Understanding and Configuring PepVPN/SpeedFusion

Jason · January 11, 2018, 2:10pm

Peplink’s proprietary VPN technology (PepVPN) is our Point-to-Point VPN that is setup between Peplink/Pepwave units. Our simple and easy to use UI allows you to deploy complex networks quickly and easily.

PepVPN can be deployed in a number of ways to slot into your deployment easily -

The base that everything is built upon is PepVPN. PepVPN is our foundation VPN engine. It is ideal for establishing a secure tunnel over any WAN link and is possibly the world’s easiest VPN technology. PepVPN and SpeedFusion share the same foundation VPN engine. It means all your PepVPN and SpeedFusion devices will work flawlessly together to build SD-WAN enabled networks. It offers all the benefits of IPsec and other conventional tunneling protocols, plus a variety of performance and reliability features you won’t find anywhere else.

At the next level, you layer on SpeedFusion features; First there’s Hot Failover, which establishes the VPN tunnel on all active WAN links, but sends user traffic on one active link at a time. The advantage of Hot Failover is that if a link fails, the traffic is quickly routed through the second tunnel seamlessly operating uninterrupted during a WAN handoff.

Next up is WAN Bonding. This establishes the VPN on all active links and splits application traffic across all active connections. This means that increased throughput is possible, however, certain WAN combinations are not realistic (similar speeds and latencies are best). If a WAN fails, the traffic is quickly routed through the second tunnel seamlessly. This allows applications to operate uninterrupted during handoff.

Finally there’s WAN Smoothing. This also establishes SpeedFusion on all active links, but, instead of splitting the session across all the WAN links, it sends redundant copies of traffic to each active WAN and the copy that arrives first is used. If a link fails, the redundant copy is automatically used with ZERO interruption or delay. WAN Smoothing optimizes traffic for more stable latency (jitter) and less packet loss.

Think of these layers as a pyramid that all layer on the PepVPN base -

- Requirements -

At least 2x SpeedFusion capable units -
a) Peplink Balance family - B210 and up
i) Balance One has SpeedFusion as an upgrade purchase/unlock
b) Pepwave MAX family - MAX HD series/M700
i) MAX Transit has SpeedFusion as an upgrade purchase/unlock
c) FusionHub
Public IP on at least 1x WAN connection
a) Static ideal but not required
i) If the WAN is not a Static Public IP, register it with a supported DDNS service and we can create SpeedFusion to the host name

PepVPN/SpeedFusion can be deployed via a few different methods. You can setup the profile directly via the Peplink UI or from the cloud via our Cloud Based Management tool - InControl 2.

Deploying manually from the UI:

Assign Local ID for unit and Save/Apply Changes -

Choose New Profile -

Configure on each SpeedFusion peer -

Name the Profile - This IDs the VPN
Enter the Remote ID of the remote Peplink Balance unit. The Remote ID is the Local ID of the other endpoint.
Enter the WAN IP/DDNS Host Name of Remote peer.

Save/Apply Changes

Note - In WAN Connection Priority, if you select all WAN connections in the same priority, the SpeedFusion VPN traffic will be bonded across all connections equally.

Once completed, you can view Status from the UI Dashboard -