usionHub Solo as primary hub for 30 PrimeCare branches — peer exemption, on-premise install, and backup hub licensing

Hello,

I’m designing an SD-WAN deployment and want to confirm licensing before purchase.

Planned setup

30 branch sites, each with a B One Plus under active PrimeCare+ (bonding 2× ISP WAN + LTE)
HQ headend: FusionHub with the free Solo license, installed on our own on-premise server (VMware ESXi / Hyper-V) — no physical Balance router at HQ
A second FusionHub instance (cloud or second host) as a backup tunnel-termination point

Questions

  1. PrimeCare peer exemption on Solo:** Since all 30 branch devices are PrimeCare devices, do they consume zero peer slots on the FusionHub Solo — i.e., can all 30 establish SpeedFusion tunnels to a single Solo instance simultaneously at no extra licensing cost?
  2. Solo as primary (not just backup): Is it fully supported to run FusionHub Solo as the only HQ headend for this fleet, with no physical Balance at HQ?
  3. On-premise install:Any licensing or activation difference when the Solo runs on our own on-premise hypervisor versus a public cloud?
  4. Backup hub licensing:The Solo FAQ says one complimentary license per account. What’s the recommended/cheapest way to license a second FusionHub instance purely as a failover hub for the same PrimeCare fleet — is a paid Essential license required, or is there another option?
  5. Non-PrimeCare device on the Solo slot:If we later connect one non-PrimeCare device (e.g., a Balance 580X), it would use the Solo’s single peer slot — correct?
  6. Known issues:Any configuration requirements or known issues when many PrimeCare devices connect to a Solo? (I saw an older thread reporting a “not enough licenses” alert in a similar scenario.)

Thank you!

Yes, I have multiple FH Solo licences deployed in this manner, as long as the endpoints are under PrimeCare they will not consume a license slot - you will get some errors in InControl2 about it but they can be ignored.

Can’t see why not, as long as the FusionHub meets your needs in terms of its routing capabilities as it is more limited versus terminating tunnels onto a physical balance.

Not sure where it says that, but I have a considerably more than a single FH Solo deployed in my account at the moment working just fine, just request additional licences the same way as the first one, but I would add if you are really concerend by this just talk to a sales partner and get them to sell you a pair of essentials licences, they are inexpensive for the 5 peer license and the same rules around PrimeCare not consuming a slot apply.

Correct, again have done this myself without issue mixed with prime care devices - have also done this on essential licensed hubs where a couple of devices were non PrimeCare and the rest were.

HA units do not consume a slot, so if you deployed an HA pair of 580X you’d only consume the single, free license slot.

Yep, Ic2 will tell you there are not enough licences when you try and connect ≥1 remote peer, this is a cosmetic error and can be ignored assuming they’re all under PrimeCare.

Config requirements may depend on how you plan to break the traffic from the hub out, if this is just to provide an endpoint for bonding then nothing special is required, if you were looking to pass traffic from the FH into another network you can add a second NIC to it, this is where the Balance offers beter capabilities as termination device.

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