Manual strategy

In manual mode, no health checks are used. As a result, the decision making closer resembles logic than intelligence. SD-WAN manual rules are similar to regular policy-based routes, but have the added features of application-aware routing and BGP-tag routing. A manual strategy rule is comprised of the following parts:

• Defining the interfaces to be used
• Ordering the interfaces based on preference, or load balancing traffic out of the specified interfaces using a load balancing algorithm

The maximize bandwidth (load-balance) strategy used prior to FortiOS 7.4.1 is now known as the load balancing strategy. This strategy can be configured under the manual mode and the lowest cost (SLA) strategies. When the load balancing strategy is configured under the manual mode strategy, SLA targets are not used. When the load balancing strategy is configured under the lowest cost (SLA) strategy, SLA targets are used.

To configure manual SD-WAN rules from the GUI:

1. Go to Network > SD-WAN.
2. Select the SD-WAN Rules tab, and click Create New.
3. Set the following options to create a manual rule:

   Name	Type a name for the rule.
   Source	(Optional) Specify a Source address and/or User group.
   Destination	Specify the destination using an Address object or an Internet Service or an Application.
   Zone preference	Specify one or more SD-WAN interfaces or zones. The order in which the interfaces or zones are specified determines their priority when the rule is matched.

4. Set the remaining options as desired, and click OK to create the rule.

To configure manual SD-WAN rules from the CLI:

config system sdwan
    config members
        edit 1
            set interface "wan1"
        next
        edit 2
            set interface "wan2"
        next
    end
    config service
        edit 1
            set name "manual"
            set mode manual
            set priority-members 2 1
            set dst "DC_net"
            set hold-down-time 60
        next 
    end
end

The command set mode manual will not appear in the configuration because it is the default mode. The command set hold-down-time <integer> is an optional command that controls how long to wait before switching back to the primary interface in the event of a failover.

Load balancing strategy without SLA targets

The load balancing strategy known as maximize bandwidth (load-balance) prior FortiOS 7.4.1 is now configured within manual mode SD-WAN rules to achieve load balancing but without the need to configure SLA targets.

By enabling load balancing mode (set load-balance enable) inside the manual SD-WAN rule, SD-WAN will start to load balance traffic out of all the specified interfaces based on the configured load balancing algorithm. There is no explicit need to configure SLA targets to achieve load balancing. The load balancing algorithm, or hash method, can be one of the following:

round-robin	All traffic is distributed to selected interfaces in equal portions and circular order. This is the default method, and the only option available when using the GUI.
source-ip-based	All traffic from a source IP is sent to the same interface.
source-dest-ip-based	All traffic from a source IP to a destination IP is sent to the same interface.
inbandwidth	All traffic is distributed to a selected interface with most available bandwidth for incoming traffic.
outbandwidth	All traffic is distributed to a selected interface with most available bandwidth for outgoing traffic.
bibandwidth	All traffic is distributed to a selected interface with most available bandwidth for both incoming and outgoing traffic.

When the inbandwidth, outbandwidth, or bibandwidth load balancing algorithm is used, the FortiGate will compare the bandwidth based on the configured upstream and downstream bandwidth values.

The interface speedtest can be used to populate the bandwidth values based on the speedtest results. See GUI speed test for details.

To manually configure the upstream and downstream bandwidth values:

config system interface
    edit <interface>
        set estimated-upstream-bandwidth <speed in kbps>
        set estimated-downstream-bandwidth <speed in kbps>
    next
end

To enable the load balancing strategy for manual mode in the GUI:

1. Go to Network > SD-WAN.

2. Select the SD-WAN Rules tab, and click Create New.

3. Set the Interface selection strategy to Manual.

4. Enable Load balancing.

   

5. Set the remaining options as desired, and click OK to create the rule.

To enable the load balancing strategy for manual mode in the CLI:

config system sdwan
    ...
    config service
        edit 1
            set name "manual"
            set mode manual
            set load-balance enable
            set hash-mode round-robin
            set priority-members 2 1
            set dst "DC_net"
            set hold-down-time 60
        next 
    end
end