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Shilpa1
Staff
Staff
October 12, 2020

Technical Tip: SD-WAN Load balancing per-rule

  • October 12, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 3953 views
 Description This articles describes SD-WAN load balancing for all explicit rules.

When a rule is hit, traffic is hashed based on the defined load balancing algorithm among the selected SD-WAN members that satisfy the defined SLA.

Previously, SD-WAN load balancing was only available on the last implicit rule.
This covered all the SD-WAN interface members, but when an explicit SD-WAN rule was created, it prevented load balancing from occurring for that protocol, and traffic was only routed over a single interface.
Scope FortiGate configured with SDWAN and two or more internet links.
Solution
jlim11_0-1765246553850.png

 

 
 
To add load balancing to a rule from GUI, go to Network -> SD-WAN Rules, edit a rule, or create a new one. Under Outgoing Interfaces, select a Strategy, Interface preference, and Required SLA target or Measured SLA.
 
jlim11_1-1765246553851.png
Select 'OK' to apply the changes.
 
To add load balancing to a rule from CLI:
 
config system virtual-wan-link
       config service
        edit 1
        set name "balance"
            set mode load-balance
            set dst "10.100.20.0"
            config sla
                edit "ping"
                   set id 2
                next
                end
            set priority-members 1 2 3
            next
            end
         end
 
 
 
To diagnose the load balancing status:
 
FGT_A (root) # diagnose system virtual-wan-link  health-check
Health Check(ping):
Seq(2): state(alive), packet-loss(40.000%) latency(0.049), jitter(0.017) sla_map=0x3
Seq(1): state(alive), packet-loss(0.000%) latency(0.020), jitter(0.005) sla_map=0x3
FGT_A (root) # diagnose system virtual-wan-link  service
Service(22): Address Mode(IPV4) flags=0x0
TOS(0x0/0x0), Protocol(0: 1->65535), Mode(load-balance)
 Members:
1: Seq_num(1), alive, sla(0x1), num of pass(1), selected
2: Seq_num(2), alive, sla(0x1), num of pass(1), selected
Dst fqdn: gmail.com(119)

 

Note:
Starting from v7.4.1 and v7.6.0, the command 'set mode load-balance' is replaced with a new command 'set load-balance enable' to achieve similar functionality: New features or enhancements 

 

1 reply

New Member
May 15, 2026

Hi,

Thank you for the example.
I’m trying to configure FGR-70G-5G-DUAL for load balancing. I’m using the 2 build-in modems and 2 other WWAN connections (Starlink and VSAT), I'm trying to configure a  5.th WAN connection.
Can I use one of the spare ports like 3 and 4 for this?
Does the ‘ping’ configuration if failing resend the packet using other available links?
Do you have more advanced ways to detect whether a link is down than using ping?

regards
Â