UPDATE: We ended up purchasing a very old peplink balance 380 (hw v1) which just runs the v6 firmware able to support fusion, since at the time that balance was a top of the line model it comes with all the license we need built in. -Paid around $100 for it and it gets the job done (at 100 meg).
Hello and thank you for taking the time to assist me here!
I am brand new to Peplink and am looking to trial an older used set up at a branch location before we go all in and spend over 10k on equipment so I can get comfortable with it and gain experience with various setups it is capable of.
-To preface this question. I have been in I.T. for many years at a carrier level. I am well aware of VPNs, GRE tunnels, BGP advertisements, etc. I am also aware of the differences between the peplink vpn, speed fusion, and speed fusion bonding, etc. My question is not technical, rather it is a question about the licensing on a balance device as it relates to speed fusion bonding.
My question here is: If I were to buy a Peplink Balance 30 [Like this here] and wanted to use it with the self deployed Speed fusion hub Solo hosted on my own cloud VPS does the balance 30 need to have its own supplemental speed fusion bonder license to enable it to act as the physical end point bonding together lets say two cable lines and a dsl line with true bonding not just pep-vpn failover. I know with the peplink provided cloud speed fusion bonding service subscribing to it automatically activates speed fusion bonding on your local device if you don’t already have the license. Does this also apply to the self deployed speed fusion solo versions I can deploy in the cloud?
Basically if I buy this B30, sign up for a solo license am I all set to use Speed fusion bonding or do I also need to shell out for an additional speed fusion -bonding- license to put on the local b30.
Setup (on prem B30 > > > Cloud solo hub) -the set up is very simply and is really just point to point to aggregate the bandwidth of multiple lines into one faster service.
-I am self hosting because I also need static ip’s and to integrate it with our existing SD-wan cloud environment.
Please post if what I said is unclear- Like I said i’m brand new to peplink to all of this licensing is very different from the adtran equipment I mainly use.
Understood. What type of connectivity will be available at the test branch location? What bandwidth will you have?
Please don’t buy an old dusty Balance 30 from somewhere random. You won’t get to play with any of the new features and its such an old model. Engage with a local Peplink partner. They will likely have NFR models they can lend you, some will have access to 2nd hand devices too that you can use for a proof of concept on a sale or return basis.
If you are going to buy this one - or any second hand device there are two big gotchas over and above whether it actually works or not.
The first is what hardware revision is the device. Older HW revisions can’t run the latest firmware.
The 2nd is has the previous owner released the device from their InControl2 account. If not, the minute you turn it on they will have full remote control of it, and getting that device removed from their account and added to yours takes some security hurdle jumping (as it should).
You will need an additional license. A license that might be very tricky to get a hold of.
Where in the world are you? I expect we can drum up a useful partner on here to help you out…
Also to add, The budget for this trial is $250. So basically the only other thing I am looking at is a used peplink 305 which allegedly comes with the license already (according to peplink).
I want to see how things work, get to know the net set up (we have many servers, IP pbx’s, databases, etc) and just get conforable with the platform before I make any real production releases.
Also we are located in a few states- mainly the north east U.S. - If any dealers are up in this area looking to sell a used unit we would be interested. Preferably something rack mount or a formfactor like the Balance 30 that can be easily mounted on a MPOE board. (No lte or built in Wifi is a must though)
I get it, when I started playing with Peplink back in the day I took the risk and bought $15k of product up front to get hands on and test it as a replacement for MPLS In my organisation. That was before there were partners in my region.
As a UK partner I used to loan and rent equipment out all the time for PoCs. You might not have any nice partners locally that will lend or rent devices, but if you did, that idea is better than buying an old second user Balance 30 in my opinion.
Correct.
A Balance 305 did not come with SpeedFusion Bonding included out the box, you had to buy an additional license. Many people did though so you might be lucky.
The Balance 305 comes with 2 Speedfusion Peers by default. It is the same model as the Balance 380…but just 2 peers. I have got one im my demo fleet and i often lend it for small PoCs when no more than 2 sites have to be connected. (An additional license allow 30 peers).
I you got a Balance305 on your table you can reset it it and find the serial number on the status page.
In order to mange this device in InControl you need active warranty.
Every Peplink Partner can check the warranty status if you provide him the serial number.
This was my understanding too, but Theo is rarely wrong about such things, and the comparison tool on the website suggests that a B305 does indeed come with Speedfusion bonding for 2 peers (upgradeable to 30). A B380 comes with 30 peers and is upgradable to 100. Otherwise its the same product.
