Hello everyone,
Hope you’re doing well! I’m looking for some advice and help regarding the optimization of my network, which now includes a second Peplink MAX HD1 Dome Pro .
Current Setup:
Peplink HD1 MAX Dome PRO 5G (x2)
Dome 1: Has 1 physical SIM and 1 eSIM.
Dome 2: Has also 1 Physical SIM and 1 eSIM. (Was added temporarily during the replacement of the first one, but I’d like to integrate it permanently now for improved redundancy and performance.)
Starlink Performance Dish: Used as the secondary WAN (through VWAN, each dome has 1xVWAN).
1x Peplink 8-port SD Switch
4 Access Points (APs)
The main mobile operators in the country are two. That’s why i have two SIMs.
Initially, the setup was simple: Starlink and one HD1 Dome. Now, with the addition of the second Dome, I’m looking for the best way to combine them to achieve maximum availability and performance.
What solution do you recommend for integrating the second Dome?
Potential Solutions I’m Considering:
-
Adapting the Existing HD1 Dome: Can I configure one Dome to be redundant for the other? (High Availability) or have them work in a hot failover setup?
-
Using Both Domes: How can I configure them to work simultaneously, to have aggregated bandwidth and failover at the same time?
Also, I am thinking of buying a second 8-port rugged switch to eliminate the single point of failure.
So, my first thought is each dome has a switch, and each switch has two APs, with the Starlink interface in one of the switches.
What’s the best practice for scenarios like this?
Does anyone have a similar setup? How do you manage it?
Is it advisable to purchase a second switch for this setup?
Are there specific settings that I should be aware of to ensure seamless operation?
Thank you in advance for your time and help.
Yes, Peplink HA is pretty easy to configure and they can be setup to sync configs between the primary and standby.
However in that setup one would be inactive unless it is needed, which means you potentially have a cell modem you’re not using, with a data plan you’re paying for.
Not really that I can think of if you want failover, and at least not without more hardware I think in any sensible fashion.
You could chain them together, feed the LAN of one into the WAN of the other but if you enable Peplink’s HA features it doesn’t really allow for this so they’d be two stand alone units.
That would probably be reasonable, especially if it is also the POE power source for the dome 
If you wanted to make best use of the hardware you might need to add another router behind the domes that could load balance them, something small like the B-ONE might meet your needs there - they can also do HA so you’d could run them fully in HA mode but that all starts to add up on costs.
If you were also going to plumb all of this together via some VLANs on a switch you mgith find the 8 port models a start to get quite full once you add in your APs.
1 Like
Thanks so much for the detailed response, Will! It’s really helpful.
The initial thought was to add a second switch and add the domes in HA mode. Something like this diagram
Your suggestion about adding a B-ONE router to balance the domes is super interesting. It is the perfect way to make good use of the second dome.
I’ve got a quick follow-up question about the B-ONE and High Availability (HA).
To get a complete HA setup and knock out all single points of failure, would I need to buy two B-ONE routers?
I expect synergy mode would work for this scenario. One Dome would be the controller, the other being synergized. The “failover” would only be for the case where the synergized dome fails, or if one of the cellular or other WANs disconnect…
See Synergy Mode (Firmware 8.3.0)
Cheers,
Sigurd
