Manage Gateway Pools and Gateways
The network consists of multiple service Gateways deployed at the top-tier network and cloud data centers. The Gateway provides the advantage of cloud-delivered services and optimized paths to all applications, branches, and data centers. Service providers can also deploy their Partner Gateways in their private cloud infrastructure.
This topic contains the following sections:
Manage Gateway Pools
Gateways can be organized into pools that are then assigned to a network. An unpopulated default Gateway pool is available after users install Orchestrator. If required, users can create additional Gateway pools.
As an Operator Super user and Operator Admin user, users can create, clone, manage, download, and delete Gateway pools created by both Operator and Partner users.
To manage Gateway pools, perform the following steps:
Create New Gateway Pool
Clone a Gateway Pool
Configure Gateway Pools
Whenever users create a new Gateway pool or clone a pool, the UI redirects to the Gateway Pool Overview page to configure the Gateway pool's properties.
To configure an existing Gateway pool:
Users can associate the Gateway Pool with either a Partner or a specific Enterprise Customer. After association, the Edges within that Enterprise connect to the available Gateways in the pool to establish their control plane and data paths.
- For a new customer, see Create New Customer.
- For an existing customer, see Configure Customers.
- For a new Partner, see Create New Partner.
- For an existing Partner, see Configure Partner.
Manage Gateways
By default, the Gateways named gateway-1 and gateway-2 are available when users install Orchestrator. If required, users can create additional Gateways.
To manage Gateways, perform the following steps:
Create New Gateway
To create a Gateway, perform the following steps.
Configure Gateways
To configure an existing Gateway, perform the following steps
Upgrade Orchestrator for Dual Stack Support
- Upgrade Orchestrator to release 5.0.0.
- Add an IPv6 address in the Orchestrator Shell. The following example shows a sample configuration:
vcadmin@vco:~$ cat /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml network: ethernets: eth0: addresses: [169.254.8.2/29, 'fd00:aaaa:0:1::2/64'] routes: - {metric: 1, to: 0.0.0.0/0, via: 169.254.8.1} - {metric: 1, to: '0::0/0', via: 'fd00:aaaa:0:1::1'} renderer: networkd version: 2 - In the Orchestrator's Operator portal, navigate to , and select a Profile.
- On the Operator Profiles page of the selected Profile, navigate to the Management Settings section and enter the IPv6 address configured in Orchestrator Shell.
Figure 11. Configure Operator Profile 
- Click Save Changes.
Configure IPv6 Address on Gateways
Prerequisites
Ensure that the Orchestrator is running version 5.0.0 as described in Upgrade Orchestrator for Dual Stack Support.
Deploy VeloCloud Gateway on AWS
- While migrating Gateways to the cloud, it is recommended to destroy and create a new instance with IPv6 enabled.
- When a VeloCloud Gateway is freshly deployed in the AWS portal with IPv6 selected, it is required to use only static IPv4/IPv6 address assignment on the Gateway's interfaces, as VeloCloud SD-WAN does not support DHCP on the Gateway side.
Set up IPv6 Address on Gateways for a New Deployment
Set up IPv6 Address on Gateways Upgraded from Previous Release
Partner Gateways
Users can configure a Partner Gateway with multiple subnets, and for each subnet, users can assign a specific handoff type: Network Address Translation (NAT) or Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN). Additionally, users can define a relative cost for each path and specify whether the system should encrypt traffic, giving users granular control over how data exits the SD-WAN overlay and enters your private network.
The following examples illustrate two use cases for Partner Gateways configuration.
Gateway Configuration Use Case #1
In the following illustration, the Gateway connects via VLAN/VRF mode to a Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF) instance that lacks public Internet access. However, the Partner Gateway must be able to contact the Orchestrator in the public cloud, and there must be a path to reach the cloud. The Gateway can selectively NAT certain traffic (such as the IP address of an Orchestrator, or the subnets used to reach public DNS servers) even though it is operating in VLAN/VRF mode.

- #1- The system routes Orchestrator traffic using IP addresses to NAT.
- #2- The system routes Corporate traffic through subnets to VLAN/VRF.
Gateway Configuration Use Case #2
It is common for a Partner Gateway to tie into a corporate network, providing connectivity to legacy sites. This need can occur even when not all corporate sites have been converted to the Arista network. For this use case, it is necessary to specify traffic by subnet on the Partner Gateway. Users can configure each subnet to encrypt network traffic to ensure data remains secure as it passes through the Partner Gateway handoff.
0.0.0.0/0 subnet to allow all traffic (which is a common configuration), all that would be required is to add the private subnet for your legacy sites and mark it as encrypted.

