Using Direct Connect with Edge Transport-based Tunnel Applications (Beta)

📘

Note

This is a Beta feature and can be enabled in your contract by contacting Akamai Support.

For some cases for Edge Transport based tunnel applications, when GPA Client sends traffic through the Akamai Edge network to the connector pool inside the datacenter, the latency may be more than a direct connection.

In the example below, the latency for the Edge Transport based path is 55 while the direct connection is 25.

In such scenarios, if you enable Direct Connect with Edge Transport, the GPA Client switches gracefully to Direct Connect mode after Edge Transport is established without any interruption to the application access, providing better latency and performance. Note that Direct Connect mode only works after Edge Transport is established.

Enable Direct Connect mode for Connector Pool

Follow this procedure to enable Direct Connect mode, after you have configured Edge Transport mode.

1. Log in to the Enterprise Center.
2. Navigate to select Application Access > Clients & Connectors > Connector Pools.
3. Select the Connector Pool for which you have configured Edge Transport settings like Edge IP Binding, Destination CIDRs which you are using with your application.
4. Go to the Settings tile.
5. Enable Direct Connect. Select one of the following based on the type of firewall your datacenter has:

• Auto (EIM). This is the default setting. If your NAT firewall supports Endpoint Independent Mapping (EIM), then select this mode. This allows easy peer-to-peer connections.
• Manual (Port Forward). If your firewall does not support EIM, then use this mode. You will also need to configure an inbound UDP forward rule for each of your connectors in the connector pool. Go to the Connectors tile, and set the Public Interface IP and Direct Connect Port for each of your connectors in the Connector Pool.

Using Port forwarding technique, UDP packets are forwarded from the Public Interface IP and Direct Connect Port to the connector’s private IP and port 32323.

Note: If you have multiple connectors in your connector pool, and you are using manual direct connect mode, you must set the public interface IP and direct connect port for each of the connectors. Otherwise Edge Transport mode is used as the fallback mechanism.

6. Click Save, to save your settings. You will see Direct Connect enabled and the mode that is configured for your Connector Pool in the Connector Pool summary section on the right side: