Internet load balancing on GX50

[Mikymike]

Hi- i saw there’s the possibility to configure the port 2 on the GX50 to be an internet port. Does this mean that I can plug in 2 different ISP connections (WAN) and the GX50 will do load balancing?

i don’t see anything in the docs about it. 

[Mikymike · Accepted solution]

For anyone who would be interested by this.. I ended up getting a second (separate) internet connection (Fios and Optimum) and was able to have them both connected to my GX50. When you connect to your GX50 directly via IP address (192.168.x.1) you can select the port #2 to be an internet port as well.

It doesn’t quite work as a load balancer but more as a backup connection. So if the internet on port 1 goes down, you will get connected to the internet on port #2. In order to go back on the internet on port #1, port #2 would either need to go down or be manually shut down.

* FYI, both FIOS and Optimum routers are set up in bridge mode so the connection is handled by the GX50 directly.

[hidden0]

Hello @Mikymike  and @speakerfritz,

I'd like to note that the GX50 does not support dual WAN setups and this is considered a bug. We're not sure what behavior will occur in your circumstance, and future firmware updates will remove this functionality, so please do not plan on this as a long-term feature in your deployments.

We may change our stance on this in the future with different product lines.

[MikeAnt]

I've been using TP-Link Omada SDN for a few years and they support dual-WAN with load-balancing or failover even on their most economical routers. I would expect Cisco not to lag in such a basic feature when it is so critical to so many users now. I can also configure it easily in a Ubiquiti Edgerouter.

[Networker80]

Please don't retire this capability but expand on it. Dual WAN capability is a must these days. I can confirm this feature does work but as you say is buggy. Internet 1 port is priority. LAN 2 port can be modified via the direct IP url to Internet 2 but it does not enable additional dashboarding or dual WAN capability as would for example an Enterprise class Meraki MX250 FW. There is no failover/failback logic or percentage based routing capability that would be weighted via bandwidth configuration. I have Lumen fiber as my primary but am in an area that had part of a SONET ring collapse due to a hurricane and due to area expansion with residential housing, fiber optic cuts are unfortunately common. My only saving grace is a Verizon Wireless Home router in which I disabled all wifi capability. Instead I use the Meraki wifi and hardwired networking and only use it for a cellular backup when my Lumen fiber transport goes down. The GX50 is kind of working with Internet 2 as a backup but as confirmed, Internet 1 has to manually go down before the gateway on Internet 2 will even be icmp reachable. So if anyone is thinking about doing this, its not yet officially supported and Internet 2 is basically unusable until Internet 1 fails or is manually disconnected. Once Internet 1 is reconnected to the ISP, it does takeover the WAN comms. I have yet to see the behavior from an automated capability perspective during an actual outage but will post back findings once one has occurred. Until a Meraki Go product supports this, for now I will just leave my cellular router connected into Internet 2 and if the circuit doesn't auto failover, I will manually unplug Internet 1 to get back online via Internet 2. I did "Make a Wish" for this feature to be added and will gladly pay for a new Meraki GO FW with this capability being officially supported.

[Xydocq]

hello @Networker80 

I guess you're a bit late to the game... Meraki Go End of Sale - April 2025 - The Meraki Community

I doubt they will invest any resources on new features and such.

[speakerfritz]

interesting

will have to try this

has anyone else done this?

[speakerfritz]

I dont see anything in the FW xonfig for port two given the option of using as an internet port?????   what FW firmware version?   was this done via mobile device software or internet web sodtware?   

thanks

[Mikymike]

I’m on version 16.17 but I think the previous version also allows it.

You can’t change this via the web or the app, you will need to access the FW via a web browser and connecting to its private IP (ie: 192.168.xxx.1)

[speakerfritz]

Ok

will have to check into that.

last month my main isp Went up and down a few times.

my saving grace was that endpoints had my alternate wifi network info so end points switched over automatically.   But it wasn’t going thru the Meraki go hardware. 

will try this over the next few days. 

[speakerfritz]

Finally got around to trying this

my gx50 (firmware 17.10) didn’t like this

once to wan links were setup , it would not reboot.   Stays orange light.

had to restore to defaults with a pin to get it to behave.

so back to 1 wan link.

I guess we need a dual want box in front of these devices.

any recommendations?

[Hoamboy]

If you read Mikymike's 'solution' carefully, it says you need to bring both lines up and down manually in order to make this 'work'.

Although Meraki clearly says to not use this in production as they call it a 'bug' and this function will be removed in future.

So - what happens if you reboot with only internet connected to WAN1 and once it's booted up, connect the second line to WAN2?

This would be a manual line up/down thingie but as you noticed, your box will run into issues when rebooting and both working internet lines connected.

This (automatic) reboot might happen as we're still not able to control firmware upgrades manually - although many times requested here and wished on the list.

[speakerfritz]

Definitely need some type of box.  But performance may suffer and you would probally wind up with double natting

right now, my fail over is on the client side ….a wireless network config is set up of each wan and when one wan goes down the clients switch over automatically to the other

only works with smart operating systems and does not work with appliances.

[Hoamboy]

Well said.
So throw your thoughts overboard using GX50 for that 🤷‍

[briguy111]

Why don’t we make this dual wan a feature then!! Give us more options and features for this ecosystem! 

[Hoamboy]

At the moment, it feels like we're moving backwards and not forward.

Fighting with App issues all the time and features are disappearing magically - see here.

Not even speaking of firmware updates with new features - which would even be controllable by the customer (because we really cannot, it is x100 on the wishlist) WHILE having a firmware overview page WITH changelog (also not existent and x100 on the wishlist).

It would be good if the App (web and mobile) would become STABLE one day (and yes, leaving beta status (see here)) and Meraki Dev Team could fully concentrate on the wishlist.

But hope dies last, as we all know 😉