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StefanBraittiNT's avatar
StefanBraittiNT
Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
Jan 23, 2026

High Availability and Load Balancing for Single-Node CE with multiple ISP uplinks

I'm designing a deployment for an F5 Distributed Cloud (XC) Customer Edge (CE) on-premise and would like some guidance on the best practices for link redundancy.

 

Scenario:

  • Deployment: Single-node Customer Edge (CE).
  • Connectivity: Three distinct ISP providers for internet access.
  • Objective: Achieve High Availability (HA) and traffic balancing for the connectivity between the CE and the Regional Edges (RE).
  • Traffic Flow: I will have a public Virtual Server on the RE, with Origin Pools located on-premise behind this CE.
  • Goals:
    • I want to ensure the best possible user experience and minimal latency/downtime if one of the ISP links fails.
    • I’m looking for the best way to configure the CE to utilize all ISP links for its connection to the F5 XC Fabric.
    • Handle failover automatically so that the RE-to-CE communication remains stable.
    • Ensure the "shortest path" or best performing link is prioritized if possible.

 

Are there any specific configuration in the XC that I should focus on for this dual-homed setup?

Thanks in advance.

3 Replies

  • zamroni777's avatar
    zamroni777
    Icon for MVP rankMVP
    Jan 24, 2026

    Obviously you wont connect the ISP cables to XCCE, but to WAN router.

    I assume you can have 1 public IP of each ISP connection to be used in NATs of XCCE:
    In the WAN router, make 3 static dest NATs and 3 source NATs for those 3 IP and
    corresponding PBR routing (if source IP is IP1 then route to ISP1, and so on).

  • StefanBraittiNT's avatar
    StefanBraittiNT
    Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
    Jan 26, 2026

    Thanks zamroni777​. That will work but if the link flaps the ipsec tunnel will flap as well. That's not stable at all. Also it will not load balance the links.

  • Nikoolayy1's avatar
    Nikoolayy1
    Icon for MVP rankMVP
    Jan 27, 2026

    You can also deploy 3 standalone CE for each ISP and group them in a virtual site. 

     

    For 3 CE cluster max 2 RE connections will be available as this suggests 2 ISP can be utlized in a cluster deployment.

     

    See my article for ideas:

    https://community.f5.com/kb/communityarticles/xc-distributed-cloud-and-how-to-keep-the-source-ip-from-changing-with-customer-e/343722

     

     

    If you want just single CE that will prioritize best link to be hones this seems like a job for SD-WAN siting infrount the CE system not F5 CE.