Roaming Across Multiple Sonicwall Interfaces - SonicWALL SonicPoint Administrator's Manual

Roaming Across Multiple SonicWALL Interfaces

If it becomes necessary or desirable to span a contiguous network of SonicPoints across multiple
interfaces on a SonicWALL security appliance, the effects of roaming across L3 boundaries can be
mitigated by using the GVC with the Virtual Adapter option:
The illustration above depicts a wireless client (ClientA) associated with SonicPoint1. SonicPoint1 is
attached to SonicWALL PRO Series security appliance port X2 occupying address space 10.1.1.x/24.
A DHCP Server is active on X2, and has provided a lease of 10.1.1.10 to ClientA. ClientA has a
WiFiSec connection to the PRO, and a Virtual Adapter lease of 10.0.0.100 from the X0 (LAN) scope.
As ClientA moves from SonicPoint1 to SonicPoint2, both of which use the same SSID (corpNet),
roaming occurs within the same L2 segment. When ClientA re-associates, the physical adapter IP
address (10.1.1.10) will remain the same, as will the Virtual Adapter address (10.0.0.100). The GVC
client will automatically re-establish the WiFiSec connection, and all but the most sensitive
connection-oriented applications will continue without perceptible interruption.
If ClientA continues to move through the distributed wireless network, roaming from SonicPoint2 to
SonicPoint3, roaming will cross both L2 and L3 boundaries. When ClientA associates with
SonicPoint3, the physical adapter IP address will change to a lease from the scope on the X3
interface (for example, 10.2.2.102), but the Virtual Adapter address will remain the same (10.0.0.100).
Through the use of the GVC with the Virtual Adapter, the roaming process can be made significantly
less interruptive.
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