider implementing Same IP Failover. Typically, when network issues are affecting work, users get frustrated and network related help tickets proliferate.
Worker frustration can build up, especially as work shifts more and more to remote locations, if staff utilize unreliable VPN connections. If remote workers are experiencing frequent dropped sessions, they will lose productivity and start complaining.
If you have any of these challenges it might be time to look into Same IP Failover:
• Having to manually fail over to a different WAN circuit during an outage
• Users frequently dropping connections
• Experiencing Intermittent availability of business applications
How to get Same IP Failover for your business
Companies with fairly sophisticated Network Engineers can set up Same IP Failover on their own. It's a complex task that requires deep knowledge of IP routing, DNS, and traffic routing.
A common and effective approach to simplifying the setup of Same IP Failover is to use a Managed Connectivity Provider such as Capcon Networks. Capcon Networks specializes in implementing advanced networking solutions and provides configuration of SD-WAN platforms to support Same IP Failover using your existing network infrastructure (no rip and replace). Get 100% guaranteed uptime for your network and 10x Customer Support.