Planning summary for routing configuration

Configuring basic routing support

Whether you need to add static routes

You need to enter static routes in the appliance's routing table only if your default gateway is not aware of some addresses and you are not able to route packets to those addresses through RIP or IRDP.

Setup tab > Network > Routing > Static Routes tab

Whether you want the appliance to listen to Router Discovery messages

If your routers are configured to support IRDP, Network Appliance recommends that Route Discovery is enabled. Enabling Route Discovery eliminates the need to manually configure the default gateway.

Setup tab > Network > Routing > General tab > Route Discovery Enable option

This option is disabled by default.

Controlling interfaces over which the appliance sends out and accepts traffic

Whether you need to restrict interfaces through which the appliance accepts client requests

Typically, the appliance accepts client requests through any interface and IP address. You can add a level of security by using the Listen Addresses option to restrict the IP addresses, and therefore the interfaces, on which the appliance accepts client requests.

Setup tab > Network > General > Listen Addresses option

Do not use this option if the appliance is configured for takeover.

Whether you need to balance traffic from servers to the appliances over appliance interfaces

Organizations that need balanced responses from servers across multiple lines might want to use the Load Balancing Interfaces option to balance traffic across interfaces.

Setup tab > Network > General > Load Balancing Interfaces option

Whether you want to restrict the interfaces from which the appliance can communicate with servers

Disable outgoing interfaces in the following circumstances:

• If you want to devote an interface for administrative purposes instead of using it for regular traffic.
• If one interface of an appliance is outside a firewall and another interface is inside the firewall, typically, you do not want to use the interface inside the firewall for traffic to outside servers.

Setup tab > Network > General Disabled Outgoing Interfaces option

Considerations for high-bandwidth, long-haul connections

If you have a high-bandwidth, long-haul connection, whether TCP large windows configuration would be beneficial

TCP large windows improves performance over high-bandwidth, long-haul connections by using the capacity of the pipe more effectively.

Setup tab > Network > General > TCP Large Windows Enable and TCP Large Windows List