Select the Xpress Tunnel Mode

To help in the transition to the new capabilities in Xpress, three tunnel modes are offered: enhanced, legacy, and migration. The modes are described below:

• Enhanced mode uses the new PacketWise 8.x tunnel infrastructure. In enhanced mode, a tunnel serves multiple purposes and can include one or more of the following features: compression, acceleration, and packing.
• Legacy mode uses the PacketWise v6.x/7.x tunnel infrastructure. In legacy mode, the commands and capabilities are limited to those that were available in PacketWise 7.x. A tunnel's sole capability in legacy mode is to transport compressed data, although packing capability is available via a system variable. Legacy is the only tunnel mode that supports the direct standby and watch mode features.
• Migration mode supports both types of tunnels: legacy and enhanced. Use this mode when migrating from earlier versions of PacketWise. For more information about migration mode, see Migrate to Xpress and Information about Migration Mode.

The default mode for new installations is enhanced mode. The default mode for units that have upgraded to 8.x depends on whether watch mode or direct standby was enabled before the upgrade. If watch mode or direct standby was enabled in 7.x, the unit will be in legacy mode after the upgrade. (This is because watch mode and direct standby only operate in legacy mode.) If these features were not enabled in 7.x, the unit will be in migration mode after the upgrade.

Changing the Tunnel Mode

To change the tunnel mode:

1. Click the xpress tab. The current tunnel mode setting is displayed.

2. Click global tunnel settings. The Edit Global Tunnel Settings window appears.  show screen

3. Select the desired tunnel mode: Enhanced, Legacy, or Migration.

4. If you selected migration mode, enter the Migration Memory Ratio (the percent of memory assigned to legacy tunnels). For example, a ratio of 30 would allocate 30 percent of memory to legacy compression tunnels and 70 percent to enhanced Xpress tunnels. For most migrations, the default value (50) will work fine. The minimum amount of memory that can be allocated to legacy tunnels is 20 and the maximum is 80 percent.

5. Click OK. A pop-up window explains that the PacketShaper must be reset to enable the new tunnel mode.

6. Click OK. On the Xpress Tunnels Overview page, the tunnel mode setting doesn't appear to have changed, and a warning icon appears next to the mode.

The new tunnel mode will not take effect until you reset the device. The warning icon will disappear after the reboot and re-login.

See also:

Migrate to Xpress

Enabling Compression on Legacy Tunnels

Information about Migration Mode

Characteristics of Legacy Tunnels