- #1- Subnet (e.g.,
10.0.0.0/8) defined for Legacy Sites and marked for encryption. The system transmits traffic between the Edge and the Gateway over an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel. - #2- The system sends the remaining traffic unencrypted to the Edge, and then to its final destination.
- For an IPsec tunnel via the Partner Gateway, a VCMP tunnel failure causes existing flows to time out. The expected behavior for existing flows is to remain on the current path. Any new flow will begin to go (directly), keeping the tunnel down.
- Select application map flags
mustUseGatewayanddropIfPartnerGatewayDownto force or drop traffic through the Gateway until the path restores. If these flags are not active, a flow flush is required after the tunnel path restores.
Partner Gateway Resiliency
The Partner Gateway provides resiliency by detecting failures and failing over to an alternate Partner Gateway. This includes the ability of a Partner Gateway to detect failure conditions and for the surrounding infrastructure to detect failures of the Gateway itself.

| Failure Zone | Component | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Provider Edge | The Provider Edge is one instance in which failure can be detected either from the Provider Edge router pinging the Gateway, or from the Gateway to the Provider Edge router. |
| 2 | Call Controller | The Gateway should be able to ping the Provider Edge router or Call Controller to verify connectivity. |
| 3 | WAN | The Gateway should have a stateful ping responder that responds only if the Wide Area Network (WAN) zone is available. |

The Partner Gateway also supports configurable route costs, enabling more flexible failure scenarios. Finally, users can assign a handoff type that applies neither Network Address Translation (NAT) nor Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) tags to the packets. In this configuration, the Gateway passes the packets directly to the Provider Edge router.
ICMP Failover Probes
This section discusses ICMP failover probes.
To address a failure in zones #1 or #2 of the Gateway topology diagram, the Gateway supports the optional ability to send failover probes. These probes will ping a single destination IP address at the specified frequency. If the threshold for successive missed ping replies is exceeded, the VeloCloud Gateway will mark the Gateway’s routes as unreachable. Even after the system marks the routes as unreachable due to a probe failure, the Edge continues to send probes to the target. This constant monitoring ensures that as soon as the link or service recovers, the system automatically detects the restored connectivity and reactivates the routes. If the same threshold is exceeded for successive successful ping replies, the Gateway will mark the routes as reachable again.
Example Scenario
- VeloCloud Edges connect to the primary Gateway. The primary Gateway marks routes as reachable.
- The Primary Gateway fails to receive a reply for three successive probes (~6 seconds).
- The Primary Gateway marks routes as unreachable and notifies all connected Edges.
- Edges begin routing Gateway traffic via the alternate Gateway.
- Connectivity is restored, and the primary Gateway receives three successive probe replies.
- The Primary Gateway marks routes as reachable and communicates this to all connected Edges.
- Edges route traffic back through the primary Gateway.
In failure scenario #1, users can configure the system to ping an IP address directly on the Provider Edge (PE) router. This allows users to monitor the health of the immediate physical link or the next-hop availability. In failure scenario #2, users can direct the ping toward the actual Call Controller, enabling the Edge to verify end-to-end reachability for critical voice services.
Stateful Ping Responder
To address failures in zones #2 or #3 of the Partner Gateway topology diagram, the Gateway supports an optional stateful ping responder. This allows the configuration of a virtual IP address (which must be different from the interface IP address) within the Gateway that will, based on configuration, either respond to pings always (Gateway service is running) or conditionally based on Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity (the Gateway has Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnels connected).
This can be used in failure scenario #1 by having the Provider Edge router ping the ping responder, as the Gateway becoming unreachable would cause the IP SLA on the Provider Edge router to fail. This could also be used in failure scenario #3 by having the Gateway only respond if VPN tunnels are connected- this is similar to the behavior with BGP (no clients connected means no client routes).

!IP-SLA configuration to send ICMP request to gateway virtual IP
ip sla 1
icmp-echo 192.168.10.10 source-ip 192.168.10.1
vrf CUSTOMER1
threshold 1000
timeout 1000
frequency 2
ip sla schedule 1 life forever start-time now
!tracking the IP SLA for its reachability
track 1 ip sla 1 reachability
!all the routes will reachable only when SLA probe succeeds
ip route vrf CUSTOMER1 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.11.101 track 1
ip route vrf CUSTOMER2 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.12.101 track 1
ip route vrf CUSTOMER1 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 192.168.10.10 track 1
ip route vrf CUSTOMER2 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 192.168.10.10 track 1
ip route vrf CUSTOMER1 192.168.100.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.10.10 track 1
Caveats When Using NAT Hand-off Mode
- In VLAN hand-off mode, the Partner Gateway can listen on any IP address if it is reachable from the PE router (including its interface IP). For NAT hand-off mode, the Partner Gateway will not respond if the ICMP request comes to its own interface (WAN) IP address.
-
VeloCloud does not support reverse flow in the NAT hand-off mode.
Active/Backup Subnets
This section discusses how to configure active and backup subnets for a Partner Gateway.
Subnets on a Partner Gateway
When configuring subnets on a Partner Gateway, users input each subnet along with an optional description to identify the traffic path. By assigning a value to the Cost field, users control route weighting; the system prioritizes lower-cost routes over higher-cost routes to determine the most efficient path for your data. The following figure shows Cost settings per subnet.

Monitor Gateways
To monitor the Gateways:
VeloCloud Gateway Migration
The VeloCloud Orchestrator offers self-service migration functionality, enabling migration from an existing Gateway to a new Gateway without requiring your Operator’s support.
- Achieving operational efficiency.
- Decommissioning old Gateways.
Gateway configurations define specific roles. For example, a Gateway with a data-plane role forwards data-plane traffic from source to destination. Similarly, a Gateway with a Control Plane role is referred to as a Super Gateway and is assigned to an Enterprise. The Super Gateway establishes connections with all Edges within the Enterprise. Additionally, a Gateway with the Secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) role establishes an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) tunnel to a Non SD-WAN Destination (NSD). The migration steps may vary based on the role configured for the Gateway. For additional information about the Gateway roles, see the Configure Gateways” section.
The following figure illustrates the migration process of the Secure VPN Gateway:

In this example, a VeloCloud Edge connects to an NSD through a Secure VPN Gateway, VCG1. The Orchestrator currently flags VCG1 for decommissioning. Before decommissioning, the administrator creates a new Gateway, VCG2, and assigns VCG2 the same role and attaches it to the same Gateway pool as VCG1, allowing VCG2 to replace the original Gateway. The administrator then changes VCG1's service state to "Quiesced," preventing the system from adding new tunnels or NSDs to VCG1. However, VCG1 retains its existing assignments. After the administrator updates the VCG2 IP address configuration in the NSD, VCG2 establishes an IPSec tunnel to the NSD and switches the traffic from VCG1 to VCG2. The administrator decommissions VCG1 after confirming it contains no remaining sessions.
Following is the high-level workflow of Secure VPN Gateway migration based on the User roles:

Limitations of VeloCloud Gateway Migration
- Partner Gateways do not support self-service migration.
- There will be a minimum service disruption based on the time taken to switch Non SD-WAN Destinations (NSDs) from the quiesced Gateway to the new Gateway and to rebalance the Edges connected to the quiesced Gateway.
- If an NSD uses redundant Gateways and the administrator quiesces one Gateway, the remaining redundant Gateway cannot replace it.
- During self-service migration of a quiesced Gateway, the replacement Gateway must have the same Gateway Authentication mode as the quiesced Gateway.
- When a customer deploys an NSD via Gateway with Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) enabled, the Self-Service Gateway Migration feature does not migrate BGP configurations to the new Gateway. Consequently, the system drops all BGP sessions after the migration completes.
In this scenario, the existing Gateway assigned to the NSD is in a quiesced state and requires migration to another Gateway. The customer then navigates to on the Orchestrator and initiates the Gateway Migration process to move their NSD to a different Gateway. Post-migration, the new Gateway fails to populate the BGP Local ASN and Router ID fields, preventing NSD BGP sessions from establishing and causing the loss of all routes. Traffic remains disrupted until the administrator manually recreates all BGP settings.
This is a Day 1 issue, and while the Gateway Migration feature accounts for many critical NSD settings, the NSD's BGP settings that are not accounted for, and their loss post-migration, are an expected behavior.Workaround: Gateway migration should be done only during a maintenance window. Before the migration, the user should document all BGP settings and manually reconfigure them after the migration to minimize impact on customer users.
Quiesce Gateways
Before quiescing the existing Gateway, ensure that users create a new Gateway as a replacement. Assign the new Gateway with the same role and attach it to the same Gateway pool as the existing Gateway. For instructions, see the Manage Gateway Pools and Gateways section. Review the VeloCloud Gateway Migration- Limitations before proceeding with Gateway quiescing.
To quiesce the Gateway and enable self-service migration:
Send decommission notification to impacted Partners and direct customers. The notification email includes the migration deadline and detailed instructions for migrating the Edges and NSDs from the quiesced Gateway to the new Gateway.
Decommission Quiesced Gateways
If any Partners or direct customers have not yet migrated from the quiesced Gateways, follow up with them to ensure they migrate from the quiesced Gateways. Verify that the quiesced Gateway is empty and then decommission it.
To decommission a quiesced Gateway:
Diagnostic Bundles for Gateways
Request Diagnostic Bundles for Gateways
Download Diagnostic Bundle
To download a generated bundle, click the link next to Complete in the Request Status column, or select the bundle, then click Download Bundle. The system downloads the bundle as a ZIP file.
Users can send the downloaded bundle to the Arista Support representative for debugging the data.
Delete Diagnostic Bundle

In the Update Cleanup Date dialog, users can choose the specific date when the system will delete the selected bundle. Setting this date allows users to manage storage effectively by ensuring that temporary diagnostic files do not persist longer than necessary for investigation.
If the user wants to retain the bundle, select the Keep Forever checkbox to prevent it from being automatically deleted.
To delete a bundle manually, select the bundle and click Delete.
Request Packet Capture Bundle for Gateways
The Operator Super user and Operator Admin user can create, manage, download, and delete Packet Capture (PCAP) bundles for Gateways created by both Operator and Partner users.
To generate a PCAP bundle:














